“In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
Genesis 7:11-12
There is a deep blue stone that is similar in composition to the light green gemstone peridot, but it is called ringwoodite. Ringwoodite has an interesting characteristic. It contains large volumes of water in the form of hydroxide ions. This water laden ringwoodite is found deep in the earth’s crust, between the upper and lower mantel, just a few miles from the earth’s core. It’s about 400 miles beneath the surface of the earth, according to Nelson, 2014. Ringwoodite is under great pressure, and
when the hydroxide ions are put under that kind of pressure, the water in the rock can be squeezed out into massive aquifers, and during volcanism, the water can be forced to the surface. This reservoir of water is estimated to hold as much as three times the volume of water in our oceans. That’s a lot of water and that doesn’t include the massive underground aquifers and rivers of fresh water all over the earth, just under the mantle.
When the Fountains of the great deep broke apart, and the waters above the firmament (sky) started raining, the volume of water was huge. To cover one acre-foot (326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land, about the size of a football field, one foot deep), it must rain 226 gallons per minute for 24 hours. That is just one acre, to one foot deep, so just imagine the volume needed to cover the earth. According to the
oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, if the topography of the earth was completely spherical, the earth would be covered by 200 feet of water. He was only talking about surface water, and at the time, he had no idea that three times that volume of water was held deep within the earth. We don’t know the topography of the pre-flood world, so perhaps there were mostly hills and few high mountains. We don’t know, but this picture of the Pacific Ocean from space illustrates the volume of water we can see.
In righteous judgement God cracked the earth like an egg and the fountains of the great deep were opened and then He caused it to rain for 40 days and nights – worldwide, utilizing the water from above the firmament (sky) that is no longer present, and the enormous volumes of vaporized water from the oceans and ground water during the unprecedented plate tectonic movement and volcanism. “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.” Genesis 1:7 This caused the earth to flood to 20 feet above the tallest mountain and stay flooded for just over 1 year.
The Noahic flood happened and you can see it in the geologic
features and fossilized creatures all over the earth. Like this picture of whale fossils in the Andes. The fact that marine fossils are found in the highest peaks of the Andes and Himalayas attests to the fact of the worldwide flood and rapid tectonic movement. Tectonic plates separating or crashing into one another at an estimated 20-35 MPH created deep oceanic trenches and the high mountain ranges where these fossils are found.
The Bible and the history found in Genesis are true and as science advances, it further proves the validity and accuracy of Biblical history. If you haven’t read the book of Genesis, I challenge you to do so – test the reality of it by faith in the miraculous nature of God, and with operational science. Leave the theoretical science to the day-dreamers, paleoanthropologists and philosophers. Operational science always proves the Bible is correct. And, since the Bible is correct, the God of the Bible is real and the only true God.
References:
Andy Coghlan, 2014, Massive “Ocean” discovered toward Earth’s core, New Scientist, Daily News 12 June 2014, retrieved on 6/9/17, at https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core/
Eleanor Nelson, 2014, Hugh Underground Reservoir Holds Three Times as Much Water as Earth’s Oceans, Nova Next 13 June 2014, retrieved on 6/9/17, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/earth/huge-underground-reservoir-holds-three-times-much-water-earths-oceans/