Deluge II and the continent of doom: rising sea level and collapsing Antarctic ice

Hughes, Terence J. 1987 06 01: Deluge II and the continent of doom: rising sea level and collapsing Antarctic ice. Boreas , Vol. 16, pp. 89–100. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483.
Many cultures in both the Old and New Worlds have preserved legends of a Great Flood. In the Biblical deluge, 'the springs of the great deep broke through and the sluices of heaven opened' (Genesis 7: 11). The rise in sea level, as opposed to prolonged rainfall, is a conceivable cause of global flooding because the last stages in collapse of late Wisconsin/Weichselian ice sheets occurred in the late prehistorical period, from 8,000 to 6,000 B.C. A possible mechanism that might collapse large parts of ice sheets in a short time is found in Jakobshavns Isbrae, which drains the west-central part of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This mechanism, called the Jakobshavns Effect, is described and its possible role in Holocene collapse of former Northern Hemisphere ice sheets (Deluge I) and future collapse of parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (Deluge II) is examined. Rapid global flooding by this mechanism is extremely unlikely; however, we lack the information needed to eliminate the possibility.