kesola Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Dear Science Forums users, I'm writer from Finland and I'm doing my next work based on a world where the sea level has risen about 1000 feet. Is there any situation/natural disaster that could cause this kind of situation and if there is what kind of damages would that disaster make when it would happen. If there is even any wild suggestions that could explain that kind of situations, I would be grateful:) I would of course like to add you to "thank you" section if I can get somekind of help here from somenone. Thank you in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 1000 feet? Not sure. The estimate for all the glaciers melting is about 200-250 feet. Thermal expansion will get you part of the way if you raised the water temperature, but that's only about 50cm per degree C. I can't envision where you would get the extra water or expansion to get to 1000 feet in a disaster where people survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensei Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) The question is for how long water has to increase its level. If it's minutes, hours, and locally (not entire worldwide) tsunami is way to go. It could be created by collapse of volcano or mounting into sea, causing massive movement of water. As well as hit by object from cosmos like meteor or comet. Search YouTube for "tsunami caused by landslide". There are some recorded on video. Increase of temperature and melting ice is so slow that everybody, or at least the most of people would be able to escape it. Edited October 20, 2015 by Sensei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kesola Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Thank you for your answers! Ideally I would like that the disaster would be something that wasn't predictable so humans couldn't fully prepare for it, but I can change the storyline if needed:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 An appropriately-sized impact in the ocean would release energy and raise the temperature (how much, is the question), hastening the planet warming. If it's made of water, e.g. a comet, add a tiny amount to what we have. (the Chicxulub meteor was ~10 km in diameter, so something smaller than that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Not really. However one can hypothesize that the water in the earths mantle could be triggered to release and water poured up from the depths. Of course water in the earth's mantle isn't established scientific fact but there are some who believe it could contain as much as .05%. Perhaps it's chiefly to try to legitimize the Bible story which says the water sprang from the earth as it rained. For what it's worth I sometimes toy with the idea that there actually was such a release of water but that it was very slow and had relatively little effect on sea level in the short term. After the last ice age it began subsiding and completely ended by about 2750 BC. The flood story is merely a confusion of the ancient belief that the earth had once had water coming up out of the ground. Is there any situation/natural disaster that could cause this kind of situation and if there is what kind of damages would that disaster make when it would happen. There wouldn't necessarily be any damage whatsoever. Just as the hydraulic cycle and gravity assure all water runs to the sea the water from these springs would simply form the headwater of rivers. If they had been flowing for a protracted time then people would simply live along these waterways and then been displaced when they stopped. Naturtal forces like collapses and sinkholes could also stop the water flow locally and the water might arise in other places and create a new river. Anyone in its course would have to move. Some could be killed because of the nature of water to pool until it's deep enough to breakthrough. The ancient Egyptians said the Nile arose from two springs but this is widely discounted today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 There wouldn't necessarily be any damage whatsoever. Just as the hydraulic cycle and gravity assure all water runs to the sea the water from these springs would simply form the headwater of rivers. If they had been flowing for a protracted time then people would simply live along these waterways and then been displaced when they stopped. Naturtal forces like collapses and sinkholes could also stop the water flow locally and the water might arise in other places and create a new river. Anyone in its course would have to move. Some could be killed because of the nature of water to pool until it's deep enough to breakthrough. We have much, much, much milder floods that cause a lot of damage here in the actual world. I don't see how you can hypothesize no damage from an event that is described as being orders of magnitude more severe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 1000 feet? Not sure. The estimate for all the glaciers melting is about 200-250 feet. If this world had 4-5 times more glaciers than Earth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) You should read the book referred to in post#1 here. http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/91566-doggerland-and-sea-levels-in-the-last-15000-years/ The formation of the Baltic is discussed in that book, along with the history of the North Sea and many other parts of the world drowned by rising sea levels. Edited October 20, 2015 by studiot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 We have much, much, much milder floods that cause a lot of damage here in the actual world. I don't see how you can hypothesize no damage from an event that is described as being orders of magnitude more severe. I merely meant that if the mantle were slowly releasing water there would not necessarily be any damage to speak of. Most of the damage from such a protracted event would be when it started (before humans?) and when changes occurred. The biggest change might have been its cessation and the story (of that cessation) was confused as the time of the flood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I merely meant that if the mantle were slowly releasing water there would not necessarily be any damage to speak of. Which is very much not the scenario (natural disaster) described in the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roamer Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Why do you need a 1000 feet of water ? Most if not all buildings will be flooded to top with 60 or so feet, and anyone swimming in it would think they're somehow transported to the atlantic ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Why do you need a 1000 feet of water ? Most if not all buildings will be flooded to top with 60 or so feet, and anyone swimming in it would think they're somehow transported to the atlantic ocean. Even one in Santiago, Chile, or Madrid, Spain? (elevation 521m and 588m, respectively) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roamer Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Even one in Santiago, Chile, or Madrid, Spain? (elevation 521m and 588m, respectively) Nope, then again, who's gonna swim that way ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Nope, then again, who's gonna swim that way ? Not sure why that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Externet Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 If the Bosphorus strait broke off -by earthquake or other- and flooded the now Black sea with Mediterranean waters thousands of years ago, the depth of that was-valley would have to be checked -about the current depth of the Black sea, reported at 2210 metres at one point- Localized event, not all the planet but fitting the 1000 feet bill. The ´myth´ part could be ´caused by endless rain´. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Which is very much not the scenario (natural disaster) described in the OP. If the mantle really has a lot of water in it as has been suggested its sudden release could inundate the planet to more than 5,000'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 externet If the Bosphorus strait broke off -by earthquake or other- and flooded the now Black sea with Mediterranean waters thousands of years ago, the depth of that was-valley would have to be checked -about the current depth of the Black sea, reported at 2210 metres at one point- Localized event, not all the planet but fitting the 1000 feet bill. The ´myth´ part could be ´caused by endless rain´. The events of the flooding of the Euxine flooding is the subject of several hypotheses, including the one in the book I mentioned, although I think the figure of 1000' is exaggerated. https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en-GB&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=flooding+the+Euxine&gbv=2&oq=flooding+the+Euxine&gs_l=heirloom-hp.3...1281.5687.0.6078.19.12.0.7.7.0.282.1594.0j10j1.11.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-hp..6.13.1719.X1jsaRYzXFA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 If the mantle really has a lot of water in it as has been suggested its sudden release could inundate the planet to more than 5,000'. But you had specifically said it was released slowly, which is what I questioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cladking Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I don't know if there is any water to be released, that it ever was, or that it was reabsorbed. However, I believe a relatively long term very slow release or a very short term large release could both give rise to the flood stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MigL Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) If the Earth was to somehow become less 'bumpy' and more 'smooth', all the water accumulating at the deep areas would be evenly spread over the world. I'm not sure about the volume of the oceans and seas of the world combined, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but knowing that it would then be trivial to calculate the height of the water covering the 'smooth' Earth ( may even be more than 1000 ft ). The disaster which causes the 'smoothing' would have to heat the mantle to make it more liquid and, at the same time, stop plate movements which lead to rising/descending plates. As to the 'flood myth', could the flooding of the Mediterranean basin account for it ? Edited October 25, 2015 by MigL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiards Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Thank you for your answers! Ideally I would like that the disaster would be something that wasn't predictable so humans couldn't fully prepare for it, but I can change the storyline if needed:) Like a black swan? I guess it would have to be. I think in this case you can use a lot of artistic license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad For Science Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 I watched a national geographic special about a large comet containing a huge amount of water breaking up near Earth and its debris settling into orbit, producing a ring. The water fell to Earth as torrential rain for a few centuries, raising the sea level by several hundred kilometers. Maybe something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 raising the sea level by several hundred kilometers Why do so many potential theories loose credibility by going over the top? The deepest ocean is only 11km deep. http://geology.com/records/deepest-part-of-the-ocean.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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