Publication Date:
2017-04-04
Description:
Recent studies have speculated that the prophetic powers of
Pythia, the woman of the Delphic Oracle, at the Temple of Apollo
in Greece, were induced by hydrocarbon vapors, specifically ethylene,
rising from bedrock fissures at the intersection of the E-W
Delphi fault with the NNW-SSE Kerna fault, and producing neurotoxic
effects, including trance and delirium. New surveys including
gas flux from soil, gas in groundwater, and isotopic analyses
of spring scales, provide the experimental confirmation of the gas
release in the Delphi area. Presently, methane, ethane, and carbon
dioxide are being released from a thermogenic (catagenetic)
hydrocarbon-prone environment. This environment is not prone to
biogenic production of ethylene in amounts inducing neurotoxic
effects (hundreds or thousands of ppmv). A WNW-ESE–trending
subsidiary fault within the Delphi fault zone, extending for 2 km,
passes under the Temple of Apollo and shrine of Athena. The Temple
of Apollo, located above this fault, may have been the site of
enhanced degassing in the past. If gas-linked neurotoxic effects
upon Pythia need to be invoked, they should be sought in the possibility
of oxygen depletion due to CO2-CH4 exhalation in the indoor
temple. Alternatively, a plausible geological explanation behind
the natural presence of sweet scents could be the occurrence
of aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzene, dissolved in the
groundwater spring.
Description:
Published
Description:
821-824
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
reserved
Keywords:
Delphi,
;
gas,
;
seeps,
;
fault,
;
methane,
;
ethylene.
;
03. Hydrosphere::03.04. Chemical and biological::03.04.05. Gases
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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