Geologists: do you believe that the Bimini Road and Yonaguni are natural formations or otherwise?

Question

I think it is hard to convince anybody that these structures are natural. Look at this plan view of the layout of the Bimini:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BiminiRoadOverhead2.jpg

Look at these "stairs" at the Yonaguni:
http://www.morien-institute.org/yonaguni.html

Anybody is free to comment, but if you happen to be a geologist, please say so. Thanks.

Hi Carbonates, thanks for your professional opinion. I respect that you must adhere to the scientific method so in the lack of any real evidence we must assume at this point that these are natural formations.

However, there is a new group of scientists who just went to the site last year to investigate, they claim that the original investigation in the 70's was a "hoax". They believe that Bimini was a man-made harbour. Check out this site by Dr. Greg Little:
http://www.mysterious-america.net/biminihoax.html

And his detailed report in pdf:
http://www.mysterious-america.net/Resources/Bimini%20HarborScreen2.pdf

I agree you said that without seeing the site in person it is impossible to evaluate. It is possible that some researchers might distort their finds for whatever reason, perhaps political or perhaps for personal beliefs.

Answer 1

The most difficult part of assessing these sorts of things is that if you haven't been there and seen it yourself, you really don't know what is being observed. As long as there are no facts to confuse the issue, the imagination is free to run wild.

I've read about the Bimini Road before, and find it very plausible that it could be a natural deposit of broken up beach rock. In that depostional environment it is common for the seabed to form hardened layers that can be broken up by a storm and might resemble large flagstones. As a geologist, it seems to me that the most obvious way to prove that Chinese sailors dumped these rocks is to sample the rocks and determine if they are allocthonous- that is from somewhere else (like China??). Since no one seems willing to present this sort of evidence, the claims don't seem to be scientifically supported.

The Yonaguni Island is actually more interesting to me, although I see a dangerous assumption being made by anyone saying these are ten thousand years old. The website is very vague about the water depth, but it appears these may be in only 20 feet of water. That would make it possible for these to be man-made and only be a few thousand or even a few hundred years old. The area of this island is quite active tectonically, and subsidence could have only been within the the last millenium. Dr. Schoch also reports that all of the seemingly shaped rocks are part of bedrock, that is there are no large blocks of stone that would help prove these are manmade. He also reports similar styles of weathering of the local rock on some beaches on the island, so the whole thing could still be naturally formed. Again, there are geologic methods that could probably be used to prove how long these rocks have been submerged, and the fact that no one seems to be trying to prove anything here makes me suspicious that there is nothing to prove; that it is much more profitable to keep generating controversy that makes for good tourism and dive attractions.

To see how the rock could be tested to determine when it was submerged this could be employed:
(I quote)

"Burial dating:
If a quartz-bearing material accumulates 26Al and 10Be while exposed at the surface and is subsequently buried deep enough that it is completely shielded from cosmic rays (e.g. by deposition in a cave, sedimentary deposit, or deep water body), then the 26Al/10Be ratio will diminish over time, recording the time since burial, according to (Granger and Muzikar, 2001) "
from
http://web.ges.gla.ac.uk/~dfabel/CN_explain.html

So as a geologist, I remain a skeptic because the parties who have made these discoveries are not attempting to prove scientifically that the evidence is real, for whatever reason.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I've watched a documentary on Bimini Road. Very fascinating. They thought it was the lost city of Atlantis. Personally, I don't know. But I honestly believe it was a city of some sort.

I've never heard about the stairs at Yonaguni but those look man-made too. I'll have to do more research on it.

Answer 4

yes they are all natural what type of question was that , let me tell you something just , because you think or believe that is what you see is what you get. Try me again rong. No hard feelings but you don't know what you talking about. And I also have a guess question for you on hand? prove me rong.... you just cant can you ? so before you just blear out in the open thinking of your self to look smart is one thing, but being is a not-her. Please help your self soon or you fall straight on your face please. I don't want any body ever to get hurt

Answer 5

I don't know