Preface
Approximately 15,000 years ago, the Gulf was a completely dry basin, according to reports from meteor exploration ships. The path of the historic extended Shatt al-Arab, also known as the “Ur-Schatt,” appears to be marked by a deep channel close to the more precipitous Iranian side of the Gulf.
The sea coastline was close to the Indian Ocean’s continental shelf at the time of the glacial maximum as per above image.
To reach the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, the combined Tigris-Euphrates drainage traveled through the marshes of this proto-Shatt-al-Arab.
A river valley was formed on top of the Arabian Gulf following the deep channel. As a result of the glacial meltdown, the Indian Ocean gradually flooded into the Gulf, raising the sea level. Around 6000 years ago, when sea levels stabilized, the north end of the Gulf was much farther north than it is today, reaching the lakes in southern Iraq, which have since accumulated more sediment from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and the sediments even reached down to Kuwait.
As some of the puzzle’s missing pieces can be filled in with the help of contemporary satellite surveys to help us realize the archeological records, the scientists developed a variety of theories, all of which are fundamentally quite similar to one another.
Most Recent Ice Age – The Big Picture
From 2.4 million years ago until 11,500 years ago[1], there were Ice Ages. The climate of the earth during this time fluctuated frequently between extremely cold periods, when glaciers covered a sizable portion of the globe (see map below), and extremely warm periods, when many of the glaciers melted.
The Asian continent was connected to the American continent during the Ice Age by a sheet of ice, as shown in the map below, which shows Earth as seen from the North Pole.
Earth’s appearance today can be seen on the right, while its appearance during the Ice Age can be seen on the left.
We are currently living in a warm interglacial, which are warm intervals in between glacial periods.
The earth as we know it today underwent at least 17 cycles between the glacial and interglacial periods, according to scientific studies on ice sheets in the north and south poles. Compared to glacial intervals, interglacial intervals were shorter.
The most recent glacial period began approximately 100,000 years ago and ended between 25,000 and 11,700 years ago, according to the best scientific estimates. We can generalize an average of 80,000 years for each cycle of the ice age.
Currently, it is predicted that we will enter a new ice age cycle after about 50,000 years. However, the extra carbon industrial fingerprints and Global warming indicators suggest that the next ice age may begin as soon as 500,000 years from now.
This picture below shows in red color the areas of land that was not covered with water during the ice age. Notice how the Arabian gulf area was a dry land.
Why do we have many Oil and Gas wells in that region?
The Deluge Theory postulates that during the most recent ice age, which ended around 12,000 years ago, the global sea level decreased by 120 to 130 meters, leaving a significant floodplain with freshwater swamps across the Persian Gulf region.
This must have happened as a result of a massive flood event, which would have displaced vast amounts of water and deposited sediment. About 18,000 to 6000 years ago, the majority of the ice off of Canada and Scandinavia melted, raising the sea level and flooding all dry land.
Fossils are remains of ancient plants and animals that were preserved by the earth’s environment. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons that were extracted from these remains and burned to create energy. The three main types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas.
They have been used for centuries to create heat and power, and they are still used today. Coal is the most common type of fossil fuel, and it is used to create energy in power plants. Crude oil is second most common, and it is used to create fuel for cars and trucks. Natural gas is the least common, and it is used to create energy in homes and businesses.
The anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms that contain organic molecules produced by photosynthesis produces fossil fuels. These materials can be transformed into high-carbon fossil fuels over a period of millions of years by a geological process.
One reason rivers are so fertile is because they are constantly flooded with water, which brings in plenty of sediment. This sediment is then mixed with oil and gas deposits that have been created over time, creating an ideal habitat for plants and animals.
The vegetation that once covered this area was buried by the seawater’s turbidity as a result of the widespread sea flooding at the time or the last ice age’s melting.
The gradual change in the environment into buried hydrocarbons caused the vegetation to be buried.
Large-scale sea flood opening the Gulf’s gate to the Dry Gulf Valley and dredging it
A continuous shallow shelf across the top (north) of the Gulf and down the west side (at 20m) suggests that this section was the last to be inundated/submerged by water from the Indian Ocean.
The bathymetric profile indicates a division into two main channels in the Straits of Hormuz, which continue before dropping to a depth of about 400m in the Gulf of Oman.
The deeper parts of these channels may be caused by delta deposits at the deep ocean’s edge collapsing in a series of large underwater landslides, causing underwater erosion by the resulting turbidity currents, and gradually pouring more water into the valley basin, and forming the Arabian Gulf as we know it today.
Today, In the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf is 56 km (35 mi) wide at its narrowest point. With a maximum depth of 90 meters (295 feet) and an average depth of 50 meters, the waters are generally very shallow (164 feet).