Quakes caused ancient civilizations' demise

From: S.Kalyanaraman
Message: 24441
Date: 2003-07-12

Quakes Caused Ancient Civilizations' Demise
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earthquake-01g.html

PALO ALTO, U.S.A., December 17, 2001: New research by Stanford
University scientists in Palo Alto, California, has revealed that
earthquakes were the likely cause for the mysterious disappearance
of ancient civilizations like the Harappan in India and the Mayan in
Central America. The Harappan civilization disappeared in 1900 BCE,
after almost 2,000 years of continuous existence. Most researchers
could not explain how a city that bustled with activity one day
could be buried under several feet of silt the next? Or how rows of
heavy stone columns were all toppled in the same direction? Until
recently, they blamed it on fires or flash floods. New research,
conducted by Manika Prasad and Amos Nur at Stanford University,
blames earthquakes. In 1819, a similar earthquake raised an 80 to
100-kilometer ridge of earth about 20 feet, creating an artificial
dam. The evidence of seismic activity in the region, combined with
the recent discovery of the ancient Saraswati riverbed at the
center of the former Harappan region, offers a possible explanation
for the civilization's decline.

The cities of Quirigua and Benque Viejo (Xunantunich), now located
in Guatemala and Belize, were suddenly abandoned when the Mayan
Classic Period ended in the late 9th century CE. Research conducted
by Robert Kovach, Professor of Geophysics at Stanford, show that the
cities could have been destroyed by a single earthquake centered on
the Chixoy-Polochic and Motagua fault zones.