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Among the most widely known of stories relating the destruction of entire cities is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah some 4350 years ago. These two cities, and Jericho as well, are situated along a major fault extending 1100 kilometres from the axis of the Red Sea to Turkey. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, variations by hundreds of metres of the level of the Dead Sea, and oscillations between arid and wet climates have affected the human settlements of the area for more than 10,000 years. In reviewing the geology, biblical paleogeography, and limnology of the region, this book will shed light on the tectonic and climatic changes of the past 6000 years and their control of cultural successions in the Middle East. The geologic study is the result of the author's collaborative research over many years; the receonstruction of human history is guided by the work of biblical archaeologists. While similar attempts to interpret the physical and geographic aspects of the story have been made during the past 2000 years, this latest contribution, unlike others, is based on solid scientific data.
Marsh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.