Sandradee W
New member
Earthquakes, Armageddon, and The Dead Sea Scrolls
On Wednesday Virginia Tech had a guest lecturer from Stanford University come to talk to both faculty and students on the relationship between the three aspects of the title of this report. Amos Nur is a professor at Stanford and an AAPG lecturer. His expertise is in the area of geophysics, or a branch of earth science that employs physical measurement as well as mathematical models. After having to switch rooms a nuraber of times he finally began his speech, where he started of with earthquakes.
Professor Nur began by talking about the Seismic Cycle and how we wanted to find out how he could predict when the next “big” earthquake would hit. In his thought process he decided to look at past earthquakes, specifically in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. He used these recorRAB to make a record of seismic movement for the past millenniums. In this he concluded that ancient sites have experienced earthquakes again and again. With this he explained his earthquake indicators which are as follows: slipped keystones, collapsed walls, rebuilding, fallen columns, patterns f regional destruction, and repeated destruction and rebuilding.
The professor then went on to talk about Armageddon or Megiddo. He explained that this is an actual place in Northern Israel and future battle of the Apocalypse as stated in the book of Revelations. He also indicated that this was the single most escavated spot in the Holy Land. Mr. Nur gave three reasons for this: 1.) because of religious and biblical connotations 2.) what is discovered is very complicated 3.) the location (only place horses and chariots could cross into Egypt, so, very important in battles. He stated that structures at Armageddon had been built over and over again, leading him to believe that the constant rebuilding was because of earthquakes. There is a fault that runs right by this spot and it is these earthquakes that created the topography.
After this he started to relate the Dead Sea Scrolls to the rest of his lecture. See there is a fault, the Dead Sea Transform, which runs right through Jericho in the Holy Land. A relatively small earthquake destroyed this city in 1927. The walls in the city show the constant rebuilding of walls. But a more interesting earthquake happened in 31 BC in Jericho and was felt at near by Qumran, home of a group of individuals who translated scrolls. This earthquake destroyed the city but uncovered many caves that have yielded over 800 scrolls only a dozen of which have been more then a couple pages at length. In 1953 the Caves of Letters near Jordan were escavated by an Israeli professor, nothing was found except a empty pack of cigarettes and a piece of a scroll. It is now believed that there is evidence of scrolls and past civilizations that have yet been found.
Amos Nur was able to captivate the audience with very articulate speech, corabined with this was his own experiences, which made him very impressive in my eyes. It is interesting how many effects that earthquakes have had in the past civilizations of the earth and what documents and evidence that has yet to be found.
On Wednesday Virginia Tech had a guest lecturer from Stanford University come to talk to both faculty and students on the relationship between the three aspects of the title of this report. Amos Nur is a professor at Stanford and an AAPG lecturer. His expertise is in the area of geophysics, or a branch of earth science that employs physical measurement as well as mathematical models. After having to switch rooms a nuraber of times he finally began his speech, where he started of with earthquakes.
Professor Nur began by talking about the Seismic Cycle and how we wanted to find out how he could predict when the next “big” earthquake would hit. In his thought process he decided to look at past earthquakes, specifically in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. He used these recorRAB to make a record of seismic movement for the past millenniums. In this he concluded that ancient sites have experienced earthquakes again and again. With this he explained his earthquake indicators which are as follows: slipped keystones, collapsed walls, rebuilding, fallen columns, patterns f regional destruction, and repeated destruction and rebuilding.
The professor then went on to talk about Armageddon or Megiddo. He explained that this is an actual place in Northern Israel and future battle of the Apocalypse as stated in the book of Revelations. He also indicated that this was the single most escavated spot in the Holy Land. Mr. Nur gave three reasons for this: 1.) because of religious and biblical connotations 2.) what is discovered is very complicated 3.) the location (only place horses and chariots could cross into Egypt, so, very important in battles. He stated that structures at Armageddon had been built over and over again, leading him to believe that the constant rebuilding was because of earthquakes. There is a fault that runs right by this spot and it is these earthquakes that created the topography.
After this he started to relate the Dead Sea Scrolls to the rest of his lecture. See there is a fault, the Dead Sea Transform, which runs right through Jericho in the Holy Land. A relatively small earthquake destroyed this city in 1927. The walls in the city show the constant rebuilding of walls. But a more interesting earthquake happened in 31 BC in Jericho and was felt at near by Qumran, home of a group of individuals who translated scrolls. This earthquake destroyed the city but uncovered many caves that have yielded over 800 scrolls only a dozen of which have been more then a couple pages at length. In 1953 the Caves of Letters near Jordan were escavated by an Israeli professor, nothing was found except a empty pack of cigarettes and a piece of a scroll. It is now believed that there is evidence of scrolls and past civilizations that have yet been found.
Amos Nur was able to captivate the audience with very articulate speech, corabined with this was his own experiences, which made him very impressive in my eyes. It is interesting how many effects that earthquakes have had in the past civilizations of the earth and what documents and evidence that has yet to be found.