Geology and the

Flood of Noah
Chris Ashcraft
NWcreation.net

Origin of Fossiliferous Rock

Natural or Supernatural?
Geologists claim the fossil record
was formed through purely natural
processes, and interpret the fossil
record as a history of life over
>600 millions of years.
The Bible says there was a
supernaturally-based global flood,
and creation science interprets the
fossil record as being the result of
the flood of Noah.

Monument Valley Navajo Park

Could a naturalist
correctly interpret the
geological evidence from a
supernaturally-based
global flood?

Geology and the Flood of Noah

Biblical Testimony
Catastrophe vs Uniformity
Fossiliferous Rock
Rapid Formations

Stratified Deposits
Widespread Deposits
Canyons
Fossils

Age Dating Problems

Source of Flood Water

Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon

What Does the Bible Say?

Genesis 6

Noahs Ark Size

450ft long / 75ft wide
/ 45ft high

12

And God saw the earth, and

behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted their way upon the earth. 13
And God said to Noah, "I have
determined to make an end of all flesh;
for the earth is filled with violence
through them; behold, I will destroy
them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an
ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the
ark, and cover it inside and out with
pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it:
the length of the ark three hundred
cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its
height thirty cubits.

What Does the Bible Say?

Genesis 6

Noahs ark preserved

two of every living
kind of land animal.

18

But I will establish my

covenant with you; and you shall come
into the ark, you, your sons, your wife,
and your sons' wives with you. 19 And
of every living thing of all flesh, you
shall bring two of every sort into the
ark, to keep them alive with you; they
shall be male and female. 20 Of the
birds according to their kinds, and of
the animals according to their kinds, of
every creeping thing of the ground
according to its kind, two of every sort
shall come in to you, to keep them
alive.

What Does the Bible Say?

Genesis 7

19

And the waters prevailed so

mightily upon the earth that all the high
mountains under the whole heaven were
covered; 20 the waters prevailed above
the mountains, covering them fifteen
cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that
moved upon the earth, birds, cattle,
beasts, all swarming creatures that
swarm upon the earth, and every man; 22
everything on the dry land in whose
nostrils was the breath of life died..

The mountains were

covered by 22.5 ft, and
every animal that
breathed on land died.

What Does the Bible Say?

Genesis 8

Flooding continued for

150 days, and the
mountains were not
visible for 10 months.

the fountains of the deep and

the windows of the heavens were closed,
the rain from the heavens was
restrained, 3 and the waters receded
from the earth continually. At the end of a
hundred and fifty days the waters had
abated; 4 and in the seventh month, on
the seventeenth day of the month, the
ark came to rest upon the mountains of
Ar'arat. 5 And the waters continued to
abate until the tenth month; in the tenth
month, on the first day of the month, the
tops of the mountains were seen.

Catastrophism vs
Uniformitarianism
Catastrophism - Prior to the 19th
century it was largely assumed by
scientists that catastrophes such
as the Biblical flood was
responsible for the majority of the
earths fossils and sedimentary
rock.

Is the Grand Canyon

evidence of a catastrophe
or millions of years of
erosion?

Uniformitarianism - Around 1850s

the non-catastrophic view of
earths geology began to develop,
which suggested that gradual
processes and uniform intensities
were instead responsible.

Revival of Catastrophism

Channeled Scablands

In the 1920s Harlen Bretz proposed that

features in eastern Washington must
have been formed by large scale flooding
of catastrophic proportion. The geologic
community initially thought the
hypothesis was outrageous, and refused
the idea of a catastrophic flood. At that
time, most geologists sided by the
principles of Uniformitarianism.

Scabland Features
Many of the larger scabland
features cannot be identified
while standing on the
ground. Several were only
discovered after field
researchers observed them
from airplanes. Only from the
air are the rolling hills west of
Spokane identified as giant
ripple marks. Similar to the
ripple marks seen at the
beach or lake shore, these
hills are up to 30 feet high
and 250 feet apart.

Giant Ripples

The Missoula Flood

Glacial Lake Missoula
covered a large area of what
is now western Montana. It
held over 520 cubic miles of
water, covered over 3,000
square miles, and was over
2,000 feet deep at the edge
of a glacial dam.

Destruction by Flooding

In about two days the water

of Lake Missoula emptied
through the breached dam.
The amount of escaping
water was equal to ten times
the discharge of all the
Earth's rivers today.

The Missoula Flood

Flood waters over 400
feet deep and traveling at
over 90 miles per hour
destroyed and reshaped
the US landscape from
Montana to the Pacific
Ocean.

Landsat Satellite Photo

The Missoula Flood

WILLAMETTE VALLEY

The flood transported the rich

soil of Eastern Washington to the
Willamette Valley in Oregon.
Larger boulders and rocks
carried down the narrow
Columbia River Gorge can still
be seen around Portland. The
flood also formed large gravel
bars. Alameda Ridge, a
neighborhood in Northeast
Portland, is built on one of these
large gravel bars.

Natural Wonders: Rock of ages'

roiling tale
The Seattle Times - 2/10/2003

Palouse Falls Gorge, WA

Mystified by the forces that could have

exposed such massive features, Bretz set out
in the early 1920s to solve the riddle. He
returned with a hypothesis that was
dismissed as near lunacy: in a region that
sees less moisture in a year than Seattle gets
in a month, Bretz concluded the entire
landscape was carved by water.
Bretz, according to some reports, was
quickly isolated as a crank, while his critics'
theories continued to make it into textbooks.
Fifty years later, Bretz was hailed as a hero,
and in 1979, at age 96, given geology's
highest honor the Penrose Medal, which
rewards one researcher each year for
exceptional contributions to geology.
Two years later, he passed away.

Revival of Catastrophism
In the end, the truth of
catastrophism did win,
but it took more than 50
years to see the project
through. And this was
despite the fact that the
event in question was
relatively easy to
document through field
observations.
E. K. Peters, No Stone
Unturned: Reasoning About
Rocks and Fossils, 1991, pp.
78 and 84.

Fossil Record
Natural or Supernatural Origin?
Fossil - Any recognized
evidence of preexisting life.
Animal bones
Petrified trees
Impression of plant
leaves
Tracks or footprints
Fecal matter

Most fossils are excavated

from sedimentary rock.

Sedimentary Rock Types

Sedimentary rock is typically
formed when eroded particles
settle out of water and are
compressed into a rock.
Sandstone (mostly quartz)
Shale (fine silt and clay)
Limestone (calcite from shells)
Arches National Monument

Sedimentary Rock Characteristics

Sedimentary rock typically
exists as distinct layers or
strata.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona

Superimposed - Oldest strata

lies on the bottom with
successively younger above
Original Horizontality - particles
settle by gravity, so strata was
originally horizontal.
Lateral Continuity - originally
extended in all directions until
thinned or terminated.

Sedimentary Rock Extent

Sedimentary rock blankets
the entire earth.
Except where erosion or
uplift has removed these
layers, every inch of the
earth is covered in hundreds
of feet and in places
kilometers of thickness.
Exposed Rock Layers

Sedimentary Rock Quantity

Limestone exists in such vast
quantities it has been used in the
construction of tremendous
monuments such as the pyramids
and the sphinx, which are made
entirely of this sedimentary rock.
Limestone - sedimentary rock
composed of calcium carbonate
(CaC03) from invertebrate
exoskeleton debris.

Limestone Monuments

Geological Column
Geological column is the
name for the cross section of
differing layers of sedimentary
rocks that were identified by
correlating strata from various
location.
The geological column is a mile
thick on average.

All layers can be found in very

few locations (less than 1% of
the earths surface).
Geological Column

Strata Correlation
Exposed strata is examined for
characteristics it contains, such
as index fossils, and compared
with layers visible in other
locations.
Layers similar to these in Bryce
Canyon can be found elsewhere
in Utah and other states such as
Colorado.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Correlating Sedimentary Rock Strata

Correlating Sedimentary Rock Strata

Fossil Sorting
Naturalistic Assumptions:
1) Fossil sorting is believed to
represent the history of life on
earth.
2) Fossils in the lowest layers are
believed to have lived before
those in upper layers.
3) The first appearance of a fossil
is believe to be the time when it
evolved.
4) The last appearance of a fossil is
believe to be the time it went
extinct.
Geological Column

Out of Place Fossils

Assumption: The last appearance
of a fossil is believe to be the
time when it went extinct.
The Coelacanth pre-dates the
dinosaurs by millions of years,
and was once thought to have
gone extinct with them 65
million years ago until it was
discovered alive and well in
1938 deep in the Indian Ocean
off Madagascar.
Coelacanth - Living Fossil

Ubiquitous Marine Fossils

Marine fossils are found on almost every mountain range in the

world (Alps, Andes, etc.), which is evidence that at some time in
the past the oceans covered the continents.
Some scientists believe the continents sank and came back up
to accomplish these deposits, however, every layer of the
geological column possesses marine fossils without exception.
Continent subsidence could only explain their ubiquitous
presence if this occurred repeatedly for each and every layer.

Marine Index Fossils

Marine fossils
are found in
every layer of the
geological
column, and are
so common, they
are used as
index fossils.

Marine Index Fossils

Fossil Sorting
The flood was not an instantaneous event and actually took
150 days to reach its devastating conclusion. The sorting of
fossils simply represents different times of burial that are
expected due to the varying abilities to avoid and survive a
flood of that nature..
General Sorting Order of Fossils
Man
Warm blooded animals
Cold blooded animals
Free swimming marine
Bottom dwelling marine

Factors that would affect times

of death and burial during the
global flood of Noah
Habitat Elevation
Mobility vs Sessile
Environmental Tolerance
Intelligence

Rapid Deposition
Touchet beds
(Missoula flood slackwater deposits)

There are up to 40 rhythmite

layers exposed in Burlingame
canyon, near Walla Walla,
Washington.
In 1926 the Burlingame Canyon
was observed to have formed in
less than six days. It measures
1500 feet long, up to 120 feet
deep, and 120 feet wide.
Burlingame Canyon

Rapid Erosion
In 1904 the Gardena Farming District
constructed a series of irrigation
canals. In March, 1926, tumbleweeds
collected at a concrete constriction
along one of the canals choking the
flow of water. In order to clean out the
obstruction, engineers diverted the
flow into a ditch leading to nearby Pine
Creek.

Burlingame Canyon

Measures 1500 feet long,

up to 120 feet deep, and
120 feet wide.

The backed-up water flowed into the

ditch under extreme pressure and
velocity, and the underlying stratum
gave way. What once was an
insignificant ditch became in
impressive canyon in under 6 days.

Mt. St. Helens Catastrophes

The eruption at Mt. St. Helens on
May 18, 1980 was an important
geological event because we
witnessed and documented largescale catastrophic processes that
are otherwise extremely rare.
For creation science, the event
was most notable because of the
rapid deposition and erosion that
occurred providing a sizable model
of the type of activity likely to have
taken place during the great
Biblical flood of Noah.

Rapid Deposition at Mt. St. Helens

Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens

Stratified layers up to 400 feet

thick formed as a result of
landslides, pyroclastic flow,
mudflows, etc., during the Mt.
St. Helens eruption. Fine
laminae from only a millimeter
thick to more than a meter high
formed in just a few seconds
each. A deposit more than 25
feet in thickness, and
containing upwards of 100 thin
layers accumulated in just one
day on June 12, 1980.

Rapid Erosion at Mt. St. Helens

Little Grand Canyon

Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens

On March 19, 1982 a small

eruption melted the snow that
had accumulated in the crater
over the winter, and a resulting
mud flow eroded a canyon
system up to 140 feet deep. The
deepest of the canyons has
affectionately been called the
little Grand Canyon of the Toutle
River, and is one-fortieth the
size of its namesake.

More Rapid Erosion

Spilling from the crater, Loowit
Falls reshapes the north slope of
the volcano. Youd expect a
hardrock canyon to be thousands,
even hundreds of thousands of
years old, says Peter Frenzen,
monument scientist, but this was
cut in less than a decade.
Mt. St. Helens
Loowit Falls Canyon

National Geographic, May 2000, p. 121.

The Grand Canyon

Secular geologists have taught
for many years that the
Colorado river eroded the Grand
Canyon over several millions of
years based on the
uniformitarian assumptions.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona

However, researchers have only

recently determined that the
Grand Canyon is a geologic
infant in comparison to
previous estimates.

Grand Canyon Catastrophe

Creation scientists have taught
for many years that the Grand
Canyon was eroded rapidly when
a dam on the northern end burst
causing a massive catastrophic
flood of water to cut through the
Colorado plateau rapidly.
Grand Canyon, Monument to Catastrophe
- A creationist guidebook to the Grand
Canyon and the Colorado Plateau. by
Steven A. Austin, ed.: 1994, Institute for
Creation Research, Santee, Calif. ISBN #
0-932766-33-1

Grand Canyon Geologic Infant

Grand Canyon Geologic Infant

University of Arizona 19-Jul-02

Geologists now believe that a massive

flash flood has occurred carrying 37 times
more water than the largest ever recorded
on the Mississippi River. It is now
estimated that Marble Canyon and the
Inner Gorge may be no more than
700,000 years old, and much younger
than the earlier 3-million- to 5-millionyear-old estimates. A third of the canyon's
depth may have been cut in the blink of a
geologic eye. They also have found
evidence of a 400,000 cfs flow that
occurred about 4,000 years ago.

Rapid Strata Formation

Layers automatically form
anytime particles are
suspended in water. Larger
particles settle-out first and
smaller particle after
creating distinct layers.
Differences in density, size,
or shape of particles will
cause them to fall at
different speeds creating
distinct strata.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Small Particles
Medium Particles
Large Particles

Mechanisms of Rapid Deposition

Mud Flows or Soil Liquefaction water saturated soils take on
liquid properties and flow. Soils
can becomes liquified when
soaked with water and disturbed
by waves, earthquakes, etc.

Turbidity Currents
Produced in the Lab

Turbidity currents - Currents

whose movement is driven by
the action of gravity pulling
sediment rich water. Underwater
landslides that occur when
saturated soil or sediments flow
by gravity.

Widespread Turbidite Deposits

Turbidites - Sandstone deposits
resulting from turbidity currents
carrying particles of widely
different sizes.
Turbidites Characteristics
Graded Bedding - coarse
particles on the bottom and finer
particles on top
Many thin layers

Deep Water Turbidites in

the Ouachita Mountains,
Arkansas

Widespread Turbidite Deposits

Tapeats Sandstone - Turbidite
Graded bed - Lowest layer
possesses coarse-grained
sandstone and large boulders
Thin layers formed by a series of
underwater flows of sand.
Total thickness 125 325 feet
About 30% of all sedimentary
rocks in the Grand Canyon are
turbidites formed through
deposition by turbidity currents.
Grand Canyon, Arizona

Widespread Turbidite Deposits

Tapeats Sandstone
(light color) covers most of North
America

Shepherds Point, Utah

Ventura Basin, CA
Marathon, TX
Grand Canyon, AZ
Castle Point, New Zealand

Some geologists suggest that 50%

of the world's sedimentary rocks
might be turbidites.

Widespread Fossils
ARE FOSSILS EXPECTED?

Following death, decomposition

occurs so the organic matter is
again usable for plants.
Wood decomposes faster than
other matter such as bone
because it is made of pure sugar
(cellulose), which is the preferred
food for decomposers.

Petrified Forest National Park, Utah

Wood will only become petrified if

buried in a mineral rich solution,
and inaccessible to living bacteria
and fungi.

Polystrate Trees
Petrified tree trunks are found
that frequently cross several
layers of sedimentary rock
indicating they were deposited at
the same time.

This 30 foot vertical fossil tree is

one of hundreds found near
Cookville, TN in the Kettles coal
mines. Many span layers of
sandstone and coal, proving
these layers formed rapidly.
Kettles Coal Mines
Cookville, TN

Yellowstones Petrified Forest

Yellowstones
Petrified Forest

Across the valley rise the slopes of Specimen Ridge, but the forest you
see there today is only the latest chapter in a remarkable story. Buried
within the volcanic rocks that compose the mountain are twenty-seven
distinct layers of fossil forests that flourished 50 million years ago.

Mechanism for Polystrate Trees

Forest trees that were
sheered by the volcanic
blast were found floating
upright in Spirit Lake
suggesting a mechanisms
for the formation of
polystrate trees that was
proposed by Steven Austin
of the Institute for Creation
Research during
investigations of the Mt. St.
Helens catastrophe.
Upright Floating Logs in Spirit Lake

Mechanism for Polystrate Trees

It was also found that
these trees would sink to
the bottom in an upright
position and become
buried in sediment.
Steven Austin proposed
that vertical polystrate
trees formed by this action
during the great Biblical
flood of Noah.
Upright Floating Logs in Spirit Lake

Rapid Fossil Formation

US Patent for Petrified Wood
US Patent & Trademark Office, Patent
No. 4,612,050

Petrified Forest National Park

A mineralized sodium silicate

solution for the application to
wood has a composition causing
it to penetrate the wood and jell
within the wood so as to give the
wood the non-burning
characteristics of petrified wood.

Rapid Coal Formation

Experiments by Dr. George R. Hill and Dr. Don C.
Adams at the University of Utah have shown that
plant matter can be turned into coal in a matter of
hours.
GEORGE R. HILL Dean of College of Mines & Mineral
Industries, "A rather startling and serendipitous discovery
resulted....These observations suggest that in their formation,
high rank coals,....were probably subjected to high
temperature at some stage in their history. A possible
mechanism for formation of these high rank coals could have
been a short time, rapid heating event." [Six Hours], Chemical
Technology, May, 1972, pp. 292-296.

Recent Coal Formation

Sulfur Springs Arkansas
Nov. 27 - 1948

While I was working in the Municipal

Electric Plant in Thomas, Okla. in 1912, I
came upon a solid chuck of coal which
was too large to use. I broke it with a
sledge hammer. This iron pot fell from the
center, leaving the impression, or mould
of the pot in a piece of the coal.
Jim Stull (an employee of the company)
witnessed the breaking of the coal, and
saw the pot fall out.

Creation Evidences Museum,

Glen Rose, Texas.

I traced the source of the coal and found

that it came from Wilburton, Okahoma
Mines.
Frank J. Kennord

Rapid Oil Formation

Geologists have claimed that petroleum formation from plant and
animal remains requires more than 100 millions of years, but recent
experiments have shown that oil can be produced under the right
conditions in a matter of minutes.
Experiments by the U.S. Bureau of mines showed that petroleum (oil) can be
produced from organic material in only 20 minutes. Hayden R. Appell, Y.C. Fu,
Sam Friedman, et al, Converting Organic Wastes to Oil, RL-7560 (Washington,
D.C., United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1971.)
" British scientists claimed to have invented a way to turn household garbage into
oil suitable for home heating or power plant use. 'We are doing in 10 minutes what
it has taken nature 150 million years to do', said Noel McAuliffe of Manchester
University..." Sentinel Star, 2/26/1982
Middleton, Holyland, Loewenthal, Bruner, "Bottom line - Economic accumulations
of oil and gas can be generated in thousands of years in sedimentary basins that
have experienced hot fluid flow for similar durations." The Petroleum Exploration
Society of Australia No. 24, 1996, p. 6-12

Rapid Oil Formation

Changing World Technologies in

Philadelphia has constructed a plant
that can change almost any carbon
based matter into oil.

The process requires:

DISCOVER Vol. 24 No. 5 (May 2003)

super-hydration
modestly high temperatures
modestly high pressures
15 minutes cooking time

Thermal Depolymerization
Plant in Philadelphia

"The chief difference in our process is

that we make water a friend rather
than an enemy," he says. "The other
processes all tried to drive out water.
We drive it in, inside this tank, with
heat and pressure. We super-hydrate
the material... Brian Appel CEO

Rapid Oil Formation

Thermal Depolymerization Plant in Philadelphia

Age Dating Techniques

C-14

Decay

N-14

Uranium

Decay

Lead

Potassium

Decay

Argon

Parent and Daughter Isotopes

Radiometric dating techniques

measure the quantity of elements
that can result from the radioactive
decay of a parent isotope.
C-14 - Carbon-based life forms
Other Isotopes - igneous rocks

Critical Assumptions

Amount of parent?
Amount of daughter isotope?
Constant decay rate?
Closed system - no adding or
subtracting of materials?

C-14 Production and Use

Cosmic Rays (radiation)

Collision with
atmospheric N
forms C-14

C-14 combines with oxygen to form

carbon dioxide (CO2)

C-14 is produced in the atmosphere and assimilated into

plants as carbon dioxide then passes through the food chain.

Problem with C-14 Dating

C-14
decays
Organisms are dated by
measuring the radioactive
emissions of C-14.

Critical Assumption - The amount of

C-14 produced in the
atmosphere has been constant
throughout history.
Problem - It has been determined
that the present production rate
of C-14 exceeds the decay rate
by as much as 25 percent.

Note: In an attempt to correct for the increase in C-14 levels in

the atmosphere, the sample being dates is compared with
emissions from a standardizing sample that originates from early
in the 19th century, and before the industrial revolution which is
thought to have increased C-14 atmospheric levels.

Excessive C-14 Dates

Conclusion - Our atmosphere has
changed and may still be changing.
Rainbow only after the flood
Ozone Hole
Global Warming

It is likely there was less C-14 being

produced in the atmosphere before
the flood. Organisms are dated
based on current C-14 levels and
those with small amounts of C-14 are
believed to possess less due to
decay and therefore calculated to be
older than is probably correct.

Igneous Isotope Age Dating

Radioactive isotopes - Used to date
igneous rocks and thereby determine a
minimum age of sedimentary strata
associated with them. Sedimentary rocks
can not be directly dated with isotopic
dating techniques.
Critical Assumptions
Original amount of parent element?
Original amount of daughter isotopes?
Constant decay rate?
Closed system?

Igneous Dike

Basaltic rocks of Uinkaret Plateau

six K-Ar model ages
five Rb-Sr model ages
one Rb-Sr isochron age
one Pb-Pb isochron age

0.01 to 17 million
1270 to 1390 million
1340 million
2600 million

Inconsistent
Age Dating

Paleozoic
Precambrian

Gardenas Basalt (Precambrian)

five K-Ar model ages
six Rb-Sr model ages
one K-Ar isochron age
one Rb-Sr isochron age

791 to 853 million

980 to 1100 million
715 million
1070 million

Excessive Age Dating

Sunset Crater, Northern Arizona

Potassium-argon: 200,000+
Reality: AD 1065

Lava flows at Mt. Ngaurhoe, New

Zealand
Potassium-argon: 275,000
Reality: 1949, 1954, 1975

Hualalai basalt, Hawaii

Mt. Etna basalt, Sicily

Potassium-argon: 1.4 22 million

Reality: AD 1801
Potassium-argon: 140,000
350,000
Reality: 1972

Mt. Etna, Sicily

Is Radiometric Dating Reliable?

Evolutionist William Stansfield, Ph.D. The Science of Evolution (New
York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977), p. 84.

"It is obvious that radiometric techniques may not be the

absolute dating methods that they are claimed to be. Age
estimates on a given geological stratum by different radiometric
methods are often quite different (sometimes by hundreds of
millions of years). There is no absolutely reliable long-term
radiological 'clock'.

Is Radiometric Dating Reliable?

Frederic B. Jueneman, "Secular Catastrophism," Industrial
Research and Development, Vol. 24 (June 1982), p. 21.
"The age of our globe is presently thought to be some 4.5
billion years, based on radio-decay rates of uranium and
thorium. Such 'confirmation' may be shortlived, as nature is not
to be discovered quite so easily. There has been in recent
years the horrible realization that radio-decay rates are not as
constant as previously thought, nor are they immune to
environmental influences. And this could mean that the atomic
clocks are reset during some global disaster, and events which
brought the Mesozoic to a close may not be 65 million years
ago, but rather, within the age and memory of man."

Source of the Great Flood

The flood was caused by a 40-day
rain, and subterranean fountains that
persisted for 150 days. (Gen 7:11-24)
Spring water such as the famous
Artesian Wells originates from ancient
underground aquifers like the
Ogallala aquifer, which spans 8
states in the US.

Fountains of the Deep

These buried waters are possibly a

remnants of the fountains of the great
deep that bursts forth during the
Biblical flood.

Source of the Great Flood

The flood possibly began when
the earth's crust was fractured
releasing subterranean caverns
of water and magma.
The earth now exists with a
broken crust like a jigsaw
puzzle with pieces whose
borders are defined by seismic
activity.
Mid Oceanic Ridge /
Lithosphere Plates

This picture shows locations of

the mid oceanic ridge, which
marks the boundary of the
lithosphere plates.

Naturalism (Atheism) vs
Supernaturalism (Theism)
The scientific community is adamant
that natural processes alone are
responsible for the existence of living
populations and the fossil record.

Could a naturalist
correctly interpret the
geological evidence from a
supernaturally-based
global flood?

A 1998 report in Nature finds that,

"among the top natural scientists,
disbelief is greater than ever; almost
total". The biologists in the National
Academy of Science possess the lowest
rate of belief of all the science
disciplines, with only 5.5% believing in
God.
Nature Vol. 394:6691 (1998)

Conclusion
The Bible states there was a worldwide flood, and terrestrial
organisms were saved from this event by supernatural
intervention. A naturalist cannot correctly interpret the
geological evidence from the Biblical global flood because
supernatural intervention was involved.

Although the world is covered in hundreds of feet of

sedimentary rock, the presence of the organisms alive today
are being explained naturalistically. To a naturalist, these
layers of sediment must have accumulated at a rate the
animals could survive naturally. Slow and gradual deposition
over millions of years and repeated local floods are required
to explain the existence of the geological column and the
persistence of life through natural mechanisms.

The fossil record is not evidence for evolution,

but rather the Biblical global flood of Noah.

Under-the-Rim With the Hoodoos

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Was There a Global Flood?

BIBLICAL SUMMARY

The 450 ft long ark was bore up by the

flood, and free floating for 7 months and
17 days, (Gen 6:15, 7:17, 8:4)

The flood water covered the mountain

by 15 cubits or 22.5 feet.
(Gen 7: 19-20)

The ark came to rest on the mountains

of Ararat 2.5 months before the tops of
the mountains were seen.
(Gen 8:4-5)

Everything that breathed on dry land

died. All birds, cattle, beasts, swarming
creatures, and every human.
(Gen 7:21-22)

Origin of Life
Natural or Supernatural?
Evolutionists claim that life on
earth developed through purely
natural processes. However, the
Bible says God created many
kind of organisms simultaneously,
including humans.
Today our ecosystem requires
the simultaneous coexistence of
both producers, consumers, and
also decomposers. The
extinction of any of these groups
would mean the end of life on
earth as we know it.

Evolution
Living populations change
through time by a process that
allows them to adapt to their
habitat or niche. Species become
individually specialized for their
specific local ecosystem.
The Bible says many kinds of
animals were saved from the
flood as a single breeding pair or
one species. Following their
reintroduction from the ark, many
more unique species have
developed.

Uniformitarianism
James Hutton (1785) Anticatastrophism - uniformity
of causes. The doctrine that
sedimentary rocks are the
result of cyclic processes of
decay and rejuvenation.

Charles Lyell

Charles Lyell (1875)

Gradualism - uniformity of
intensity. It was argued that the
same gradual processes and
intensities occurring today
were largely responsible for
geologic formations.

Names of Rock Layers

Many layers were named after
the location where they were
discovered or first studied.
Jura Mountains
Perm USSR
Devonshire England
Pennsylvania
Mississippi

Geological Column

Index Fossils
Particular layers in the geological
column are identified by the
unique fossil they contain.
(index fossils)
Index fossils must be widespread
on earth, but restricted to a limit
thickness of strata.
Most index fossils are marine
organisms such as the trilobite or
ammonite.
Geological Column

Geology and the Flood of Noah

Biblical Testimony
Catastrophe vs Uniformity
Fossiliferous Rock
Ubiquitous Marine Fossils
Rapid Formation

Stratified Deposits
Widespread Deposits
Canyons
Fossils
Coal
Oil

Age Dating Techniques ???

Source of Flood Water

Rainbow Bridge
Lake Powell, Utah

Age Dating Techniques

Relative Age Dating - "A is older than B.
Most rock strata were named and
assigned old ages before the first use
of radioactive age estimating methods.

Law of lateral continuity: layers extend

laterally in all directions.

Law of superposition: the oldest layer is

at the bottom of the sequence and the
youngest is at the top.

Law of inclusions: any piece of rock that

has become included in another rock or
body of sediment must be older

Law of cross-cutting: any feature that

cuts across a rock or body of sediment
must be younger.

Geology and the Flood of Noah

Biblical Testimony
Catastrophe vs Uniformity
Fossiliferous Rock
Ubiquitous Marine Fossils
Rapid Formation

Stratified Deposits
Widespread Deposits
Canyons
Fossils
Coal
Oil

Age Dating Techniques ???

Source of Flood Water

Sipapu Bridge, Utah, USA

Natural Bridges National Monument