Evidence of a Global Flood in the United States!

Noah’s Flood is recorded in God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible tells us what happened during the Flood. Of course, since the Bible says it happened, that is enough evidence to show that a worldwide Flood really occurred. However, we have overwhelming evidence from outside the Bible for a worldwide Flood. It’s all right there in creation! All we have to do is look around at the evidence with an honest, scientific attitude.

This article will describe in detail how that evidence points to a global Flood. We will discuss the significance of features like planation surfaces, erosional remnants, and folded rocks in Earth’s crust. We will also describe how certain features can best be explained by the phases of Noah’s Flood. Lastly, we’ll peek into the evidence for a single Ice Age after Noah’s Flood.

First, though, we must answer the questions: What happened during the Flood? How did the floodwater move over the earth? Noah’s Flood can be divided into two stages: a time of rising water levels and a time of falling water levels. We call the time of rising water levels the Inundatory Stage and the time of falling water levels the Recessive Stage. These two stages can be further divided into five phases.

The first phase, called the Eruptive Phase, was the dramatic beginning of the Flood. God opened the “fountains of the great deep” and the “windows of heaven” (Genesis 7:11). The “fountains of the great deep” likely refers to an explosion of water from beneath the Earth’s crust. The “windows of heaven” refers to the 40 days and nights of rain mentioned in Genesis 7:12. The floodwater would have risen quickly during this initial blast of moving water. Of course, this phase was very violent, resulting in a lot of movement of Earth’s crust. This movement resulted in a large amount of folding, which we will explain later. Violence during this phase also caused faults and rifts to form in Earth’s crust. The fast currents during this phase would also have eroded huge areas of the surface of the Earth. This erosion resulted in large amounts of sediment in the water. This sediment filled in parts of the faults and rifts formed earlier during the phase.

The second phase is called the Ascending Phase, which was the period when the floodwaters rose slowly after the initial eruption of water from the ground. During this phase, all the sediments suspended in the water from the erosion during the Eruptive Phase would have sunk to the bottom. The heaviest sediments sank first, while the lighter particles sank more slowly, resulting in layers of sediment. The sediments hardened, forming sedimentary rock. We call this the Great Deposition.

The Zenithic Phase was the period when the floodwater reached its maximum depth. The end of this phase marked the end of the Inundatory Stage, meaning that the water stopped rising at this point.

After the Zenithic Phase, the floodwater began receding from the Earth. This time of falling water levels can be divided into two phases: the Sheet Flow Phase and the Channelized Flow Phase.

The Sheet Flow Phase started when the floodwaters began to drain off the Earth. At this point the water would have traveled in wide, fast “sheets” over the land. This is because there would have been little to block the flow of floodwater when the water was so deep. Only the tops of the mountains would have hindered the water’s progress.  The wide currents during this phase eroded large planation surfaces.

As the level of the floodwater decreased, the wide currents would encounter more and more obstacles. These obstacles would cause the currents of water to become narrower. This was the transition between the Sheet Flow Phase and the Channelized Flow Phase. These narrowed currents eroded canyons and valleys into the land. The Flood ended when all the water finished draining from the land and into the ocean basins.

In this article, we will dive deeper into the details of how Noah’s Flood explains the features we see in God’s creation. We hope and pray that this article will strengthen your faith in the Word of God.

The Eruptive Phase

The Eruptive Phase was the first phase in the Inundatory Stage of the Flood. This phase began with an eruption of water from the “fountains of the great deep” and 40 days and nights of rain (Genesis 7:11-12).

After these initial events, the water moved rapidly over the entire earth, planing and eroding the ground. These torrential currents eroded much of Earth’s surface and carried eroded sediments with them. Violence during this phase would have caused earthquakes and much vertical movement of Earth’s crust, which we call vertical tectonics. Another result of this violence is the folding we see in Earth’s crust.

Uniformitarians are people that believe that everything we observe on earth was formed at a constant rate. If this is true, then it would take millions of years for geologic features to form. They would say that “the present is the key to the past,” meaning that what is happening to the Earth at the present time is what has always been happening. However, we do not see any mechanism happening today that is violent enough to plane vast areas of land. The Eruptive Phase of Noah’s Flood is the only mechanism that was catastrophic enough to create this feature and others that we observe in rocks today. If the present were the key to the past, we would expect to see violent catastrophes happening today that warp rock layers and plane huge areas of land, but we do not.

During this phase some planation surfaces and unconformities were formed. We will discuss unconformities and planation surfaces in more detail in the next sections.

Planation Surfaces Show There Was a Flood

A planation surface is an area carved flat by water. These surfaces can be found all over the world and sometimes are planed into very hard rock. Planation surfaces are evidence for a worldwide Flood.

Planation surfaces give us excellent evidence for a global Flood for several reasons. For one, their worldwide occurrence shows that there was once water covering the entire earth. Remember, planation surfaces are carved by water! Also, the fact that they sometimes manifest in very hard rock attests to the catastrophic magnitude of the mechanism that eroded them.

 Figure 1

Noah’s Flood can easily explain the Wind River planation surface as well as all the other planation surfaces we see around the world. During the Flood’s Eruptive Phase and Sheet Flow Phase, wide currents carrying rocks and rubble swept over the surface of the earth. The rubble scraped and scoured the ground, creating large planation surfaces. We still see rocks and rubble on the tops of many planation surfaces today! Some of these rocks were brought from far away.

After the planation surfaces were formed, they were subject to tectonics and also erosion during the Channelized Flow Phase of the Flood. Streams and rivers also split up the planation surfaces into smaller sections.     

According to uniformitarians, planation surfaces should no longer exist. Planation surfaces today are eroding too fast to allow for the millions-of-years time frame that the uniformitarians hold to. If the planation surfaces we see today had been subject to millions of years of erosion, they would be gone by now. A recent Flood, however, allows for the current existence of planation surfaces. Simply stated, they have not had enough time to erode away! 

Planation surfaces show that there was a Flood. These large, flat areas, sometimes made of hard rock, show that violent, moving water must have eroded them. Also, planation surfaces had to have been formed recently because they are eroding quickly.

Unconformities: Another Uniformitarian Hurdle

An unconformity is a fossilized eroded surface. We see these eroded surfaces on the tops of mountains and buried beneath layers of sedimentary rock. Noah’s Flood is the best explanation for the erosion of unconformities.

In the western United States, we see what is known as the Great Unconformity. The Great Unconformity, probably a planation surface (see the above section), is visible near the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Here it is buried under thousands of feet of layered sedimentary rock. The Great Unconformity also manifests at the tops of the Wind River Mountains (mentioned above).

Figure 2: The Great Unconformity is visible on the tops of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming.

By observing the differences in the elevation of the Great Unconformity in various areas, we can determine what portions of the upper crust of the earth uplifted and what portions sank during the Flood.

A paraconformity is a type of unconformity that shows that there was no erosion in certain layers of rock. According to uniformitarians, these layers were exposed to erosion and the elements for millions of years. However, since there is no erosion in these layers, they must have been laid down quickly. Noah’s Flood would have deposited layers of rock in rapid succession.

Noah’s Flood explains the formation of unconformities. Violent currents during the Eruptive Phase of the Flood would have eroded large swaths of land. Huge amounts of sediment were deposited on top of these eroded swaths during the Ascending Phase of the Flood. As is the case with the Great Unconformity, some parts of the eroded surface were uplifted, while others sank. The uplifting caused the runoff of floodwater from areas of higher elevation to areas of lower elevation. This runoff washed away the sediments lying on top of the uplifted areas. That is why we see the Great Unconformity exposed at the tops of mountain ranges in some places and buried beneath sediments in others.

Figure 3 shows a part of the Great Unconformity in Colorado. 

Figure 3: The Great Unconformity is also visible in this cliff near Ouray, Colorado.

Unconformities are fossilized eroded surfaces that point to the existence of a great Flood. A paraconformity is a type of unconformity which shows that certain layers of rock were laid down in quick succession, which supports a rapid Flood.

Folding is Evidence of a Recent, Catastrophic Flood

The Earth’s crust is folded in many places. These folds can be seen in layers of rock visible in formations and cliffs. How can a geologist explain this strange phenomenon? When a geologist looks at folding through the lens of Noah’s Flood, he or she can easily find the answers.

Figure 4: Folded rocks above a beach in southern Oregon

The folding in the Earth’s crust points overwhelmingly to a catastrophic event. The violence during the Eruptive Phase of Noah’s Flood and the incredible weight of the water during the Flood could easily have folded much of the Earth’s crust.

Because uniformitarians assume that geologic features were formed at a constant rate over millions of years, they discard the idea of a worldwide Flood able to quickly form those features. However, how can a geologist look at something like a fold in earth’s crust and say that it was formed slowly? Folded rocks are evidence of a catastrophic past event that formed them quickly.

The Ascending Phase

The Great Deposition: Evidence of the Ascending Phase

After an initial burst of water started the worldwide Flood, the Ascending Phase began. Instead of rapid water currents and violent tectonics like the Eruptive Phase, the Ascending Phase is defined by slow currents and slowly rising waters.

At the beginning of this phase, we would expect there to be sediment suspended throughout the water column. This would be sediment that was eroded off the land during the Eruptive Phase in its fast-moving currents. When these currents slowed down, the sediment would have sunk and settled on the earth’s crust. We call this the Great Deposition. We see plenty of evidence for the Great Deposition in the American West. In some places, there are deposits of sediment over 15,000 feet deep!

Not only do we find thick layers of sediment, we also find sediment that is deposited in layers. We would expect larger particles of sediment like gravel to drop through the water-column before small particles like mud and silt. This is just the kind of layering we see in sedimentary rock. This points to the fact that this layered sedimentary rock formed quickly through a catastrophic event instead of being formed for millions of years at a constant rate.

The Rocky Mountains of the Western United States provide ample evidence for vast amounts of sedimentation and therefore a violent catastrophe. Parts of the Elk Range in Colorado are examples of deposited sediment that formed thick layers of rock (see Figure 5).  Sedimentation this deep could only have been caused by a worldwide Flood.

Figure 5: Layers of sediment deposited during the Great Deposition make up some of the Elk Range in Colorado.

The Great Deposition is strong evidence for a global Flood. Not only do we find thick deposits of sedimentary rock, but we also see this rock laid down in layers from larger pebbles to smaller particles. This makes sense when we consider that the earth was once covered in water. We would expect the larger particles to settle on the earth’s surface first.

From thick sediment deposits to layered rock, every aspect of the Great Deposition points overwhelmingly to a violent flood involving a huge volume of water. 

The Zenithic Phase

The Ascending Phase ended as the Floodwaters reached their highest level. Then the water level began falling. The period of time when the water level was at its highest is called the Zenithic Phase.

The Recessive Stage

 The Recessive Stage and Vertical Motion

The Recessive Stage of the Flood was when the floodwater drained off the continents and into the ocean basins. For this to happen, there had to be vertical movement of the earth’s crust to allow the water to drain off. We can observe these vertical tectonics in the mountain ranges of the world.

The Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Colorado is a result of the vertical motion that caused the Flood water to drain off the continents (see Figure 6). This vertical motion shows that these mountains were formed by tectonics during the Flood and not by slow processes. 

Figure 6: The Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range, Colorado

Figure 7: The Teton Mountain Range in Wyoming is also the result of vertical tectonics during the Flood.

The Recessive Stage Explains the Continental Shelf

The Recessive Stage would have eroded sediments off the continents and then carried them to the ocean basins. Where did all this sediment go? This question can be answered by looking at the continental shelf and slope. The continental shelf is a comparatively shallow “shelf” of sea floor that runs along the coast. This shelf is extremely thick and drops steeply down to the ocean floor.

 According to uniformitarians, the continental shelf was formed by rivers and local flood erosion. If so, waves would have long ago eroded the continental shelf into one, even slope to the ocean floor. This is not what we observe. Instead, we see a defined “shelf” of deposited sediment. The evidence shows that the continental shelf was formed when the flood water carried sediment down to the oceans and deposited it there (see Figure 8). 

Figure 8: A beach in southern Oregon. This sand was likely deposited here during Noah's Flood.

Erosional Remnants are Left Over from Noah’s Flood

When water erodes land, it leaves behind formations known as erosional remnants. We see these formations around the world. When water eroded surfaces across the globe, large rocks were left standing. These rocks can reach as high as 2,600 feet in some places.

Erosional remnants show that there was a catastrophic Flood in earth’s history. Floods are mechanisms for erosional remnants. They can form on a small scale even during recent floods. Since the erosional remnants found on earth are so large, there must have been a large amount of water to erode them and the surfaces around them. Noah’s Flood is the best mechanism we can use to explain the massive erosional remnants we see all over the world.

Erosional remnants also cry out against the uniformitarian time frame. Erosional remnants are eroding quickly. They could not have eroded this quickly for millions of years and still exist. Millions of years of erosion at the present rate would destroy the remnants that we see today. Therefore, they had to have been formed recently. A recent Flood accounts for this!

Stone Mountain, Georgia (Figure 9), is an erosional remnant carved out of granite.

Figure 9: Stone Mountain, Georgia

Erosional remnants are left over from erosion caused by the Flood. They are large enough to indicate a massive catastrophe in earth’s history. They also point to their recent formation because they are not yet totally destroyed by erosion.

The Channelized Flow Phase Carved Canyons and Valleys

After the deep, wide currents of the Sheet Flow Phase planed the continents flat into planation surfaces, the Channelized Flow Phase began carving canyons and valleys. To picture this, imagine a large volume of water being poured over sand in a sandbox. As the water drained off the sand, it would first plane it flat. Then, as the water became less and less, it would begin to run and trickle, carving little “canyons” in the sand. This is what would happen during the Channelized Flow Phase, although on a much bigger scale.

Evidence of this phase can be found throughout the American West. A good example is the Wind River Range in Wyoming. After the tops of the mountains were carved flat, the water started to get lower, beginning to “trickle” like the water in the sandbox. This would have carved the canyons and valleys in these mountains that we see today (see Figure 10).

Figure 10: The New Fork Canyon in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming was carved by channelized flow.

Other evidences of the Channelized Flow Phase can be found in the large canyons of the West. One of these canyons is Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado (see Figure 11).

            Figure 11

Now, you may be wondering how uniformitarians explain valleys and canyons. If things have always happened as they do now, then modern rivers must have carved these landforms over millions of years. This explanation does not make sense, though, because even over millions of years, the water would not have enough force to channel out the canyons that we see today. When the floodwater was retreating, it would have been traveling at over 100 mph, quickly cutting into even hard rock types.

The last of the floodwater drained off the continents during this phase. The Channelized Flow Phase marked the end of the Flood. 

Figure 12: Another canyon in the Wind River Mountains carved by channelized flow.

Noah's Flood Caused the Ice Age

When the Flood was over, the Ice Age began. In order for an ice age to occur, three things must happen. First, there must be a dramatic drop in summer temperatures. Second, there has to be lots of precipitation. Lastly, there must be continuous climate change.

Figure 13: The Twins Glacier in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. The dirt and rocks at the bottom and sides of the glacier are called “moraine.”

All three of these could easily have happened after the Flood. Volcanic ash in the atmosphere reflected radiation from the sun back into space, creating cooler summers. Volcanic activity in the oceans would warm up the seas, creating more precipitation. Both of these things together caused a continuous climate change.

Evidence of the Ice Age can be found throughout the American West, mainly in moraines. As a glacier moves down a slope, it pushes large amounts of sediment with it. This pile of rock and dirt is called a moraine. Moraines are found today around existing glaciers, such as the Stroud Glacier in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming (Figure 14).

            Figure 14: Stroud Glacier in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming.

The moraine is in the foreground and on the right below the glacier. 

Moraines are also found where there are no existing glaciers, which is strong evidence of an Ice Age. Many of these moraines are located in Colorado and other warmer areas where glaciers cannot stay today.

Uniformitarians think that there were many ice ages, but they cannot explain how heavy precipitation and cooler summers happened without the Flood. The only explanation for the Ice Age is that it was caused by the Flood.

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Bibliography

Oard, Michael J., M.S. and Robert W. Carter, Ph.D., Biblical Geology 101. 2^nd ed. Powder Springs, GA: Creation Book Publishers, 2023.

Roach, Gerry. Colorado’s Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs. 4^th ed. Chicago: Chicago Review  Press, 2022.