-Caveat Lector- Natural gas source found off coast of Gaza Strip Copyright © 1999 Nando Media Copyright © 1999 Associated Press >From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID WASHINGTON (September 9, 1999 6:30 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - An explorer searching for ancient shipwrecks found a large undersea field seeping natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The discovery by marine geologist Robert Ballard was announced Thursday by the National Geographic Society, which sponsored his research. In June, a natural gas reservoir was found undersea off the Israeli city of Ashdod, north of Gaza, estimated to be able to produce 30 million cubic feet of gas per day. Ballard's discovery indicates the gas field extends south, along the full length of the Gaza Strip and the coast of Egypt. "That was just one hole," Ballard said of the Ashdod well. "If you were to exploit this field you would have many rigs ... so clearly it's sizable." But politics could complicate development of the field's natural gas. The Gaza Strip, along the coast of southern Israel adjacent to the border with Egypt, is jointly administered by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Ballard said he has not been in touch with either the Israeli or Palestinian officials about the find, but is confident both know of it because an Israeli observer was on board his research vessel, along with Palestinian crew members. Moshe Friedman, spokesman for the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry, said Thursday that he had not heard of the natural gas fields and would not be able to comment without more details. On the same research trip, Ballard also located the wrecks of two ancient Phoenician ships, the oldest vessels ever discovered in the deep sea, dating from about 750 B.C. It was that search that led to the gas discovery, he explained. "It turned out that the Phoenician ships have a particular sonar signature," Ballard explained. "We were using sonar to get what we call an acoustic signature and ran around the ships at different angles." He said they would find a depression in the sea floor and something hard within the depression - the hard object turned out to be the ships. After the researchers finished their work on the Phoenician ships, they steamed along the coast to look for other sunken vessels. The sonar detected what appeared to be hundreds of ships. "We said, 'That can't be true,"' Ballard recalled. "So we sent the Jason vehicle down, which can actually see, and in these depressions were deposits caused by seepage coming in contact with ocean and rising from deposits was gas. I realized what we had found because I'm a geologist," Ballard said. "The bubbles expanded in size as they rose toward the surface of the sea," he added. The long narrow depressions were probably associated with cracks in the earth that create a way for the gas to escape from underground reservoirs, he said. Ballard also reported finding concentrations of tube worms and beds of clams surrounding the vents. These were similar to those he found surrounding hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, he said. The Galapagos worms marked the first discovery of living things that used chemical energy rather that relying on the sun for energy. Ballard, president of the Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Conn., is a longtime ocean explorer, probably best known for locating the wreck of the Titanic in the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic. In addition to the National Geographic Society and his Institute for Exploration, Ballard's research off the Israeli coast was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Leon Levy Expeditions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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