E
elle
Guest
Did anyone watch "The Underwater Universe" last night on the History Channel?
It was well done and I found it fascinating how the eruption off Santorini (the submerged city) was
forty times more potent than the explosion of Hiroshima.
The next topic that this program covered made me go back to my Oceanography notes I've kept from college.
The documentary discussed the Old Sow Whirlpool in Eastport, Maine, with its tidal activity giving rise to riptides,
upwellings, and eddies. It got me thinking about the tidal actions over the centuries of different waters holding
shipwrecks, areas of the ocean with extreme tidal differences, and how wrecks are subject to desinigration from
the pull of gravity.
Although the configuration of the shore and ocean floor sets up the tidal range, I believe no artifacts in the ocean
can escape the harm of the water's movement.
So, where am I going with all this? No where, I just wanted to make everyone excercise their brains today!
I did start thinking, though, about walls put into place around an untouched wreck to preserve it, in its entirety,
and thus stopping the energy of the water in affecting the excavation process.
We all know of the most famous cofferdam used in the La Salle Project?
I find this structure to be a brilliant idea in the field of marine archaeology!
Imagine being able to conduct your studying and preservation in a dry environment and being able to visualize
the components of the sunken ship.
Of course, this is not cheap to build. In my opinion, though, this was a very ingenious way to conduct an
archaeological survey of the site.
Any comments?
It was well done and I found it fascinating how the eruption off Santorini (the submerged city) was
forty times more potent than the explosion of Hiroshima.
The next topic that this program covered made me go back to my Oceanography notes I've kept from college.
The documentary discussed the Old Sow Whirlpool in Eastport, Maine, with its tidal activity giving rise to riptides,
upwellings, and eddies. It got me thinking about the tidal actions over the centuries of different waters holding
shipwrecks, areas of the ocean with extreme tidal differences, and how wrecks are subject to desinigration from
the pull of gravity.
Although the configuration of the shore and ocean floor sets up the tidal range, I believe no artifacts in the ocean
can escape the harm of the water's movement.
So, where am I going with all this? No where, I just wanted to make everyone excercise their brains today!
I did start thinking, though, about walls put into place around an untouched wreck to preserve it, in its entirety,
and thus stopping the energy of the water in affecting the excavation process.
We all know of the most famous cofferdam used in the La Salle Project?
I find this structure to be a brilliant idea in the field of marine archaeology!
Imagine being able to conduct your studying and preservation in a dry environment and being able to visualize
the components of the sunken ship.
Of course, this is not cheap to build. In my opinion, though, this was a very ingenious way to conduct an
archaeological survey of the site.
Any comments?
Good luck in your endeavors. I was thinking that it was the supposed Griffon site and couldn't figure out how they built a cofferdam in that amount of time, but I love any info on early exploration of America. Thank's a lot!!
