Good afternoon! It is another beautiful day here in the Arizona mountain foothills. My sister lives in Ohio and I have made the drive across country several times to visit. It always amazes me just how vast this continent is…and I really have only seen a small portion of it.
That brings us to our question of the week – where did all the water that created a global flood come from? Parts of our country experience local floods on a regular bases as do other parts of the world…yet the thought of the entire land masses of our planet being under water seems almost unbelievable. Until you look at the facts!
The bible gives us several clues. “The sources of the water are given in Genesis 7:11 as ‘the fountains of the great deep’ and the ‘windows of heaven’.”[1] In addition, references to “fountains of the deep” and “the deep” or “the great deep” are found in Genesis 1:2; Genesis 8:2; Job 38:30, 41:32; Psalm 42:7, 104:6; Proverbs 8:28; Isaiah 51:10, 63:13; Ezekiel 26:19; Jonah 2:3; Amos 7:4) and usually refers to the oceans. In Ezekiel (31:4, 15) it appears to refer even to subterranean waters. Thus, we know that “fountains of the deep” is speaking of oceanic and subterranean waters.
“Genesis 7:11 says that on the day the flood began, there was a “breaking up” of the fountains, which implies a release of the water, possibly through large fissures in the ground or in the sea floor. The waters that had been held back burst forth with catastrophic consequences.”2
Austin et al. created a model for catastrophic plate tectonics during the flood. They proposed “the ocean floor rapidly lifted up to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) [over a mile] due to an increase in temperature as horizontal movement of the tectonic plates accelerated. This would spill the seawater onto the land and cause massive flooding…”3
Another source of water would be the massive amounts of volcanic activity during that time. Today seventy percent or more of volcanic emissions is water (mostly steam). “Volcanic activity associated with the breaking up of the pre-flood ocean floor would have created a linear geyser (like a wall) of superheated steam from the ocean, causing intense global rain.”4 And we know from the many volcanic rocks that are interspersed between the fossil layers that volcanic activity clearly occurred during the flood.
In addition, the bible tells us that during the flood, there were forty days of a continuous deluge in the form of rain (Genesis 7:12). Genesis 2:5 tells us that there was no rain before man was created. Some have suggested that there was no rainfall anywhere on the earth until the time of the flood. But there is no scriptural reference to this so it is an unknown.
But scripture does tell us water came from “windows of heaven”. Could there have been a vapor canopy surrounding the Earth at that time? One that could possibly shield pre-flood inhabitants from harmful radiation?
Two scientists, D. E. Rush and Dr. Larry Vardiman, have looked into this. Their conclusion? A “vapor canopy holding more than 7 feet (two meters) of rain would cause the earth’s surface to be intolerably hot, so a vapor canopy could not have been a significant source of the flood waters.” Vardiman proposed that “much of the ‘waters above’ could have been stored in small ice particles distributed in equatorial rings around the earth similar to those around Venus.”6
Though, a vapor canopy or layer most likely was not the major source of the Flood waters, Genesis states an astonishing amount of rainfall occurred during the flood. The word used in Genesis is not the term applied to ordinary rainfall.
So where did the waters come from? From the 1) breaking open of subterranean waters, 2) uplifting of oceanic floors spilling massive amounts of water onto dry land, 3) volcanic activity spewing unimaginable amounts of water into the air, and 4) the breakup of a vapor canopy (most likely due to the volcanic emissions).
Another thought; many scientists believe there were no pre-flood lofty mountains. They believe, and I do as well, that the tall mountain ranges we have today are a result of the flood. But even so, with the above mentioned mechanisms in place, there would have been enough water to cover the earth as it stands today. Even our tallest mountain peaks would have been under several meters of water.
Enjoy your beautiful spring week!
God bless and take care-
Willow
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