The Great Flood: The Grand Canyon
If the flood of Noah was believed to be an event, then there must be geological evidence that proves its occurrence. The Bible talks about how The Flood was a worldwide event. Genesis 7:21 tells us “the water prevailed more and more upon the earth so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered, ….all flesh that moved on the earth perished.” The Flood’s worldwide evidence has proved the existence of this disastrous flood. This evidence includes buried fossils, the planet being reshaped, and rock layers. The Flood took place around 5,000 BC and caused hundreds of thousands of creatures to be buried all over the earth. The Grand Canyon contains different types of creatures, fossils, and plants. The Great Flood was an actual event because there is worldwide evidence of creatures, plants, and buried fossils that support this event's existence. The Bible proclaims that The Flood actually occurred. Let’s see why this is believed to be true.
Studying the Bible’s perspective of The Flood can help us understand what took place before, during, and after this catastrophic event. During the days of Noah, the lands were completely destroyed. The original continent was broken up into pieces and was separated by thousands of miles. There were no snow-covered Himalayas, no Alps, no Rockies, and no Mississippi River flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The world of Noah was nothing like the world that is present today. Many Geologists have come to a point of confusion because they can't seem to put the pieces together of how this could be so. The Flood was universal which means that it covered the entire earth. Genesis 7:19-20 says “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered”. The Flood prevailed over the tops of the highest hills under the whole of heaven. If this universal flood actually occurred, then billions of dead things laid down by rock layers should be found all around the earth. Billions of dead things laid down by water have been found all over the earth. Many scientists believe that most of the fossil record is a result of millions of years of deposition. This is not true because most of the fossil record is the graveyard of Noah’s day. The evidence of the global flood is crying out to us all over the earth. The evidence proves that there was a global flood. The Flood altered the earth’s climate and resulted in an Ice Age. There are two aspects of The Flood that were involved with the Ice Age. The first aspect was the extensive volcanic activity during and after the Flood. The second aspect was the warm oceans following The Flood. During the Ice Age, almost 30% of the earth’s land surface was entirely covered by ice. In North America, an ice sheet covered almost all of Canada and the United States. The extent of the Ice Age is known because the glaciers left unique characteristics on the Earth's landscape. The characteristics from the glaciers are very similar to the characteristics on the glaciers that we see and test today (lateral and terminal moraines).
When The Flood occurred evidence such as rock layers, fossils, plants, and animals were buried all over the world. Fossils of sea creatures have been found thousands of feet above sea level. This was caused by the ocean waters that flooded over all of the continents. Most of the rock layers that are in the walls of the Grand Canyon (that are more than a mile above sea level) contain marine fossils. A great example would be the Redwall Limestone. The Redwall Limestone commonly contains crinoids (sea lilies), fossil brachiopods (a clam-like organism), gastropods (marine snails), corals, and bryozoans (lace corals), bivalves (types of clams), trilobites, cephalopods, and fish teeth. Creation scientists know that the marine fossils high above sea level came from the mountains rising. The mountains formed when the plates crashed straight into each other which put the fossils from the ocean floor at the top of the Himalayas. Genesis 7 tells us that all of the highest hills and mountains were covered with water. It also says that all air-breathing life on the land was swept away and perished. When this happened, rock layers with billions of dead animals and plants were rapidly buried and fossilized in mud, lime, and sand. Billions of animal and plant fossils are found in “graveyards” where they had to be buried on a rapid scale. They were forced to be buried on a very large scale. The Flood caused hundreds of thousands of types of creatures to be buried in multiple places. Hundreds of thousands of marine creatures were buried with reptiles, amphibians, millipedes, scorpions, insects, and spiders in a fossil graveyard at Montceau-Les-Mines, France. Over 100,000 fossil specimens (representing more than 400 species) have been recovered from a shale layer. They are associated with coal beds in the Mazon Creek area near Chicago. This spectacular fossil graveyard includes ferns, insects, scorpions, and tetrapods buried with jellyfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish. The details of these creatures are very well-preserved. Many different marine animals and land creatures have been found buried together. There is only one explanation for this irony and it is the ocean waters that rose and swept over this disastrous flood. Sedimentary rocks have been found on every continent all over vast areas. This evidence proves that the ocean water covered all of the continents in the past. Geologists have found evidence that the sediments were deposited very rapidly. The fossil-bearing sediment layers were deposited rapidly across many continents at the exact same time. The lowest sedimentary layers that are located in the Grand Canyon are the Tapeats Sandstone (which belongs to Sauk Megasequence). The Tapeats Sandstone and its equivalents (the layers that contain the same materials) cover a large amount of the United States. The forces that deposited such a vast and worldwide series of deposits must have been very powerful. At the base of the layers are large boulders and sand beds that prove that the sediments were laid down very rapidly across America. They are evidence that powerful forces deposited these sediment layers very violently across the entire United States. The modern-day uniformitarian processes cannot account for this evidence. The only explanation for this evidence would be the global flood that Genesis describes.
The Flood of Noah caused strange things to happen such as sand being transported around the world, stones that look like the wave of seas frozen into them, and the earth’s long recovery from the shock of The Flood. Layers of very thick sandstone have been found around the earth. The Flood proves that this sandstone was carried across North America by water that was circling the globe. The Flood waters swept over all of the continents and powerfully deposited sediment layers across areas. These sediments must have traveled long distances (the sediments in the strata must have come from distant sources). The Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah is usually seen in the cliffs in and around Zion National Park. The Navajo Sandstone is above the Kaibab Limestone and it forms the rim rock of the Grand Canyon. Similar to the Grand Canyon sandstones, this sandstone contains pure quartz sand. The quartz sand gives it a very nice white color and it consists of remnants of sand “waves”. Geologists try to come up with alternate explanations for sand being carried across an entire continent. They believe that no known sediment transport system is capable of carrying sand across the entire North American continent during the required millions of years. This could have only happened if they were was a global flood. Geologists think that some unknown river system must have done a very complicated job. Even in their scientific belief system of the earth’s history, it would be impossible for such a river to have persisted for millions of years. The evidence proves that the water was flowing in only one direction. More than 500,000 measurements have been collected from 15,615 North American localities. Direction indicators of water current were recorded throughout the geologic record. The evidence indicates that water moved the sediments across North America. The sediments moved from the east and northeast to the west and southwest throughout the so-called Paleozoic. The only reasonable explanation is the global Flood in Genesis. Only the water currents of a global ocean (lasting only a few months) could have transported such sediments right across the North American continent to deposit the thick layers of rock in the ground (which blanket the continent). There is a beautiful wave that is located above the Vermilion Cliffs and is seventy miles north of the Grand Canyon. The Wave looks like a wave of the sea that is frozen in stone. How could this have happened? The catastrophic forces of the flood currents must have caused the “waves” to be preserved in stone. Geologists who do not believe in the Bible’s account of earth's history believe that these layers were formerly sand dunes. They believe that the sand dunes were laid down in dry conditions for a very long time. The Bible’s account of the global flood is a much more reasonable explanation for such large formations. Geologists believe that large sand waves were stacked up and put down very deep inside of the ocean water. The Wave contains all sorts of rock features such as whirlpools. How did the whirlpools get stuck in the sandstone? The sand must be flowing very quickly in a water slurry. Whirlpools can be formed in the sandstone as the sand flows. When the slurry stops the whirlpools freeze. Next, the new deposits of mud and sand are added on top of these layers. Lastly, the pressure pushes all of the water out and turns the wet sand into stone. The Wave is only a small part of the White Cliffs. How could a stream of water carry sand such a long-distance? The most reasonable explanation would be the global flood’s powerful currents that crossed the entire continent. Catastrophe is very well-known nowadays. For example, Hurricane Katrina caused around $100 billion (in the U.S.) in damage. The Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 killed about 230,000 people. The eruption/aftermath of Mt. St. Helens made 150-foot-deep canyons in solid volcanic rock. Lastly, the earthquake in China in May of 2008 killed over 80,000 people and left millions homeless. What could have led to all of these catastrophes? The earth hasn’t been a quiet place after the Flood occurred. The period after the Flood was very violent and the rock layers speak of the violent period. Catastrophes continue to reshape the earth. The earth took a very long time to recover from the shock of the Flood. This is not that hard to believe because The Flood ripped apart the planet’s surface and cycled rocks throughout the mantle. These catastrophes that still occur should remind us that we are still under the Curse and that this earth will not last forever. The Flood left reminders of the Lord’s judgment on the sin of humans. The book of Revelation says that the earth will experience another period of global geologic catastrophe when The Lord once again judges the world.
All of the geological evidence that has been explained prove that the catastrophic flood did occur. The Flood reshaped the entire earth. This is why the earth looked like another planet. There’s flood evidence everywhere and it is crying out to us. Geologists cease to believe that such a flood could have ever occurred. There is evidence for The Flood such as billions of dead marine creatures buried in rock layers, fossils, dead plants, and dead animals. The Flood reshaped the entire Earth, making earthquakes and large volcanoes appear that dwarf anything observed in modern times. The Great Flood was an actual event because there is worldwide evidence of creatures, plants, and buried fossils that support this event's existence. When something occurs and is true, there is always evidence. There is more than enough information that proves The Great Flood's existence. The Great Flood was an actual event and there is much geological evidence that proves its occurrence. In conclusion, “Did The Great Flood actually occur?”, the geological evidence prove that it did indeed occur.
