The Adam's Bridge

Endurer · #1 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005, 08:58 AM

Some other interesting facts about these limestone shoals known as The Adam's Bridge:

Christians call it Adam's Bridge because Sri Lanka is believed to be the physical location of the Garden of Eden.
At low tide, except for a couple of shipping channels dug through, you can apparently walk from India to Sri Lanka, although you'll get wet; even at high tide, the water over the shoals isn't more than 3-4 feet deep
The shoals may have been formed by a pattern of circular currents depositing sand at that location
Sri Lanka translates as 'Island-ji' in the Gondvi dialect
The historical bases for many of these legends.

Adam's Bridge is a narrow land connection between Sri Lanka and the Indian mainland. This roughly 30 km long bridge is now mostly submerged approximately 1.2 m below sea level, with only a chain of limestone shoals left showing. It is, however, clearly visible in satellite photos taken by NASA such as the one shown here. The alternate name Adam's Bridge derives from the notion that the biblical Garden of Eden was Sri Lanka. Temple records suggest that the bridge may have been submerged by a violent storm as recently as 1480.
The October 2002 release of a series of images by NASA caused quite a furor, as previously the bridge had been thought to exist in legend only. Nasa spokesman Mark Hess hurriedly released a cautious statement, distancing the Agency from the multitude of claims being based on the images:

"The images may be ours, but their interpretation is certainly not ours. [...] Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide direct information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and certainly cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing any of the patterns seen."

Meanwhile, there remains the fact that the bridge's shape is very unusual indeed for a natural geological feature. Archeological studies of the bridge are ongoing, but several archeologists believe to have found additional evidence suggesting that it is indeed man-made. Based on the assumption that it was formed by geological processes, its age has been estimated by at approximately 1.75 million yearsnin contrast to the Hindu belief that it was constructed around 2015 BC.

Reference: madhoo.blogspot.com, nasa.org, brainyencyclopedia.com