Re: [tied] The Black Sea Flood

From: João Simões Lopes Filho
Message: 4075
Date: 2000-09-28

Aral was my mistake, I'd like to say Baikal and Caspian.
Phoca (Pusa) sibirica - Lake Baikal
Phoca (Pusa) caspica - Caspian Sea
Phoca (Pusa) hispida - Arctic Ocean, Okhotsk, Bering, Baltic Sea, Finland (Saimaa Lake), Russia (Ladoga Lake), Canada (Baffin Island)
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Odegard
To: cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2000 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] The Black Sea Flood

Remembering an old TV show, the Baikal seals seem to date from a time when Baikal was a inlet of the ocean --  a VERY long time ago. These are *fresh-water* seals. "Ozero Baykal" (north of central Mongolia, in Russian Siberia) is a water-filled rift valley much in the style of the Great Lakes of East Central Africa. It drains to the Arctic Ocean via the Yenisey. The fact one could follow the river down from Lake Baikal to Troy, never encountering salt water, is compelling.
 
I know nothing about Aral seals, but I would have no problem believing that Baikal seals moved downstream, perhaps even as far as Troy, during the last Ice Age.
 
From: João Simões Lopes Filho
One of the proofs that these Central Asian lakes was united to Sea is the presence of species of seals in Baikal and Aral.
 
Joao SL