If there was such an event as a worldwide flood, one would expect the rocks on the surface of the earth to give some indication of it. This article will discuss several lines of evidence that support this concept.
Trend towards catastrophlsm
The past decade has witnessed a basic change in geological thinking from the concept of small, slow changes over long periods of time to rapid catastrophism. The geological community is not adopting the concept of a universal flood, but new catastrophic interpretations fit well with the concept of a worldwide catastrophe as described in Genesis. A recent summary of advances in sedimentology in the leading geological news journal concludes, "The profound role of major storms throughout geologic history is becoming increasingly recognized" (Nummendal, 1982). The evidence for these storms is the same kind of evidence one would also expect from a flood as described in Genesis.
Distribution of marine sediments
The thickness of the sediments on the continents avetages about 1.5 kilometers (.93 miles) and is about five times that of the sediments on the floor of the oceans. It is surprising that about half of the sediments on the continents are of oceanic origin. They contain marine fossils and often marine types of sediments including limestone and limy shale. What is so much marine material of oceanic origin doing on the continents? A worldwide flood would better explain this abundance than would no flood. Of course, many geologists explain it by assuming that the continents in the past were at a lower level, permitting inundation by the sea. This may be precisely what a worldwide flood was all about. Worldwide flood models do not call for water to cover the highest present mountains, which are assumed to have risen mostly since the Flood.
Unique, widespread deposits
The widespread nature of unique sedimentary deposits with land-derived fossils on the continents is evidence of catastrophic activity for which there are no contemporary analogs. An outstanding example is the Triassic fossil-woodbearing Shinarump conglomerate, a member of the Chinle formation found in the Southwestern United States. This conglomerate, which occasionally passes into a coarse sandstone, is usually less than 30 meters (100 feet) thick, but is spread as an almost continuous unit over nearly 250,000 square kilometers (100,000 square miles) (Gregory, 1950). It suggests that forces much greater than those existing at present were necessary to spread such a unique deposit over so wide an area. That local sedimentary activities, as claimed by some, should produce such continuity is extremely difficult to imagine. Any ordinary valley or canyon would have broken this continuity. Basal conglomerates and other units found in many other geologic formations present the same evidence. It is difficult to conceive of such transport forces that would not have worldwide implications.
Turbidites
The new turbidite concept of numerous rapid underwater mudflows fits in very well with a catastrophe such as the Genesis flood. These mudflows can travel as far as 1,000 miles, sometimes at rates of more than 50 miles per hour, may be up to 60 feet thick, and can spread over 40,000 square miles. Only time will tell what proportions of the sediments of the earth will eventually be identified as turbidites. Dott (1963) mentions "some what less than 50 percent" turbidites for some sediments in the Ventura Basin in California. In a section from Devonian through Eocene in the Northwestern United States, he estimates 30 percent as graded turbidites. More and more deposits of a turbidite type are being described as this concept takes its triumphal course through sedimentological reinterpretation.
A single turbidite does not support the concept of a worldwide flood, but their abundance very much does. The increasing number of deposits on the continents that are being identified as turbidites indicates underwater activity on a scale that would be expected in a worldwide flood and is not at all representative of present sedimentary pat terns on the continents.
Paucity of erosional features at assumed time gaps
Frequently within the sedimentary layers of the earth, parts of the geologic column are missing. These usually represent millions to hundreds of millions of years according to the standard geologic time scale. Some of these missing portions can extend over major portions of continents. If these gaps transpired, they should show the effects of time; other wise, these layers were deposited rapidly, as expected, in a worldwide flood. True gaps should have a great deal of erosion that would be preserved under later deposition.
The almost complete absence of major erosional features (for example, the irregular topography now seen on the surface of the earth) in many such gaps suggests little time between periods of sedimentation. This would be predicted by a worldwide flood. A few fossil canyons exist (e.g., Cohen, 1976), but their almost universal absence in ancient sediments, compared to the present abundance of canyons over the surface of the earth, supports the concept of rapid deposition of sediments in the past with little time for erosion. Incidentally, a fossil canyon does not disprove flood activity. Erosion is expected during a flood, but the significant absence of erosion at these assumed time gaps indicates a short period of time, as expected during a worldwide flood. These gaps are common.
Conclusions
In summary, a fair amount of evidence supports the concept of a worldwide flood. The evidence for catastrophism, the abundance of marine sediments and turbidites on the continents, the more widespread distribution of unique terrestrial sedimentary deposits in the past than at the present, and the lack of time-dependent erosion features at pro posed time gaps—when all are put together they produce a rather cogent argument for a worldwide flood. Of course, creationists are fully aware that some data present problems for a flood model, but what is presented here should not be neglected. Facts don't cease to exist because they are ignored.
Selected Bibliography
Cohen, Z. 1976. "Early Cretaceous buried canyon: influence on accumulation of hydrocarbons in Helez Oil Field, Israel," American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 60( 1): 108-114.
Dott, R. R., Jr. 1963. "Dynamics of subaqueous gravity depositional processes," American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 47:104-128.
Gregory, H. E. 1950. "Geology and geography of the Zion Park region, Utah and Arizona." U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 220.
Hasel, G. F. 1975. "The Biblical view of the extent of the Flood. "Origins, 2:77-95.
Nummendal, D. 1982. "Clastics." Geotimes, 27(2):23.
