Lets start with the Biblical record of the waters of the Flood as given in
Genesis 7 and 8 (KJV).
7:4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty
days and forty nights;
10. ...after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11. fountains of the great deep [were] broken up, and the windows of heaven
were opened.
12. and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters
increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
18. the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and
the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the
high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.
20. 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
8:1. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
2. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
3. And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the
end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seveteenth day of the
month, upon the mountains of Ararat. [150 days from start]
13. And it came to pass in the 601st year, in the first month, the first
day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: [Noah
removed covering].
14. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month,
was the earth dried.
------------------------
Of all the verses that talk of the waters only 7:19 and 20 seem to talk
of depth. In both verses the waters prevail and cover the hills and
mountains. The usual concept is to imagine the water getting deeper and
deeper. However, it is also possible to propose tsunamis, surges and
currents laying depoits which fill up valleys and low lands, thus raising
the base level such that the waters may not be getting deeper, rather
just higher in relation to the tops of the hills and mountains.
The Hebrew word that is translated as 'covered' is elsewhere in the
KJV translated as 'overwhelmed'. This brings up the question of if the
hills and mountains were continually submerged until God stopped the
breakup of the fountains of the deep (as implied by 'covered' as with a
blanket) or if they may have been 'overwhelmed,' or 'overswept' by waves and
surges from time to time? In either case there was no safe haven to which
the victims of the flood could flee. The physical evidence of dinosaur
(and other animal) tracks left in limestone or sandy mud (now rock)
implies that where those animals happened to be at the moment, the waters
had retreated and left exposed mud flats which they fled across, trying to
find some kind of safe retreat. This seems to support the concept of
overwhelming, over sweeping waves, rather than a thick blanket of water.
What about the 15 cubits. It has long been pointed out (by Morris and
Whitcome, and others) that 15 cubits is 1/2 the depth of the Ark and may
well represent the draft of the Ark. We need to remember that Noah and
family probably did not see much (if anything) of the outside world until
Noah removed the covering of the window some 40 days after they had
already landed. I feel certain that they were not out on top deck
making soundings to see if they were in deep water. It seems much more
reasonable to me to imagine that Noah and family noted that from the time
they lifted up on the waters until they landed they never touched
bottom. Wherever they drifted or were driven by wind, wave and current
they were always in water at least 15 cubits deep. They thus reasoned
that they had floated over any of the hills and mountains of which they
knew. (It has often been speculated that the Ark was built at a
relatively high elevation in a mountainous region). They also knew that
God said that all land aminals would die because of the waters and that that
would mean that there would be no safety on hill or mountain top. And so
Noah and family tell us that all the mountains were covered by 15 cubits
of water.
The breakup of the fountains of the deep as cause of flood waters.
In my word study on the fountains of the great deep as published in
CRSQ (June 1996), I conclude that the fountains were actually great
reservoir basins on the crust of the earth which hold the large masses
of water.
The 150 day breakup of these reservoirs may actually have been an
extended series of crustrial fractures resuliting in off the scale
earthquakes (perhaps starting slowly and building in ferocity and
frequency). The effect on the hydrosphere would be catastrophic.
Tsunami like surges would sweep around the globe originating from
thousands of localities. As these surges encountered reletively shallow
waters tremendous erosion would occure and the waves would pick up huge
loads of rock and soil (and life forms). Then in deeper waters the energy
of the wave would dissipate. The change in energy would have been gradual.
This would mean that the saturation point for the various sizes and
weights of the load would gradually cause the various sizes and weights
to quickly drop out of the water. Even layers of normally slow, still water
precipitating fine material (such as silt, clay and calicarous matter
(lime mud)) could be formed very quickly out of oversaturated water.
According to Clague and Bobrowski (1994, 'Tsunami deposits beneath tidal
marshes,' GSAB, v. 106, p. 1293-1303) tsunami deposits are generally
massive, sharply bounded at the top and bottom and contain detrital wood.
The contacts commonly are conformable. They state further that it is
unlikely that a river could deposit the widespread, sharply bounded,
sheets of moderately well sorted sand layers. This is similar to what is
found in the geologic record in many place, but on a much larger scale.
Shock wave surges from different directions would bring different types and
mixtures soil. Thus a sequence of differing sediments is quickly
deposited. .
Between surges, during slack water, some areas (where the Ark was not) may
have become exposed mud flats where rain drops, ripples and foot prints
could have been made. Then more waters came along and made deposits to
preserve the features.
Waves and surges would have moved large amounts of water from place to
place and at times created quite deep 'mounds' of waters which then,
between waves, tried to flow to lower elevations. Large currents lasting
for extended periods would form, eroding here and depositing
there. Many of the crossbedded sandstones such as the Coconino in Grand
Canyon may have been formed that way.
I just realized how long this is getting. Anyway, this is how I imagine
a large catastrophe, composed of thousands of events could cause the
thing we call the great FLood.
Allen Roy
Grand Canyon Creationary Geology Tours, see:
http://www.tagnet.org/anotherviewpoint/