CLICK TO ENLARGEEvolution Cruncher Chapter 14
Effects of the Flood part 3
Here are two possibilities for the extinction of the dinosaurs:
(1) No dinosaurs were taken onto the Ark. We have reason to believe that mankind was larger, stronger, and longer-lived before the Flood. It was seen best not to have these giant reptiles wandering over the earth’s surface afterward, when mankind would become smaller and weaker. Why have dinosaurs taken onto the Ark if they are only going to become extinct not long afterward?
(2) Some Creationists believe that some young dinosaurs may have been taken into the Ark and died out within a short time after the Flood ended. Other animals have become extinct after the Flood; dinosaurs could have also. It has been suggested that the cold climate that reigned for a time after the deluge caused them to die out.
A few of the dinosaur-type species were taken onto the Ark. This definitely included crocodiles, alligators, and komodos, and could also have included the young of what today are referred to as "dinosaurs." After the Flood the dinosaurs became extinct while other dinosaur-type creatures, the crocodiles, alligators, and komodos did not. There is some indeterminate evidence that some dinosaurs were alive for a time after the Flood.
A provocative recent discovery may provide additional insight as to the cause of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. One major short-term effect was a rapid cooling after the Flood, caused by volcanic air pollution which kept warming sunlight from reaching the earth for a number of years.
"Whatever triggered this decline [in worldwide temperature at some earlier time] may also be a factor in the extinction of the dinosaurs (which were probably adapted to mild and equable climates) and put a premium on the warm-blooded birds and mammals, which can maintain a constant internal temperature."—*Asimov’s New Guide to Science (1984), p. 204.
That worldwide coolness, immediately after the Flood, may have eliminated the dinosaurs by causing their eggs to hatch out all males or all females.
"Crocodilians and turtles share a special reproductive trait that is not found in any other living group of reptiles. In all other vertebrate species [including snakes], the sex of offspring is determined by genetics; in crocodilians and turtles, it is determined by environment. Amazingly, whether an egg will develop into a male or female depends on the temperature at which it was incubated! Hotter conditions produce females in most turtles, and males in crocodilians. Hatched under lower temperatures, turtle eggs yield mostly males and crocodile eggs females . . This apparently opposite effect may be related to body size; in both cases, high temperatures produce larger individuals. Female turtles are larger than males . . Male crocodilians are the larger sex . .
"[If dinosaurs were heat-sexed like turtles and crocodiles (instead of like snakes which are genetically determined), then] changes in climate could have produced a preponderance of one or the other sex [in dinosaurs], causing genetic bottlenecks and sharp curtailment of breeding. Dinosaurs may have become extinct, then, because their eggs produced too many individuals of one sex.
"Recent studies by Graham Webb in Australia, shows that [turtle] sex ratios are maintained by distribution of eggs in a single nest. The top layer of eggs all developed into males, the middle layers produced a 50-50 ratio of sexes, and the bottom layers all hatched into females."—*R. Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution (1990), p. 101.
It is also of interest that a majority of the larger dinosaurs were vegetarians, and many of the carnivorous dinosaurs prayed upon other dinosaurs. This would explain why dinosaurs could exist on the earth contemporaneously with man—before the Flood and perhaps after it,—without being a major threat to him.
"Dinosaurs were mostly vegetarians, despite their enormous size and decidedly carnivorous appearance. One exception was the mammoth Tyrannosaurus rex, which apparently ate other dinosaurs." —*Asimov’s Book of Facts (1979), p. 136.
Oddly enough, the dinosaurs are often displayed in museums as an outstanding proof of evolution,—when, in fact, they are no proof at all! (1) They were all non-evolving, distinct species, and (2) their sudden disappearance from our planet cannot be explained by evolutionary theories.
As with many animals, the dinosaurs apparently gathered into groups in time of danger. The rising waters of the Flood finally overtook and buried them beneath water and sediment. Today, we find their bones in so-called "dinosaur graveyards." The entombment of such vast numbers of these large creatures demands a terrible worldwide catastrophe.
The fact that they collected together in the crisis, before dying, indicates that they were drowned by the Flood, rather than dying afterward. Tell those you meet that the dinosaurs are another evidence of the Flood and another denial of evolution.
"As the layer [cutout of a New Mexico hillside] was exposed, it revealed a most remarkable dinosaurian graveyard in which there were literally scores of skeletons, one on top of another and interlaced with one another. It would appear that some catastrophe had overtaken these dinosaurs, so that they all died together and were buried together."—*Edwin Colbert, Men and Dinosaurs (1968), p. 141.
In Wyoming, dinosaur bones were found "piled in like logs in a jam." In the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado (the Morrison formation of the Jurassic), over 300 dinosaurs of many different types have been dug out.
"Innumerable bones and many fine skeletons of dinosaurs and other associated reptiles have been quarried from these badlands, particularly in the 15-mile [24 km] stretch of river to the east of Steveville, a stretch that is a veritable dinosaurian graveyard." —*Edwin Colbert, The Age of Reptiles, p. 141.
Evolutionary theory declares that the "age of the dinosaurs"—and the death of the dinosaurs—occurred millions of years before man evolved on this planet. But there is clear evidence that dinosaurs and humans were living on earth at the same time. In chapter 13, Ancient Man, we went into detail on the events at Glen Rose, Texas, where human footprints intermingled with dinosaur tracks in the same stratum of mud—sometimes with human footprints on top of the dinosaur tracks. This is known as the Cretaceous Glen Rose formation, located in flat limestone beds near the small town of Glen Rose, Texas, and is found for some distance along the Paluxy River, west of town. The tracks occur in trails, and in two or three instances, the dinosaur and human trails cross each other,—with two known instances in which human and dinosaur tracks actually overlap each other. Books and films of these tracks have been produced. (See the excellent book, Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs and the People Who Knew Them, by John Morris, 240 pp.)
There is a simple answer to the question of why dinosaurs are only found in the strata of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous—the three divisions of the Mesozoic Era. On the basis of Flood geology, the answer is simple enough: They could run faster than conifers, trilobites, ocean corals, amphibians (such as frogs), plants, and fish, all of which we find in the so-called "Paleozoic Era"; but they had a more lumbering gait than the faster mammals and birds, which we find in the "Cenozoic Era."
MOUNTAIN BUILDING—During the Flood, vast amounts of water came from the skies; yet, according to Genesis 7:20, the surface of the world did not have high mountains during the deluge.(1) If the Flood had covered the highest mountains we have today, there would now be no exposed continents, because there would now be too much water in the world.
(2) If mountain building had not taken place after the Flood, there would be no exposed continents now, since the waters covered the highest pre-Flood mountains (Genesis 7:20).
Oceans would have forever covered the world if mountain building had not occurred—but providentially it did. (By "mountain building," we include not only the production of our present mountains and ranges, but also the raising of the continental masses,—which involved the sinking of the ocean basins.)
The ocean basins of our present world are much deeper than before the Flood, for they must now serve as reservoirs to hold massive amount of water which at that time poured from the skies and burst forth from the ground. Before the Flood, the sky had a thick water canopy of "waters which were above the expanse," and the ground had underground channels and aqueducts filled with "the waters which were below the expanse" (Genesis 1:7).
Not only are the ocean basins deeper since the Flood, but the mountains are higher also:
Mount Everest is 29,028 feet [8,848 m] above sea level, and the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench near Guam in the Pacific) is 35,810 feet [10,915 m] deep. The highest mountain is 5.5 miles [8.85 km] above sea level, and the deepest depression is 6.78 miles [10,914 km] below it!
Scientists have found abundant evidence of mountain building. They call it "orogeny." On the basis of fossil evidence, it is generally believed that most of our mountain ranges uplifted during the Pleistocene or late Pliocene (both of which occurred shortly after the Flood). This would agree with Flood events. A leading evolutionist geology expert writes:
"Despite the fact that references are scattered and the data have never been fully assembled, the worldwide distribution of these movements is striking. In North America late Pliocene or Pleistocene movements involving elevations of thousands of feet are recorded in Alaska and in the Coast Ranges of southern California . . The Alps were conspicuously uplifted in Pleistocene and late pre-Pleistocene time. In Asia there was great early Pleistocene uplift in Turkestan, the Pamira, the Caucasus, and central Asia generally. Most of the vast uplift of the Himalayas is ascribed to the ‘latest Tertiary’ and Pleistocene. In South America the Peruvian Andes rose at least 5,000 feet [1,524 m] in post-Pliocene time . . In addition to these tectonic movements many of the high volcanic cones around the Pacific border, in western and central Asia and in eastern Africa, are believed to have been built up to their present great heights during the Pliocene and Pleistocene."—*R.F. Flint, Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch (1947), pp. 514-515.
Immense crustal movements occurred during the during the Pleistocene or late Pliocene. Mountains rose and basins sank. Water flowed into those basins, and under its great weight they sank still further. (A similar sinking occurred in Antarctica, which sunk under the weight of miles of ice piled on top of it.).
Rock strata buckled, folded, went up or down, and sometimes was thrust sideways a short distance. Still other strata were overturned. Out of all of this came our present great, non-volcanic mountain ranges.
Scientists cannot provide a reasonable explanation of such ranges, but they do try to describe the results. The term, "folded mountains," is frequently used to describe this activity. This vast pushing together of earth masses was accompanied by terrific pressures on rocks that caused many of them to be crushed.
"The most conspicuous and perhaps also the most significant structural features of the face of the earth are the great belts of folded mountains, like those of the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Appalachians, the so-called orogenic [mountain-building] belts."—*W.H. Bucher, "Fundamental Properties of Orogenic Belts," in Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, August 1951, p. 514.
"A uniquely satisfactory theory of mountain building still eludes us."—*R.H. Dott and *R.L. Batten, Evolution of the Earth (1971), p. 417.
"The cause of the deformation of the earth’s outer layers and the consequent building of mountains still effectually evades an explanation."—*A.J. Eardley, "The Cause of Mountain Building: An Enigma," in American Scientist, June 1957, p. 189.
Folded mountains is but one of the two major types; the other is volcanic mountains. Both had their origin at about the same time, although volcanic activity on a much-smaller scale has continued since then.
Evolutionists theorize that mountains rise at a uniformitarian, very slow rate of 1 kilometer [.62 mi] each million years. But the theory does not fit the facts. The Cascades in the Pacific Northwest are one of the tallest ranges in America, yet geologists declare them to be the youngest mountain range in North America.
"If mountains are rising at the rate of 1 kilometer [.62 mi] in 1 million years, why are some mountains so high if they are [classified by geologists as] so young."—Ariel Roth, "Some Questions about Geochronology," in Origins, Vol. 13, no. 2 (1986), pp. 80-81.
SUBTERRANEAN STREAMS—There is an interesting historical statement in the book of Genesis regarding the beginning of the Flood: "The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7:11).
Much is involved in that sentence. Prior to the Flood, massive quantities of water were in the ground, and the fountains broke up—and geysered out. Enormous amounts of water were in the water vapor canopy overhead—and the windows of heaven opened—and it poured down.
It appears that the greater portion of the water in the Flood—now in the oceans—came out of the earth, not out of the skies. This upwelling of water in gigantic geysers caused violent upheavals on the surface, but also below it. The ground became tortured, crunched, folded, as it attempted to adapt to the immense forces unleashed. In addition, continents began to arise and seafloors began to sink.
(A remarkable insight about water in the ground as an indication of a recent Flood, is to be found in "The Earth Hasn’t Dried Out Yet," in Appendix 5: "Things to Think About, in Effects of the Flood on our website.)
VOLCANISM—(*#2/4 When Water and Magma Mix*) But there was another fountain that also opened. This was the basins of underground molten magma. When the water came out of the ground, earth’s geologic system itself was reduced to havoc. Material had to shift in order to fill the major gaps produced when the water left. Huge cracks developed— and water from above went downward and made contact with molten magma.
The Flood had begun. The fountains of the great deep had broken up, and water poured out. Soon lava began flowing out also. These volcanoes, in turn, produced several other effects which we will note shortly. The release of so much water caused immense low and high pressures within the earth itself. Gigantic cracks sent lava closer to the surface. Water pouring down these cracks hit the molten rock, and exploding jets of lava poured out at the earth’s surface, producing thousands of volcanoes.
Krakatoa was a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. It had been venting for several days, when a lateral (sideways) crack developed. Sea water poured through that crack, and then went straight down the main vent hole. That caused the explosion.
Next to the Tambora explosion in 1815, the explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 was the most violent explosion of the past several hundred years. What would it be like to have a dozen Krakatoas going off at the same time!
That one 1883 volcano caused a worldwide drop in temperatures that lasted five years. A similar effect occurred after Tambora’s eruption in 1815. New England received six inches of snow in June 1816, and temperatures there went as low as 37 degrees F. that August (National Geographic, December 1943).
There are literally thousands of extinct volcanoes at Pleistocene and even post-Pleistocene levels around the globe. That means they were active near the end of the Flood and for a time thereafter...
"During past geological ages, lava flowed much more freely than now; it not only spouted from craters, but also pushed upward from immense cracks in the planet’s crust. Earth’s most stupendous rock formation, stretching for more than a thousand miles [1609 km] along the shores of Canada and Alaska, was squeezed out in such fashion. Oozing lava built great plateaus which now cover 200,000 square miles [517,980 km2] in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and northern California. An even larger eruption created India’s famous Deccan plateau, whose once molten rock extends as much as 2 miles [3.2186 km] below the surface. Argentina, South Africa and Brazil have similar plateaus."—*Gary Webster, "Volcanoes: Nature’s Blast Furnaces," in Science Digest, November 1957, p. 5. "The presence of enormous masses of igneous [volcanic] rock all over the world is another problem for uniformitarianism. Often they are found intruding into previously deposited sedimentary rocks or on the surface covering vast areas of earlier deposits. The Columbia Plateau, of the northwestern United States, is a tremendous lava plateau of almost incredible thickness covering about 200,000 square miles [517,980 km2] . . Nothing ever seen by man in the present era can compare with whatever the phenomena were which caused the formation of these tremendous structures. The principle of uniformity breaks down completely at this important point of geologic interpretation. Some manifestation of catastrophic action such as the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep during the Flood is sufficient."—John C. Whitcomb, The World that Perished (1988), pp. 84, 86.
It is clear that old lava flows are found not only on the ground but below it, yet in no instance are lava beds from ancient volcanoes ever found below the Cambrian level. The beginning of the Cambrian marks the beginning of the Flood Thus volcanic action took place throughout the Flood, and afterward as well,—but not before.
Volcanic action not only occurred for a time after the Flood, but also during the Flood and as it was receding. We know this because of pillow lavas. This is a special rounded pillow-like shape that lava will form when ejected from a volcano underwater. Such lava is found in great abundance all over the world, including Canada:
"Pillow lavas . . are common in many parts of the Canadian Shield."—*W.G.Q. Johnston, "Pillow Lava and Pahoehoe: A Discussion, "in Journal of Geology, 77:730 (1969).
"Pillow lavas, produced as fluid lava cools underwater, is the most abundant volcanic rock on earth."—*J.G. Moore, "Mechanism for Formation of Pillow Lava," in American Scientist, 63:269 (1975).
MAGNETIC CHANGES—Magnetic changes in earth’s core, caused by structural corrections occurring within the earth, repeatedly took place at this time. These were caused by displaced earth, water, and volcanic explosions. This topic is dealt with in chapter 19, Paleomagnetic Dating. [Due to a lack of space, we had to omit nearly all of that chapter; but you will find it on our website.]
VOLCANIC POLLUTANTS—For the most part, air-borne pollutants do not stay aloft in the atmosphere very long. Particles of soot or dust in the troposphere (reaching to the top of the clouds, or to 12 miles [19.3 km] up) generally settle or wash out, in rain or snow, within a few weeks. Gases are absorbed by moisture within four months.
But when pollutants are shot up into the stratosphere (between 10 and 30 miles [16-48 km] up), they may remain there for years. Volcanoes are one of the only natural causes of this. Large amounts of dust particles were hurled into the stratosphere by thousands of volcanoes.
"Perhaps the heaviest polluters of the stratosphere are volcanic eruptions: Lofting an ash cloud laden with sulfur dioxide perhaps 12 miles [19 km], a major eruption can shroud an entire hemisphere in a veil of particles that reduces sunshine and lowers ground temperatures.
"Once aloft, high-altitude pollutants are assured a long stay. Unruffled by the weather and vertical air mixing of the troposphere, the stratosphere is cleansed by only one circulation pattern. While strong east-west winds blow the air of the stratosphere around the globe, a languid horizontal drift gradually carries pollution toward the Poles. High-altitude winds in the middle latitudes draw some air from the stratosphere downward into the troposphere, and the rest eventually sinks in the frigid polar areas, at last returning its freight of pollutants to earth."—*Oliver E. Allen, The Atmosphere (1983), p. 142.
RAPID COOLING —There are over 10,000 extinct volcanoes in the world today. This includes the seamounts under the ocean. They had their origin in the catastrophic conditions below the surface of the earth at the time of the Flood. Thousands of volcanoes poured forth so much smoke that they darkened the sky. The result was a rapid cooling of the earth.
When Krakatoa blew its top in 1883, the explosion was heard for thousands of miles. Over a square mile [2.5899 km2] of dirt was blown into the skies. According to H. Wexler of the U.S. Weather Bureau, it took three years before the Krakatoa dust settled to earth again. He also tells us that as much as 20 percent of the solar radiation may be reduced after just one severe volcanic eruption.
The Krakatoa dust caused a definite lowering of worldwide temperatures for about two years. Enough dust had settled by then, that temperatures rather quickly began to return to normal. Yet Krakatoa was only one volcano. At the close of the Flood, when several thousand volcanoes were erupting at the same time, climatic conditions dramatically and quickly changed throughout the world. When they subsided, the climate could again warm up.
A similar explosion occurred in the West Indies in 1815:
"On 7 April 1815, Mount Tambora, on a small island east of Java, exploded. Thirty-six cubic miles [150 km3] of rock and dust were hurled into the upper atmosphere. For that reason, sunlight was reflected to a greater extent than usual, and temperatures on Earth were lower than usual for a year or so. In New England, for instance, 1816 was unusually cold, and there were freezing spells in every month of that year, even July and August. It was called the year without a summer."—*lsaac Asimov, Asimov’s New Guide to Science (1984), p. 169.An increase of carbon dioxide, from volcanic emissions of ash, would raise the temperature but little. Even an eightfold increase in CO2 would raise the mean temperature by only about 2° F. But the dust factor (aerosols) would decrease the temperature significantly and more effectively. Scientists tell us that volcanic action, sustained over several years, could trigger an ice age.
"An increase by a factor of 4 in the equilibrium dust concentration in the global atmosphere . . could decrease the mean surface temperature by as much as 3.52K. If sustained over a period of several years, such a temperature decrease could be sufficient to trigger an ice age."— *S.I. Rasool and *S.H. Schneider, "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Aerosols: Effects of Large increases on Global Climate," in Science, 173 (3992):138-141 (1971).
Rapid cooling, induced by hundreds and thousands of volcanic explosions just after the Flood brought on the ice age...
FREEZING OF POLES—(*#3/2 Killed, Frozen, and Buried*) Water changes temperature more slowly than does soil or rock. Polar seas helped slow the freezing of the poles, but when the freezing of polar waters finally occurred, they locked in the cold all the more solidly.At some point, the following scenario probably took place:
Amid the eruptions, explosions, and pollution of 10,000 volcanoes, the poles froze and the animals, in the far north, were overwhelmed by the cold. One of these was the mammoth, a type of gigantic elephant.
"The extinction of the wooly mammoth in northern Eurasia should be mentioned. In Siberia alone some 50,000 mammoth tusks have been collected and sold to the ivory trade, and there are rare occurrences of whole animals preserved in frozen ground."—*R.F. Flint, Glacial and Pleistocene Geology (1957), p. 470.
Not only mammoths but a number of other animals were rapidly frozen. Here is one scientist’s listing of the different species which were quickly frozen:
"The extensive silty alluvium, now frozen, in central Alaska contains numerous mammal fauna . . Freezing has preserved the skin and tissue of some of the mammals. The faunal list includes two [types of] bears, dire wolf, wolf, fox, badger, wolverine, saber-tooth cat, jaguar, lynx, wooly mammoth, mastodon, two horses, camel, saiga antelope, four bisons, caribou, moose, stag-moose, elk, two sheep, musk-ox and yak types, ground sloth, and several rodents."—*Op. cit., 471.
One field zoologist, *Sanderson, tried to visualize the possible circumstances that could have caused such quick-frozen specimens as he had seen in the far north. The animal remains appeared to have undergone both the effects of violent storm conditions and rapid freezing.
"In Alaska . . the mammals and other animals, with one or two significant exceptions, were all literally torn to pieces while still fresh. Young and old alike were cast about, mangled and then frozen. There are also, however, other areas where the animals are mangled, but had time to decompose before being frozen; . . Beyond these again, there are similar vast masses of animals, including whole families or herds, all piled together into gulleys and riverbeds and other holes, but where only bones remained."—*Ivan T. Sanderson, "The Riddle of the Frozen Giants," in Saturday Evening Post, January 16, 1960, p. 83.
Violent winds would help explain why we find large quantities of remains clumped together, either frozen in hollows in northern ground or as fossils contained within pockets in sedimentary strata farther south. The lack of sunlight from volcanic dust overhead would bring on both the intense cold in northern latitudes, as well as violent storms that would reach down into warmer areas in the south.
What could cause all this? *Sanderson, a non-believer in the Genesis account, decided the storms and sudden freezing was caused by gases and smoke shooting skyward from large numbers of volcanoes! Here is his vivid description!
"A sudden mass extrusion of dusts and gases would cause the formation of monstrous amounts of rain and snow, and it might even be so heavy as to cut out sunlight altogether for days, weeks, months or even years if the crustal movements continued. Winds beyond anything known today would be whipped up, and cold fronts of vast lengths would build up with violent extremes of temperature on either side. There would be forty days and nights of snow in one place, continent-wide floods in another, and roaring hurricanes, seaquakes and earthquakes bringing on landslides and tidal waves in others."—*Ibid.
The freezing of the poles had two major effects. (1) Vast quantities of water were locked into ice in the polar regions, and (2) Sheets of ice slid southward partway down the continents. Popularly known as the "ice age," this is scientifically known as the period of glaciation. It was not until the Flood receded that the ice sheets could begin their inexorable march southward. The ice sheets made the air above them extremely cold.
"Because incident solar radiation is mostly reflected from a snow surface, the air above an extensive snow cover is colder, and atmospheric pressure decreases more with attitude in the colder air. This tends to create an upper ‘cold trough’ above an extensive snow cover."—*L.D. Williams, "Effect of Insulation Changes on Late Summer Snow Cover in Northern Canada, "in Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-Term Climatic Fluctuations (1979), p. 444.
Evolutionists declare that it requires many thousands of years for ice caps to form, and that their very existence is an evidence of long ages. During World War II, a squadron of eight P-38 Lightning fighter planes left a U.S. Army air base in Greenland, headed for Britain. But a blizzard forced them to turn back. Although they crash landed, all the pilots were rescued. In 1988, the U.S. Army decided to salvage those aircraft. But, instead of dusting off a little snow from them, as they expected, the airplanes were found to be buried under 250 feet of ice! (*Life, December 1992).
RESIDUAL CATASTROPHISM—This is the name given to effects which occurred during a short period of time just after the Flood was finished. Most of what we see about us today is a result of that time span. Let us now consider some of these effects: GLACIATION—There is abundant evidence that northern Asia, all of Canada, and about a fourth of the United States was once covered by glacial ice.These massive ice sheets were caused by two factors: (1) The darkening of the skies by volcanic dust, and (2) the loss of earth’s thermal blanket. This was the water vapor canopy in the atmosphere that formerly gave our planet a continual "greenhouse" effect.
The falling of snow stored enormous amounts of water in the form of ice. Today the remnants of it are found primarily in Greenland and Antarctica, but also in northern Canada and northern Asia. If this stored water was suddenly released, all the great seaports of the world would be covered by the seas.
Research scientists have discovered that hardly any snow falls in the Antarctic. From the standpoint of rain and snow, it is "the driest continent on the planet." Yet the ice in Greenland is over a mile [1.6 km] deep, and in Antarctica it is as much as five miles [8 km]. Originally these great polar ice caps must have been much larger. When did all that snow fall on the Antarctic continent?
During the ice age, so much snow was falling that glaciers were formed which flowed outward toward the equator:
"Geologists and climalologists have tried for more than a century to explain the recurrence of glaciation on a continental scale. Theory after theory has been suggested, but all explain too little or too much. None can be considered satisfactory, at least in its present form."—*J. Gilluly, *A.C. Waters, and *A.O. Woodford, Principles of Geology (1952), p. 319.
THE GLACIAL PERIOD—Massive ice sheets formed and moved southward, as a result of immense volcanic activity.
The Glacial Period
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The Canadian ice sheet, growing from the northeast, left much of Alaska and the Pacific slope unglaciated but extended southward until the rim of the ice stretched over much of the northern United States. At its maximum southern extension, the boundary of the ice stretched from Seattle, Washington, over to Bismark, North Dakota, and then veered southeastward, following close to the line of the modern Missouri River, past Omaha and St. Louis, then eastward past Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York, stopping at the southern edge of Long Island.
When the ice sheets were at their farthest extent, they covered over 17 million square miles [44 km2] of land in both polar regions or some 30 percent of Earth’s present land surface. This is three times as much land as is covered by ice today.These glaciers scoured, scored, and polished solid granite. In other places they left dumps of sediments along their sides (lateral moraine) and also where they finally stopped (terminal moraine). The glaciers really left their mark on our planet!
One example of the impact of these glaciers is to be found in the Canadian Shield and the Great Lakes in America. The ice as it moved southward scoured thousands of square miles of bare granite in Canada and cut out the Great Lakes. These lakes were originally much larger than today.
There is still much water locked up in ice in the far north and south. The earth’s load of ice, amounting to nearly 9 million cubic miles [37 million km3], covers about 10 percent of its land area. About 86 percent of the ice is piled up in the Antarctic continental glacier and 10 percent in the Greenland glacier. The remaining 4 percent is located in Iceland, Alaska, the Himalayas, the Alps, and a few other locations. If the 23 million cubic kilometers [14 cu mi] of ice in the world melted at the same time, the volume of the oceans would increase 1.7 percent. That would be enough for the sea level to rise about 180 feet [549 dm]. The Empire State Building would be in water to nearly the 20th floor. Scientists estimate that the amount of water locked up in the oceans at the height of the ice age, lowered sea level by about 400 feet [1,219 dm]. This could be one of the reasons why the filling of the ocean basins seemed to pause for a time.It is estimated that a drop in the earth’s average annual temperature of only 3.50 C is sufficient to make glaciers grow, whereas a rise of the same amount would melt Antarctica and Greenland to bare rock in a matter of centuries.
(At the present time, an increase of world carbon dioxide, primarily from burning of fossil fuels, threatens us with a "greenhouse effect" and a melting of the glaciers; whereas the opposite trend toward pollution of the atmosphere, by dust and smog, throws particles into the air that screen sunlight from the earth, resulting in a cooling effect. Experts are generally agreed that the warming trend may, at present, be the more powerful of the two.)
The total coverage of glaciers was unbelievably vast.
"Some 4,000,000 square miles [10 million km2] of North America, 2,000,000 square miles [2 million km2] or more of Europe, and as yet little known but possibly comparable area in Siberia were glaciated. In addition, many lesser areas were covered by local ice caps. Thousands of valley glaciers existed in mountains where today there are either no glaciers or only small ones."—*W.D. Thornbury, Principles of Geomorphology (1954), p. 354.
Yet geologists have no adequate explanation for what caused this glacial activity.
"The underlying cause of glaciation remains in doubt . . At least 29 ‘explanations’ have been advanced to account for widespread glaciations. Most of these had little chance of survival from the first, but others enjoyed some degree of success until they were rendered untenable by subsequently accumulated information."—*William L. Stokes, "Another Look at the Ice Age," in Science, October 28, 1985, p. 815.
INCREASED TROPICAL RAINFALL—It is well-known that there was much more rainfall in the lower latitudes for a time after the Flood. This occurred simultaneous with the glacial flows in the northern latitudes. Even the deserts, such as the Sahara, had an abundance of rain. Lakes and continental lowland basins had much higher water levels. All the rivers of the world for a time carried a far greater volume of water.
SUDDEN WARMING—Just as surely as there was a sudden freezing, so there was a rather sudden warming afterward. That fact summarizes certain geologic evidence.
Recall again to mind the explosion of Krakatoa in 1883. ONE major volcanic explosion was enough to darken the skies for thousands of square miles, send dust around the world that remained for two years, and cool the planet for over a year. But then everything warmed up rather quickly after that.
Next we consider the ten thousands of now extinct volcanoes that, at some earlier time, blew up and poured forth lava, bombs, and dust all at about the same time. The result was not a two-year cooling, but an ice age that lasted for an indeterminate length of time. When the volcanoes subsided, the dust settled, and much of the planet warmed up again. This brought a rather rapid receding of the glacial sheets.
"The data indicate a rather sudden change from more or less stable glacial conditions to postglacial conditions."—*D.B. Ericson, et. al, "Late-Pleistocene Climates and Deep-Sea Sediments," in Science, August 31, 1956, p. 388.
Evidence for a rapid warming up has been obtained from examination of deep-sea sediments, river delta silting, shoreline indications, and pluvial lake desiccation (drying up). Rapid changes in each of these reveals a rather quick climatic warming.
Sudden warming would quickly increase melting of ice, draining of glacial lakes, and water runoff through the rivers, onto the deltas, and into the oceans.
"The level of the Great Basin lakes fell from the highest terraces to a position close to that observed at present. The silt and clay load of the Mississippi River was suddenly retained in the alluvial valley and delta. A rapid ice retreat opened the northern drainage systems of the Great Lakes and terrestrial temperatures rose to nearly interglacial levels in Europe. In each case the transition is the most obvious feature of the entire record."—*Wallace Broeker, et. al., "Evidence for an Abrupt Change in Climate Close to 11,000 Years Ago," in American Journal of Science, June 1960, p. 441.
(The "11,000 year" number, given in the above article title, comes from radiocarbon dating; but as we learn in chapter 6, Inaccurate Dating Methods, the actual date would be much less.)
It is radiation from the sun that warms the earth. A greenhouse effect exists that helps to hold in that heat. This is caused by water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone in the atmosphere. The Flood removed much of the water vapor and locked large amounts of carbon into fossils, coal, and oil. With the greenhouse effect greatly weakened, and the sunlight blocked by volcanic dust, the glacial sheets moved southward. But the volcanoes added more carbon to the air and it remained after the dust settled. Sunlight could again penetrate and water vapor was slightly restored. So a warming up occurred.
"We are now sending about 5.5 billion tons [4.1 billion mt] of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year; only half that much can be absorbed by oceans and forests. Some scientists predict that if the current level of fossil fuel use continues, by [A.D.] 2030 there could be a 3-to-9 degree rise in world temperatures. Such change should melt polar ice, raise ocean levels and seriously disrupt agriculture and ecosystems."—*R. Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution (1990), p. 202.
It is of interest that so much evidence is being found that points to a worldwide change in temperature and climate, that a new theory has been developed to explain it. Calling it turnover pulse hypothesis, *Elisabeth Vrba of Yale says that there were many climatic changes, and each one killed off some species and, in some unknown way, magically triggered the sudden evolving of new ones. She has gathered data from all over the world indicating that at least one massive climatic change occurred at some time in the past.
A FLOOD MODEL—(*#4/5 Petrified Wood / #5/22 Things to Think about*) You will notice that in describing the effects of the Flood we have viewed many pieces of a puzzle. Let us for a moment seek to put them together. The following suggested pattern would be what scientists would call a "Flood and post-Flood model":Before the Flood, the climate was warm from pole to pole, and was caused by the vapor canopy and certain other factors. No high mountains existed, and there were only broad rivers and small seas. Dinosaurs were alive, but the largest of them were plant eaters, and the fiercest may have occupied themselves with attacking the vegetarian ones (just as the gigantic sperm whale only attacks the giant squid, while ignoring the other ocean creatures). Yet, either way, because of man’s sin "the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:13)—probably both by man and beast, and between them.
The Flood began all at once, as the rain fell and reservoirs of water beneath the surface burst forth. Enormous cavities in the ground where the water had been, collapsed inward. The geologic balance was upset, and gigantic cracks opened, letting water pour back downward into pools of hot magma farther below. began all at once, as the rain fell and reservoirs of water beneath the surface burst forth. Enormous cavities in the ground where the water had been, collapsed inward. The geologic balance was upset, and gigantic cracks opened, letting water pour back downward into pools of hot magma farther below.
At the same time, the ocean basins began lowering and/or continents rising to some extent. More lowering and rising would occur later. Water would have been the calmest in the far north and south, and ocean currents would have been the slowest there.
"Superimposed on all the general turmoil of the Flood would be the effect of the moon’s gravitational pull on the worldwide ocean. At the present time the moon pulls up a "bulge" of water and, as the earth rotates beneath it, this bulge is seen as the tide coming in; however, the waters today never go beyond their prescribed limits.
"In the Genesis Flood, the bulge remained and was not dissipated at the shorelines so that the earth, continuing to spin beneath it, would cause a buildup of tremendous currents. The velocity of the water traveling over the submerged earth could have been hundreds of miles per hour directly beneath the bulge but taper off to nearly zero towards the poles of the earth’s axis.
"The process would produce great quantities of sediment and lead to a complex but, nevertheless, organized imposition of forces upon the deposition rates of sediment and suspended matter."—Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men (1987), p. 111.
Terrific storms occurred, and the water level continued to rise. Rapidly flowing water, massive wave action, rapid sedimentary coverage, water deposition and suction action, gigantic mats of vegetation, volcanic fire and lava, seismic ("tidal") waves—all worked together to wreck havoc.
Marine animals were washed up by the roiling waters and covered by "Cambrian" sediments. More marine animals were covered by "early Paleozoic" gravel, sand, and clay.
The slowest land animals and some fish were buried in "Silurian" dirt. By now the waters were higher and began covering the seed plants with "Devonian" soils.
Soon, the rising waters reached the conifers and buried them beneath "Permian" deposits. The slowest of the lumbering dinosaurs were overtaken next, and were covered by "Triassic" soils.
By now the storms had become so violent that animals were thrown together into pockets and "fossil graveyards" became common.
Eventually, the "Jurassic" and "Cretaceous" sediments had buried the last of the dinosaurs, and the fleeter mammals were being overtaken and buried by "Tertiary" earth. Then the last of them were entombed underneath "Quaternary" sediments.
Almost no humans were buried, almost no apes, and relatively few birds. Why? Because they knew how to keep going on to the very end, apes and man could climb to the very highest points and cling to trees and rocks. And when the end came, there were no more burials, only a sinking through seas to the ocean floor beneath where they would decay away or be eaten by fish still alive in the ocean.
As the waters advanced, earth movements increased, and these, along with the violence of storms and volcanic action—resulted in "discontinuities"— where some strata ended, with others horizontally near them began.
Soon there was a worldwide sea, for the waters had covered the highest mountains, which never had been high to begin with (Genesis 7:20).
Gigantic mountain building now began in earnest. The lowest basins had been first to fill with water and, under its weight, began to settle. So much water had been taken out of the ground that it was structurally looser. Water flowing down volcanic cracks caused massive explosions. As the waters covered most of the earlier volcanoes in the oceans (now called seamounts), seawater would flow down vent holes—and cause terrific explosions, which would blow off their tops.
As the Flood receded, under the impact of all that was taking place, the great ocean basins lowered and the continents rose higher—all part of a balancing act that scientists call geostasy. Once or twice there was a pause that caused our present continental shelves. This occurred either while the oceans were initially filling, or later as these mammoth earth movements were taking place.
Sinking pressures, rising pressures, and lateral pressures—resulted in gigantic folding, and huge mountain chains were lifted up. The Appalachians probably arose earlier, for today they show evidence of having been rounded by Flood waters. Many other ranges were pushed up. One of the last ranges to arise was the northern Cascade Mountains in Washington State, for they show little evidence of Flood erosion.
As more and more dry land appeared, volcanic ranges also arose. Belts of volcanoes encircle the Pacific Ocean, run through the Mediterranean and elsewhere.
The glacier sheets advanced outward from the polar regions. These probably covered much of Europe, Asia, and North America for several centuries before receding. But even after they did, few civilizations were able to enter those colder areas until they warmed up sufficiently. This did not occur until just before the time of Christ.
While the northern latitudes were wrapped in colder weather, Egypt, the Near East, and India had ideal weather. It was probably similar to Southern California, although with much better rainfall.
The gradual warming of the planet resulted in several major effects that began just after the time of Christ: (1) The Near East, where civilization had once been centered, slowly became a hot, desolate wasteland. (2) Warming up, northern Europe gradually filled with racial groups, which then invaded and conquered the Roman Empire. (3) Europe became the center of civilization in the West. (4) The Near East became a dry, nearly treeless desert.
CONCLUSION—(*#6/38 Additional Evidences of the Flood / #7 The Water Explosion*) A number of variant Flood models could have been presented which probably would have summarized the data just as well. But they would not be much different than this one.The facts, taken as a whole, point to a worldwide Flood, and not to long ages of sedimentary strata production and transitional species evolution...
The Flood was so universal and cataclysmic in its cause, scope, and results that it has had lasting effects on the earth, the sky, and all life-forms from that day to this. It is impossible to discuss creation and evolution without giving close attention to the Flood and its powerful effects.
EVOLUTION COULD NOT DO THISThe trilobite is abundant in the very lowest fossil levels; but, according to *Levi Setti, its eye is said to have "possessed the most sophisticated eye lenses ever produced by nature," which required "knowledge of Fermat’s principle, Abbe’s sine law, Snell’s law of refraction and the optics of birefringent crystal." He concludes: "The lenses look like they were designed by a physicist."
Because crayfish and lobsters live their lives moving backward, they have an unusual internal plumbing system. The kidney is located in front of the mouth, so the gill circulation can carry the wastes away from the body. If the kidney outlet was near the back end as in most creatures, the wastes would be carried to the gills. This perfect design enables crayfish and lobsters to live efficiently, whether very slowly crawling forward or rapidly swimming backward.
One bacterium has small hairs twisted in a stiff spiral at one end of the creature. Upon closer microscopic examination, scientists were totally amazed to discover that this bacterium has a rotary engine! It spins this corkscrew like the propeller of a ship, driving itself forward through water. It can even reverse the engine! Researchers still do not understand how it is able to whirl the mechanism. Using this method of locomotion, it is able to attain speeds which would, if it were our size, propel it forward at 30 miles [48 km] per hour. Commenting on this, *Leo Janos in Smithsonian said that "nature invented the wheel." Another researcher, *Helmut Tributsch, declared: "One of the most fantastic concepts in biology has come true: Nature has indeed produced a rotary engine, complete with coupling, rotating axle, bearings, and rotating power transmission."
CHAPTER 14 - STUDY AND REVIEW QUESTIONS
EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD
GRADES 5 TO 12 ON A GRADUATED SCALE
1 - Discuss and contrast the theory of uniformitarianism with the fact of catastrophism.
2 - Select one of the following topics and write a report on how it points to a former worldwide Flood: (1) the existence of sedimentary strata and fossils; (2) why smaller, slower fossils are found lower in the strata and larger, faster ones are found at higher levels; (3) the fact that fossil deposits were laid down so rapidly; (4) the fact that, beginning with the lowest fossil strata, the Cambrian, there is such a vast amount of fossils, yet below it there is next to nothing; (5) the existence of polystrate trees; (6) coal and oil deposits; (7) the origin of graded bedding; (8) unity of the strata; (9) strata sequence and overthrusts.
3 - There are several evidences of what conditions were like before the Flood. In a brief paragraph or two, discuss one of the following: (1) pre-Flood climate; (2) pre-Flood atmosphere; (3) pre-Flood oceans.
4 - The Flood affected the entire world, and it was mentioned in later records. Select one of the following topics and write a half-page article on it: (1) Flood stories; (2) Noah’s name in world languages; (3) the Flood in Chinese; (4) the size of Noah’s Ark in the Biblical record; (5) Flood chronology in the Biblical record.
5 - The Flood exerted the most powerful effects on our planet of any event since the six-day Creation. Select one of the following topics and write one or several paragraphs explaining how one of these effects points us to the Flood: (1) continental shelves; (2) seamount corals; (3) submarine canyons; (4) existence of the oceans; (5) higher lakes; (6) larger rivers; (7) immense erosion and sedimentation; (8) sedimentary strata; (9) varve dating; (10) dinosaurs; (11) mountain building; (12) subterranean streams; (13) volcanism; (14) volcanic pollutants; (15) glaciation; (16) increased tropical rainfall for a time afterward; (17) sudden warming.
6 - Write your own Flood model, indicating the possible sequence of events during and after the flood.
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