Red Sea crossing longer

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33061, 31 October 1972, Page 13

Red Sea crossing longer

(By

MICHAEL ARKUS,

N.Z.P.A.-Reater correspondent)

LOST VALLEY (Israel).

If Moses tried to cross the Red Sea today he would have a longer journey than 3500 years ago when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. This emerges from the findings of a new geophysical observatory in Israel. Dr Ari Ben-Menahem, the head of the observatory, which is sunk in granite in a remote desert canyon, Lost Valley, 10 mites north of the Red Sea port of Eilat, says he has confirmed, in respept of the Middle East, a widely-held theory about the drifting of the continents. According to Dr BenManahem, the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas are gradually drifting away from Egypt and the African continent at a rate of about half a centimetre a year. So Moses would have had some 175 yards less to cover in his biblical journey than he would have now. Investigations into the

drifting of continents are only one of the many tasks of the observatory. Scientists are working on the possibility of predicting earthquakes and tidal waves, on means for differentiating between earthquakes and nuclear blasts, and on the possible development of communications systems that would use seismic waves to send telegrams through the ground. The SUSIm observatory was built with the money given by the Brazilian publisher, Adolf Block, whose name it bears, and it is run by Israel’s Weizman Institute of Science. It consists of a 125-yard long tunnel, with branch tunnels extending another 80 yards, cut into the granite. The canyon, wedged between sandstone and granite peaks, was chosen, because, to listen to the Earth’s movements and chart them, instruments have to be sunk into granite or magmatic rocks—the oldest known to man, and those reaching the deepest into Earth. Eilat was preferred to other granite sites further north and nearer Jerusalem, because of the silence of the desert and the dryness. Among the sophisticated

instruments housed in the air-conditioned, man-made cave are a magnometer, registering even slight tremours hundreds of mites deep in Earth, and two instruments recording the very slow motion of the Earth over long periods. TILT FACTOR These two machines—a mercury tilt meter and a strain meter •— are considered of prime importance in trying to predict earthquakes. Scientists believe that before an earthquake, the ground tilts, and the machines might therefore provide an early-warning system for such upheavals. “We may eventually be able to chart the signs that precede earthquakes days or even months before they take place,” said Dr Ben-Mena-nem. “The value of such information to earthquake-prone areas and the possibility of saving human lives and property would be incalculable.” Using a grant from the United States Environmental Science Services Administration, the observatory is also working on a project to investigate the connection between earthquakes and

tsunami — tidal waves — caused by under-sea earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which occur in the Pacific. When the waves reach shore, they crash inland with tremendous force. Scientists believe that more detailed knowledge I about the focal mechanism of earthquakes might allow the development of an efficient early-warning system against the tsunami. FUNDS FROM L'.S.A.F. The observatory' has also received funds from the United States Air Force to work on means for differentiating between earthquakes and atomic explosions. Scientists already report some progress. Another project concerns the possible development of a seismic communications system. It takes about 15 minutes for seismic waves to travel from New York to Tel Aviv, according to Dr Ben-Mena-hem. “If we find a way of transmitting the two basic morse signals—a dot and a dash—into the ground, we may yet be able to send telegrams through seismic pulses,” he said.