A Numerical Modelling Study on the Potential Role of Tsunamis in the Biblical Exodus

José Abril,Raúl Periáñez

doi:10.3390/jmse3030745

Abstract

The reliability of the narrative of the Biblical Exodus has been subject of heated debate for decades. Recent archaeological studies seem to provide new insight of the exodus path, and although with a still controversial chronology, the effects of the Minoan Santorini eruption have been proposed as a likely explanation of the biblical plagues. Particularly, it has been suggested that flooding by the associated tsunamis could explain the first plague and the sea parting. Recent modelling studies have shown that Santorini’s tsunami effects were negligible in the eastern Nile Delta, but the released tectonic stress could have triggered local tsunamigenic sources in sequence. This paper is aimed to a quantitative assessment of the potential role of tsunamis in the biblical parting of the sea. Several “best case” scenarios are tested through the application of a numerical model for tsunami propagation that has been previously validated. The former paleogeographic conditions of the eastern Nile Delta have been implemented based upon recent geological studies; and several feasible local sources for tsunamis are proposed. Tsunamis triggered by submarine landslides of 10–30 km3 could have severely impacted the northern Sinai and southern Levantine coasts but with weak effects in the eastern Nile Delta coastline. The lack of noticeable flooding in this area under the most favorable conditions for tsunamis, along with the time sequence of water elevations, make difficult to accept them as a plausible and literally explanation of the first plague and of the drowning of the Egyptian army in the surroundings of the former Shi-Hor Lagoon.

Highlights

The Minoan eruption of Thera (Santorini), dated around 1613 BC, was one of the largest Plinian eruptions on earth in the past 10,000 years [1]
As potential tsunamigenic sources (Section 2) this work considers submarine landslides in the eastern edge of the stable Nile Delta shelf, defined as large as possible within the known constrains stated by geological studies
The numerical model has been run for all the tsunamigenic sources (Tables 1 and 2) with a typical simulation time of 5 h and a time step of 2 s

Summary

Introduction

The Minoan eruption of Thera (Santorini), dated around 1613 BC, was one of the largest Plinian eruptions on earth in the past 10,000 years [1]. Stanley and Sheng (1986) [2] reported the evidence for the presence of ash ejected from this eruption in sediment cores from the eastern Nile Delta, and they suggested that it could be associated with the Exodus plague of darkness. The connection between this extreme volcanic event and the biblical plagues preceding the Exodus, has been largely argued in the scientific literature [3,4,5,6,7]. The water-body that the Israelites crossed when leaving Egypt, called yam suph, the

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