Armenia before the beginning of time
Approximately 150 million years ago, the territory of Armenia was buried under the waters of the ancient Tethys Ocean.
The geological history of Armenia was just as tumultuous and filled with catastrophic events as the history of the Armenian people. Over the course of millions of years, titanic forces of nature destroyed and recreated this territory.
They flooded, dried, ripped apart, and “ground” the rocks, giving birth to mountains. And finally, about 500-700 thousand years ago, they created its current appearance.
The island of mountains
This is what geographers call the Armenian highlands. Indeed, as a result of powerful orogenic processes, this country has risen above the sea (on average) by 2000 m. And it rises approximately 500-600 m. above the neighboring territories.
The Armenian highlands are located in the Alpine-Himalayan mountain system. The formation of this belt took place during the Neogene period (about 25 million years ago). During this time, the Caucasus, Alps, and Himalayan mountains formed.
Before these large-scale tectonic-volcanic events, Armenia was buried under the waters of the ancient Tethys Ocean. Traces of its presence can still be found in various parts of the country today.
Reliably preserved in layers of earth are “mummies” of fossil remains of mollusks, corals, fish and many other things provide paleontologists with a wealth of material for studying ancient flora and fauna of the Planet, starting from the Precambrian (over 600 million years) geological systems to the present time.
The ancient system
“The Tethys Ocean was located within the Mediterranean geosynclinal belt (a tectonically highly mobile belt of the earth’s crust) and spanned the width of Northwest Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Anatolia, Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, China,” explains Araik Grigoryan, Director of the Geological Museum, Candidate of Geological Sciences.
“Its existence falls at the end of the Mesozoic era and the beginning of the Cenozoic, that is, it happened 150 million years ago. In different geological epochs, it periodically connected with the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Only about 25 million years ago, Armenia finally formed as land. Of course, this was preceded by a long process, filled with complex geological transformations.
The waters of the ocean periodically receded, but then returned, flooding the land. As a result of tectonic movements, the earth’s crust cyclically rose and fell. Islands emerged, where life began to sprout, but it was again absorbed by the waters of the ocean. Everything started from scratch.”
Deposits from this geological period contain a vast amount of fossil forms of marine fauna: gastropods (snails), ammonites (cephalopods), oysters, corals, sea urchins, and others. The thermophilic nature of the marine fauna speaks of the tropical climate of the ocean.
One of the oldest mammals, accordingly, this is already a later period, found in the territory of Transcaucasia – a whale. Its remains were found in the layers of the Apsheron Peninsula. This is the oldest representative of its kind. In the same place, the remains of a sea cow were found, living in the same Eocene period as the whale (55-65 million years ago).
Life Laboratory
Already in the Oligocene (30-35 million years ago), the waters of the ocean receded, leaving behind large masses of sedimentary rocks. This is a huge geological “pie” richly filled with various kinds of fossils, where you can also find samples of all types of rocks that make up the crust of our planet.
The ancient ocean left behind living evidence of its existence. The Mediterranean, Black, Caspian Seas and the Persian Gulf are its successors. “In Armenia, which was freed from water, terrestrial life began to emerge,” says Mr. Grigoryan. “At that time its ‘face’ was not as wrinkled as it is now.
The mountains were low, the climate warm, suitable for the life of tropical plants and animals. In the Lower Oligocene (25 million years), ferns, gigantic conifers, myrtle, remains of cereals are found. And in the layers of the Miocene (20-25 million years), various mammals are found: hippos, rhinoceroses, elephants and others.”
Overall, according to scientists, the flora and fauna of that period were very close to the modern nature of Eastern and Equatorial Africa. Perhaps it partially originated from it. For example, bones of large antelopes, which now only inhabit Africa, have been found in the territory of historical Armenia.
Moreover, at different times, remains of mastodons, trogontherian elephants, mammoths, southern elephants, giraffes, ostriches, and rhinos have been found in the territory of the Shirak plateau.
The flora consisted predominantly of evergreens, subtropical, tropical and coniferous plants. Thus, during its terrestrial formation, the climate and, accordingly, the fauna and flora of Armenia were close to tropical.
At first, vegetation “settled” here, and after it, animals migrated in search of new pastures. According to geological data, this took place over millions of years.
Transformation
At the end of the Tertiary period (approx. 7 million years ago), prehistoric Armenia underwent radical changes again. This was due to changes in the temperature regime, which was a consequence of the most active mountain-forming process and volcanism, as well as global climatic changes.
“However, despite the cooling, all glacial periods in the history of the Earth were weakly expressed in Armenia,” says Mr. Grigoryan. “Glaciers had a relatively small role in its geological history.”
In the Quaternary period (2 million years ago), there were several glacial “epochs” in the Earth’s history. And while the Russian plain, most of Europe, North America were covered with endless masses of snow and ice, in Armenia and the surrounding regions, this harsh period was not so aggressively expressed.
Ice caps covered only the highest mountains of Armenia (Ararat, Aragats, Gegham highlands, Zangezur ranges) and descended down the ancient river valleys to the 2000-meter mark. The glacier boundary was 150 meters lower than it is now. Gorges, foothills and valleys were free from ice.
Naturally, under these conditions, the fauna and flora had to either “migrate” to warmer territories or adapt to them. And as a result of millennia of transformations, new species of animals and plants appeared that were unique to this territory. For example, these include the Armenian mouflon, the bezoar goat, the Caucasian tur, the Armenian yellow bee, wild cereal species and others.
The Center of the Earth
The Armenian highlands, rising upwards from a country of tropical valleys and plains, turned into a harsh mountainous abode. That was the time (from 7 – 3 million years ago) of devastating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
In some intervals of geological periods, Armenia rose by several tens of cm per year. Many of these grandiose “performances” of nature unfolded in front of the first humans. And one of its latest masterpieces of this fierce era was the birth of biblical Ararat. Over 2.5 million years, the lava that flowed out formed this majestic giant.
The geographical location of Mount Ararat is interesting. It is located in the center of five continents. The distance from Mount Ararat to the conditional centers of the territories of Australia, North and South America is approximately 10,900 km., and to the conditional centers of Afro-Arabia and Eurasia is about 3,800 km.
“In general, Mount Ararat and the Armenian highlands, compared to other regions of the Earth, occupy a separate and unique place, with characteristics most closely corresponding to the so-called concept of the “navel of the Earth” – a mythical and epic symbol of the center of the universe,” writes in his article Kazarjan L.
The Fiery Angel
Some Bible researchers identify this mountain with the fiery Cherubim with a revolving sword, placed by God to the east of the Garden of Eden, guarding the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3-4, verse 24).
Such a metaphorical description of a volcano fully corresponds to the stylistic features of the Scriptures. And if we allow these assumptions, it turns out that about 4 million years ago, the greatest event occurred at the very beginning of the emergence of humanity – the fall into sin and expulsion from Paradise. Thus, the convergence of geological “circumstances” prepared a solid foundation for the beginning of human history.
by Gayane Vasilyan www.panarmenian.net
Translated by Vigen Avetisyan
