A new claim by U.S. researchers is timely, amazing, and gruesome. They say a massive tsunami --- like the March 11 wave train that devastated Japan --- may be responsible for burying the fabled "Lost City of Atlantis." It's a wild idea ... just as wild as the destructive force recently seen in action following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake.
The research team, led by Richard Freund, a University of Hartford (Connecticut) professor, believes they have found the lost city at a site north of Cadiz, Spain, buried in the vast marshlands of a place called Doña Ana Park, according to Reuters.
The site was located via satellite photos and has since been explored with deep-ground radar, digital mapping and underwater technology. An interesting note: It's believed that those who survived the tsunami that buried Atlantis fled inland and built new cities there.
The research is part of a new National Geographic special called "Finding Atlantis." Freunds team also found a series of mysterious memorial cities built in the image of Atlantis in central Spain.
Nat Geo and the researchers didn't release their Atlantis find to tie in with the Japan tsunami. It just worked out that way. A press release is dated March 9, two days before the waves hit.
But the documentary comes at a time when the world is focused on what happened in Japan and the issues it raises, from the human impact on the climate to how we should address future energy needs.
Does the wrath of nature seen recently in Japan make this latest Atlantis claim more believable? Should it make us worry?
Shark and fish in an aquarium in the Bahamas. Credit: Paul Souders/Corbis
More on Atlantis, from the Discovery Channel
Solving History: Atlantis
The Atlantis Mystery
The Ruins of Atlantis