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Geology; August 2001; v. 29; no. 8; p. 707-710; DOI: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0707:NEFTGO>2.0.CO;2
© 2001 Geological Society of America
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New evidence for the geological origins of the ancient Delphic oracle (Greece)

J.Z. de Boer1, J.R. Hale2 and J. Chanton3

1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA
2 Department of Anthropology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA
3 Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4320, USA

Ancient tradition linked the Delphic oracle in Greece to specific geological phenomena, including a fissure in the bedrock, intoxicating gaseous emissions, and a spring. Despite testimony by ancient authors, many modern scholars have dismissed these traditional accounts as mistaken or fraudulent. This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary study that has succeeded in locating young faults at the oracle site and has also identified the prophetic vapor as an emission of light hydrocarbon gases generated in the underlying strata of bituminous limestone.

Key Words: Greece • normal faults • limestone • bitumen • travertine • ethylene




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