Granite, Bimini, and Atlantis

Re: Atlantis-any proof ?- The Granite Stones. Are They French?
From: southdar 
Date: 1995/12/11
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In _Subject: Re: Need new challenge_,
lalam@delphi.com wrote;

...material omitted
>other divers on the site since 1971.  Bill was there twice this
>year.  He does not believe that the granite stones found there
>are local or natural.  The find of the granite stones was
>accidental by curious divers.  A lab in Baltimore, MD, I was
>told, decided that it was granite.  He (Bill) and others who

.........material omitted..........................

    While looking through the 1973 volume of _Geotimes_, I found
that the nearshore of North Bimini Island is not the only place that
an anomalous occurrence of "granite stones" has been noted.
According to Ricco et al. (1973), an inordinate amount of rounded
to near-rounded pebbles and cobbles of exotic composition were
found when the I-10 tunnel beneath the Mobil River was excavated.
The more abundant lithologies consist of rhyolite porphyries,
rhyolites, syenites, granites, syenites, and orthroquartiztes  In
addition, nodules of black and light-colored flint and occasional
clasts of volcanic breccias were recovered from the excavations
at Mobile, Alabama.  In addition, boulders and large cobbles of
similar rock types have been found in Mobile Bay off of the
mouth of Dog River about 9 miles south of Mobile and in the
Tensaw River near the former site of Blakeley, about 10 miles
northeast of Mobile.  The nearest exposures of such igneous and
metamorphic rocks lie a 125 miles to the northeast in the
Piedmont region (Ricco et al. 1973, p. 19).

   It is unnecessary to invoke a prehistoric Atlantean occupation
of the Mobile, Alabama area in order to explain the presence of
cobble- and boulder-size pieces of granite and related lithologies,
e.g. rhyolite, in a region to which these rock types are completely
foreign.  Mobile, Alabama was occupied for 52 years by the
French during the early 1700's.  During this time, Mobile was
the port of call for a restricted trading network from which over
a 100 ships sailed from France to Mobile.  The ports from which
these ships came, e.g. Rochefort, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and
Marseille, are mostly on rivers that drain volcanic terrains
which contain abundant exposed igneous rocks such as the
granites and rhyolites.  These rocks would be part of the river
gravels quarried for use as ballast in the ships transporting
material to the Mobile area.  Thus, the pebbles and cobbles
of granite, rhyolite, and other exotic materials are ballast dumped
at Mobile, Alabama by these ships.  Similarly, the Mobile Bay
and Tensaw River concentrations of exotic pebbles and cobbles
occur at locations where ballast would had have been dumped in
order to lighten ship so they could navigate either the Dog or
Tensaw Rivers.  Some of the chert nodules likely represent
ballast left behind by English ships between 1763 to 1780
when the English occupied Mobile, Alabama (Ricco et al. 1973).

     The granite cobbles found offshore of North Bimini Island
might have a similar prosaic explanation.  They could similarly
have been transported to the New World as ballast in a French
or other European ship.  Then, the granite stones could have been
deposited in the nearshore of North Bimini Island when this ship
either was wrecked on its shores or had ballast dumped overboard
to free it after a grounding.  Thus, the presence of granite "stones"
fails to be proof of the presence of Atlantean ruins lying off the
coast of North Bimini Island.  The transportation of exotic
stones as ballast in ships has been documented in enough
instances that it has to be considered a proven methodby which
exotic material can be introduced into coastal waters.

    References documenting the transportation of exotic stones
and, even artifacts, are given below.  For example, Glover et al.
(1978) mentions English Paleolithic artifacts that were transported
to Australia with chert nodule ballast.  By careful analysis of the
characteristics of the chert from which they were made, Glover
et al. (1978) were able to prove that some artifacts that appeared
to be such European Paleolithic artifacts actually had been made
in Australia in prehistoric times.  This is the type of careful work
that would be needed in order to decide the origin of the
"granite stones".

   A final problem is that exotic materials are being transported
around the world and being dumped, lost, shipwrecked, and
otherwise deposited all over the world.  Just finding exotic
materials someplace is no longer evidence of ancient cultures.
The exotic materials has to be found in a stratigraphic context
in which they can be dated. Otherwise, the syenite breakwater
that the mayor of Grand Island, Louisiana is building on a
small segment of its beach will become additional evidence of
Atlantean civilization a 100 years from now when the Gulf of
Mexico has consumed this island.

Oh Yes!  Are the granite stones French?  Unfortunately, that is 
a question that cannot be answered at this time with the available
evidence.

Reference Cited;

Glover, J. E., Dorich, C. E., and Balme, B. E., 1978, The
Dunsborough implement: an Aboriginal biface from southwestern
Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia.
vol. 60, part 2, pp. 41-47.

Riccio, Joseph F., Simpson, Thomas A., and Sutton, Thomas C,
1973, Igneous rocks in Mobile River. Geotimes. vol. 18, no. 12,
p. 19.

Yours,
Darby South
southdar@tyrell.net
Baton Rouge, LA

Other References (that illustrate the long distant transport of
exotic pebbles and cobbles as ship ballast);

Emery, K. O., Kaye, C. A., Loring, D. A., and Nota, D. J. G.,
1968, European Cretaceous flints on the coast of North America.
Science. vol. 160, no. 3833, p. 1225-1228.

Glover, J. E., Dorich, C. E., and Balme, B. E., 1978, The
Dunsborough implement: an Aboriginal biface from southwestern
Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia.
vol. 60, part 2, pp. 41-47.

Guilcher, Andre, and Battistini, R., 1953, La craie de Landeda
(Finistere) n'est pas en place. Soc. Geol France, C. Rno. 15-16,
p. 304-305.

Mars, K. E., 1947, Ett blockfynd av kritformation i Kalix
skaergard [with discussion]. Geol. Foeren. Stockholm,
Foerh. bd. 69, h. 1, no. 448, p. 123-126.

Riccio, Joseph F., Simpson, Thomas A., and Sutton, Thomas C,
1973, Igneous rocks in Mobile River. Geotimes. vol. 18, no. 12,
p. 19.

Tesch-P, 1952, De vreemde rolstenen aan de kusten van het
Kanaal--Les ''galets exotiques'' aux cotes du Pas de Calais.
Geol. & Mijnbouw jg. 14, no. 1, p. 27-28.

 Zandstra-J-G, 1972, De stenenvondst onder het Waterlooplein 
te Amsterdam.  [Translated title The stone discovery under the
Waterlooplein of Amsterdam.] Grondboor-Hamer. no. 4, 
p. 133-137.

P.S. This will likely be the end for the time being of my
_Re: Atlantis-any proof ?_ series of posts.  If anybody
wants any one of this series, I have archived them and
can e-mailed any one of them to you on request.



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