In previous posts, we learned more about the globe-covering Flood taught in Genesis 6–8. It started in the oceans, then rose to cover the land. As it did so, all people, birds, livestock, and wild animals died—except those on the Ark. Vast numbers were buried in rock layers that spanned continents. Layer upon layer was laid down very quickly.
All bad things come to an end
Fortunately, even such a Flood doesn’t last forever. But it still lasted far longer than any local flood. Genesis 7:17–24 informs us that the Flood “prevailed” for 150 days. After that, the Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, and the water started going down. But it took more than half a year before the Flood left the land so Noah and everyone else could leave the Ark.
How high did the Flood reach?
At the peak, the Flood covered the highest mountains to 15 cubits deep (about 22.5 feet). The Ark was safe because it sank only about ten cubits into the water, a third of its height. But how could water cover the highest mountains? The highest mountain today is Mt Everest—its summit (highest point) is 29,031.7 ft above sea level.
Mt Everest didn’t exist at the beginning of the Flood. Rather, the highest mountains were pushed up towards the very end of the Flood by strong forces on sediment layers that had yet to harden to rock. But we do know these mountains were once under water. The summit of Mt Everest is marine (ocean) limestone, containing fossils of creatures that lived on the sea floor.
Mt Everest
The air on high mountains is very thin. Climbers need oxygen tanks to breathe properly. How did Noah manage without them? The answer: air pressure decreases with height above sea level. Noah was basically at sea level.
A global flood could not be tranquil and leave the landscape and structures undamaged.
Without mountains as high as there are now, there would have been plenty of water to cover all of them. In fact, if the entire earth were perfectly smooth and even — mountains flattened and ocean bottoms raised — the water in our oceans would cover it all, to 2 miles deep!
Was the Flood calm?
Some people have proposed a "tranquil flood" theory, meaning calm and peaceful. They claim that the Flood rose, drowned all the animals and humans, then sank without a trace. However, 2 Peter 3:3–7 says that “scoffers” have no excuse to deny the Flood. This implies that it left obvious evidence and evidence reveals the enormous scale of this event!
Also, a tranquil flood makes as much sense as a tranquil explosion. Just one cubic meter of water weighs a ton (ca. 62 pounds per cubic foot). It would be an absolute miracle if so much moving water left no trace and the Bible has no hint of such a miracle. Even local floods leave lots of destruction in their wake. How much more a global Flood?
Calm at the Flood’s peak?
Could the Flood have been calm at its peak (i.e., when there was no land, just one worldwide ocean? No. Our Earth is a giant sphere that rotates once per day. This gives us our day-night cycle. The spinning also makes large bodies of water or air turn. This is why hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons turn counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere but clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
The spinning would have caused giant circulating currents, called gyres, in the single-world ocean. The currents would have flowed at 90–180 mph, over a diameter of about 2,500 km. Water flowing at such speeds can be very damaging and would have caused a great deal of erosion. The flowing water produces tiny bubbles, which then burst supersonically. This produces enormous heat - 27,000ºF, or 2.5 times hotter than the sun’s surface! The bubble forming and bursting is called cavitation.
Cavitation is so damaging that it will poke holes in ship propellers, even those made of hard metal. Cavitation can even tear up reinforced concrete. This happened to two of the largest dams in America — Glen Canyon in Arizona and Oroville Dam in California. In both cases, over-filling caused vast amounts of water to flow. The flow produced cavitation that broke up hard concrete and rock. Then the strong currents tore them and carried them away.
If strong local currents can do so much damage, then how much more damage would a massive underwater gyre do?
Why would the water rotate?
Scientists call this the Coriolis effect. It only appears to deflect from your point of view. The earth rotates very slowly, only once per day. So, we see this deflection only on a large scale. Therefore, the effect is very noticeable on the scale of a hurricane or gyre. But for water draining out of the kitchen sink, the effect is too small to make a difference. Whether water drains clockwise or counterclockwise depends on other factors. For example, the tap (faucet) might be a bit off-center, making the water rotate as the sink fills.
The Ark was safe!
The Ark was a very sturdy boat. Also, God was looking after it. Most of the ocean was quite deep, away from the destructive gyres. Another benefit of deep water is that tsunamis are hardly noticeable. They also become very tall only in shallow water, then crash on land and cause lots of damage. But as shown previously, the Ark could withstand tsunami-sized waves anyway.
The Flood would recede
After the Flood reached its peak, it eventually subsided. This was good for the Ark’s passengers. But the water flowing off the land tore up lots of rock in the process. We still see the evidence today.
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