Posted : July 2013
Author : Marc Lallanilla
The first purported photo of Nessie was published in The Daily Mail on April 21, 1934. |
The infamous Loch Ness monster often appears, according to
legend, accompanied by Earth tremors and swirling bubbles from the Scottish
lake of the same name. However, at least one researcher believes the shaking
ground and bubbles aren't signs of a monster but rather an active fault
underlying Loch Ness and other nearby lakes.
Italian geologist Luigi Piccardi credits the Great Glen
fault system for reported sightings of the legendary beast, Scientific American
reports. "There are various effects on the surface of the water that can
be related to the activity of the fault," Piccardi said in an interview
published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Piccardi also claims that
alleged Loch Ness monster sightings have coincided with periods of seismic
activity. "We know that this was a period [1920-1930] with increased
activity of the fault. In reality, people have seen the effects of the
earthquakes on the water."
The Great Glen fault is more than 62 miles (100 kilometers)
long and cuts the Scottish Highlands into northern and southern halves. The
strike-slip fault, where rocks slide past one another with no vertical
movement, is largely responsible for creating Loch Ness, the deepest freshwater
lake in Britain.
(The San Andreas Fault and Anatolian Fault are
considered strike-slip.) The fault has produced several minor earthquakes over
the past few centuries, usually of magnitude 3 or 4. Earthquakes were recorded
in 1816, 1888, 1890 and 1901, the Daily Mail reports.
The Loch Ness monster first leaped into international fame
in the 1930s, when a photo taken by a London
surgeon named Kenneth Wilson showing a serpentine head and neck was widely
published. Decades later, however, that image was revealed to be a hoax. Despite
many years of searching for the creature - using everything from cameras
strapped on dolphins to miniature submarines - no real evidence of
"Nessie" has ever surfaced. For instance, after scouring the lake
with sonar beams and satellite imaging, researchers with the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) found no evidence of such a large beast.
Though no scientific evidence of a Loch Ness monster exists,
that hasn't diminished interest in the beast (one of the biggest tourist
attractions in Scotland).
In 2012, boatman George Edwards claimed he saw and photographed the monster.
Skeptics, however, dismissed his photo as that of a floating log or a large
fish.
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