Expanding Earth Theory and Noah
An academic circumspection:
Is there truth in this story?
By : David Freed 11/15/2006
I love to Ponder the book of genesis. This is the absolute oldest text of the Bible. There is still much controversy as to the actual authorship and any argument about the Bible being corrupted, by many transcription and translation errors, has to apply to the book of Genesis in spades. Additionally, the Genesis story, more than any other scripture, contains the most scientifically implausible, if not impossible, details of the most incomprehensible events.
The six days of creation,
The creation of man,
The Garden of Eden,
The Nephilim and the Giants,
and Noah and the flood
are all examples of tales that are just not seemingly scientifically feasible, according to our modern day cultural knowledge base. There is not an Astrophysicist, or any Physicist, that doesn't take issue with the six days of creation. Evolutionist, Anthropologist, and Biologist in general all have their own slant on the creation story. The Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Nephillium and Giants, and even the flood story have become dismissed as fables and myths by all, but the most fundamentally religious few.
How can modern man investigate any of these seemingly bizarre tales from today's perspective? Using the principles outlined in the "Psychology of Understanding," let us consider as many perspectives as possible and the same common sense rules apply, as with any investigation. If one persons sees something, it is interesting; but if two or more people report seeing the same phenomena, it begins to have creditability.Then by examining as many witnesses as possible, and gathering as much data as necessary, so that a central theme of truth emerges.
My cultural knowledge base, that information I carry around with me passively, has always included the notion that the flood story existed in more that one ancient cultural myth, or legend. However, in doing research for this paper, I was really surprise when I found "The Talk Origins Archive" web site. These guys have gathered flood stories from around the globe. So far, they have uncovered 87 different cultural stories, myths, legends, or fables that all contain a flood reference. Including, all of the major ancient cultures we study in depth today, Egypt, Samaria, China, Greece, and even many American Indian folklore (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.htm.).
"The Egyptians believed that at one time, the gods purified the earth by means of a great flood, from which only a few shepherds were saved. Fa-He, the founder of Chinese civilization along with his wife, three sons, and three daughters were said to have escaped from a flood, sent because man had revolted against heaven. The people of England tell the legend of the Druids that describes how the world was destroyed by flood because of the wickedness of man, with only a righteous patriarch surviving to repopulate it. The Greeks believed that Deucalion built an ark when he was warned that the gods were going to destroy the earth with a flood. Deucalion survived the flood when the ark rested on Mt. Parnassus. Like Noah, Deucalion also sent a dove out twice to look for dry land." (Ajiake, M., O. Nephilim: The First Human Clones, 2003, pp. 9-10, Sonika Publishing, Hong Kong.)
Different, yet unique witnesses to a similar event so long ago in our prehistory. Any investigator would have to admit that there just might be something to this flood story. Some cultural truth has appeared to have survived some small test of time. Yes these are all myths and fables, and we as Arrogant modern educated man dismiss them so easily. Yet, these same stories were the cultural histories of ancient peoples, until some powerful controller of consensus thought deemed them all to be fictional fairy tales. Even the Helen of Troy saga was just an example of ancient Greek fiction, until the German Archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, found the city of Troy on the Turkish coastline back in the 1870s (Wikipedia.com, & http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Troy.html.)
Never the less, these old stories are pretty hard to swallow. Just look at the bizarre claims the Bible makes about the flood of Noah.
Biblical Evidence
Gen 7:11 "... on the seventeenth day of the second month - on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened."
"... all the springs of the great deep burst forth, ..." has always been such as impossible event to imagine. Our cultural knowledge base today includes basic Geology and the mechanism of such an event seems unimaginable.
"... and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." Our cultural knowledge base includes many memories of large disastrous storms. However, the volume of the rain necessary to flood the entire earth is another seemingly unimaginable event.
Gen 7:12 "And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."
Gen 7:17 "For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth .."
Gen 7:19 the waters "... rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered."
In fact -
Gen 7:20 "The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of twenty feet."
Scripture certainly is taking a stand on the flood being a global event verses a local phenomenon. If limited only to the cultural knowledge base of today, this is again another seemingly unimaginable event that just doesn't fit our scientific understanding.
You have to admit that this story is pretty hard to swallow without taking so much of it on faith alone. Some people say that if the Bible says it, then it must be true. For them, I have no criticism, although for a Confused individual such as myself, I require more information.
Just to believe it because some book says it, or even because my forefathers said it, isn't satisfying enough for me. It is just my nature. It is a good thing that I wasn't one on the disciples of Christ, because I probably would have been right there with Thomas, wanting to see the evidence.
Biblical Data
As an investigator, I need data. We can Ponder the what-ifs all day long and not get anywhere at all. It is too bad that the Bible story doesn't include more facts to deal with. The only actual hard data available is just the dimensions of the ark.
Gen 6:15 "And this is the fashion thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits." KJV
Gen 6:15 "This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high." NIV
www.freebibleclipart.com
How bold of ancient man to include such precise measurements. Just imagine how maritime man of yesterday must have considered the dimensions of the ark. Take Christopher Columbus fore example, his Santa Maria flagship was two feet shorter in overall length than the ark was in height.
Mankind has never built ships to this scale until recent times. Consider the scale of the ark, measured in cubits as 50 cubits wide and 300 cubits long, measured by the NIV's calculated equivalence as 75 feet by 450 feet, either measure represents a width to length ratio of 1:6. Interesting ratio when you discover that it is the exact same average ratio, which modern super tankers are built to today. The ratio that has been shown to be the absolute most stable flotation platform for the world's larges and heaviest ships.
Let look at what is sailing the seas today.
Vessel Name |
Type |
Year of service |
Dimensions W x L |
Ratio W x L |
MT Nordic Discovery |
Oil Tanker |
1998 |
44.60 m 269.19 m |
1:6.035 |
MT Nordic Fighter |
Oil Tanker |
1998 |
44.60 m 269.19 m |
1:6.035 |
MT Nordic Voyager |
Oil Tanker |
1997 |
44.60 m 270.45 m |
1:6.063 |
| Gulf Scandic | Oil Tanker |
1997 |
46.00 m 274.10 m |
1:5.958 |
| Alexander | Oil Tanker |
18.60 m 115.30 m |
1:6.198 |
|
| Tower Bridge | Liquid Tanker |
2005 |
23.20 m 182.50 m |
1:5.667 |
| Troitsky Bridge | Liquid Tanker |
2003 |
32.20 m 182.50 m |
1:5.667 |
| Tuchlov Bridge | Liquid Tanker |
2004 |
32.20 m 182.50 m |
1:5.667 |
| Theodor Storm | Container Ship |
32.20 m 213.00 m |
1:6.614 |
|
| Torgovy bridge | Liquid Tanker |
2006 |
32.20 m 182.50 m |
1:5.667 |
| Nordic Hunter | Oil Tanker |
1997 |
46.00 m 274.10 m |
1:5.958 |
| Cavour | Aircraft Carrier Italian Navy |
39.00 m 244.00 m |
1:6.256 |
The average with to length ratio of the above ships = 1:5.979
Of course there are many examples of ships not being built to this ratio. The addition of computerized stability software has allowed designers to push the limits on our biggest aircraft carriers. But the point remains, the vast fleet of the largest and heaviest ships in the ocean today emulate the ark indeed.
Ponder this - Noah was given the exact same stability ratio that only took we modern men 5000 years plus, of shipbuilding experience, to develop.
www.freebibleclipart.com
More than just the Ark
There is much more information available about the feasibility of the ark. There are several web-sites dedicated to this issue, but for my purposes, and sticking to the only numerical data I have; I am still impressed that Noah built the ark to those specific dimensions. This does seem to yield some credibility to the story, at least as far as the construction of the ark is concerned.
But, just what can explain the geophysics and whole earth dynamics of Gen 7:11 " ... all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." This is a discussion of geophysics, which is a discussion that must begin in the beginning with:
Planet Formation Theory
Currently there are many different and uniquely independent theories about the formation of the planets. However, only one of these theories has made its way into our cultural knowledge base. Academia has somehow evolved into a consensus only mentality based education system (J. Marvin Herndon Phd., Radio Interview, 03/06/2006) and reduce alternate theories to minor footnotes and eventual extinction. Culturally pigeonholing our understanding and biasing our ability to consider alternative concepts.
The Nebular Hypothesis
The Nebular Hypothesis was first proposed by Immanuel Kant, 1724 - 1804. This theory begins with a large stellar dust cloud that condenses into particles that clump into larger grains. These grains gather, due to gravitational attractions, and form pebbles, rocks, and planetoids of our solar system. Immanuel Kant was revered as one of the most influential, and scientific, thinkers of modern contemporary Europe (http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/planet_formation.htm).
The charismatic Astrophysicist, H.E.W. Cameron, popularized the "Standard Solar System Formation Theory" in 1963 and our educational institutions continue to teach that these planetoids continue to gather mass, until, by yet some unexplained mechanism, their centers undergo some form of volcanic liquefaction process that allow heavier elements to settle out to form the core. mantel, and crust of planets (J. Marvin Herndon PhD., Radio Interview, 03/06/2006).
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www.classroomclipart.com
We are fortunate to live in an era when our cultural knowledge base includes recent revelations of mankind's various space programs. We know what space rock is made of because we have collected, categorized, and studied many samples, especially during the exploration of the moons surface by the Apollo Astronauts. These space rocks were formed at the earliest of times under extremely low pressure and temperatures, as predicted by The Nebular Hypotheses, and are easily categorized into three different types.
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All original matter cooled into small spherical Chondrules, which are collectively know as Chondrites, or common space rock material (http://www.saharamet.com/meteorite/gallery/chondrite/). Carbonaceous chondrites have no metals in them at all and are best described as snowballs. The rarest forms are called Metallic Condrites and are heavy in metals and heavier elements and are speculated to be fragments of formerly larger objects. Ordinary Condrites, absolutely the most common form discovered to date, do contain some metals; but the average total metal content of iron and nickel, or heavier elements is limited to less than 20 percent of the total mass (http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/ordchond.htm.).
These discoveries do seems to correlate well with many of the planetary bodies of our solar system. Large gaseous planets obviously formed from a much greater quantity of lighter elements and even some of their moons are referred to as snowballs. Although we lack data about other planetary compositions, but from what we do know, even our own moon appears to fit nicely into The Nebular Hypothesis and The Standard Solar System Formation Theory. Scientist have determined that the moon has a very small iron/nickel core, which is only two to four percent of the moon's total mass (Martel, Linda., M., V., The Moon at its Core, 1999, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.)
Crust - Approximately 60 Km thinck on the earth side and approximately 100 Km thick on the dark side.
Core - Contains only 2-4% of the moon's total mass
Mass - 1.2% of the earth. It would take 81 moons to equal the mass of the earth.
Gravity - Only 17% of earth. So 100 lbs on earth would only wiegh 17 lbs on the moon.
Magnetic field - Only One Ten-Millionith of the earth's field (1/10,000,000)
Density - 3.34 g/cubic cm
However, this particular theory lacks in explaining the formation of much heavier planetary bodies, such as earth, where the iron/nickel core is much greater as well as the proportions of heavier elements. The simple condensing of ordinary space rocks lead to the formation of earth type planets with insufficiently massive cores (http://understandearth.com/Solar%20System%20Processes.htm.) There must be another process to explain these much heavier planets. Additionally, the Nebular Hypothisis and the Standard Solar System Formation Theory still fails to explain the mechanism that liquify the planets so that the various layers of core, mantel, and crust form without lumps and clumps.
Crust - Outer crust 30-150Km thick, Lithosphere 100-200Km thick, and the Astherosphere is up to 400 Km thick.
Core - Iron/nickel 31.7% of earth's total mass.
Inner Core - Reactive concentration of heavy elements.
Magnetic field - Ten million times stronger than the moon's field.
Density - 5.52 g.cubic cm.
Protoplanet Theory
Investigations into heavy-metal metallurgy led two different World War II German scientists to publish papers on Protoplanet Formation Theory.
Carl von Weizsacker was born in 1912 and worked as one the the leading German physicist of the 1930s. Together with Bethe, he published the formula that describes the nuclear processing within stars called, to this day, The Bethe-Weizsacker Formula. During the 1940s he joined Werner Heisenberg and the German atomic bomb research team. Weizsacker's comments, about the earth's metallurgical and mineral composition being more easily explained if they formed within a high pressure and high temperature protoplanet, were published in 1944 (http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/planet_formation.htm.)
Arnold Eucken, 1884 - 1950, received his PhD in 1906 and worked with Nernst in Berlin, on specific heats and quantum effects at low temperatures. In 1915 Eucken was appointed director of the physicochemical institute at the Technische Hochscule Breslau. In 1929, he was also appointed director of the Gottingen physicochemical institute. He wrote textbooks on physical chemistry, molecular vibrations, internal rotations, homogeneous and heterogeneous gas kinetics, supercritical solutions, and chemical engineering (http://www.nernst.de/ipc-directors.htm.) Eucken described the formation of earth's composite elements as a raining out from within a large gaseous protoplanet atmosphere, with high temperatures and high pressures, possibly as much as 1000 to 10,000 times present pressures (http://understandearth.com/Solar%20System%20Processes.htm.)
Eucken published his Primordial Protoplanet Theory also in 1944. His theories proposes a large gaseous protoplanet, perhaps as large as 300 times the total earth mass of today. A rock core planetoid surrounded by a large, Jupiter like, gaseous atmosphere. Then as primordial elements were swept up by this protoplanet, they were condensed and concentrated toward the center by gravity. Raining down on the planetoid in concentric layers of matter (http://understandearth.com/Solar%20System%20Processes.htm.)
This protoplanet concept works very well to explain many of the mysteries of The Nebular Hypotheses and The Standard Solar System Formation Theory. The extreme pressures and temperatures of the early protoplanet environment easily explains the mechanism for the liquefaction of the central planetoid. The high pressures and temperatures of the primordial protoplanet best explains the formation of heavy elemental compounds and minerals currently found in the earth's crust. This theory also easily explains why the earth appears to be layered in concentric shells of matter. However, the flaw with this theory is the fact that it leaves us on a Jupiter like giant gas planet.
Expanding Earth Theory
and the Super-continent of Pangia
Alfred Wegener, 1880 - 1930, a German climatologist and geophysicist published his book, The Origins of Continents and Oceans, originally in 1912, and then again in 1915. His work was the first to suggest the concept of continental drift and plate tectonics. He suggested that a super-contentent he called, Pangia, had existed in the past, broke up, and the respective pieces drifted to their present locations (http://pangia.org/wegener.htm.)
Wegener was fascinated by the new science of archeology and the implications of the fossil record to anthropology. Correlations of similar fossils found on different sides of the Atlantic lead Wegener to conclude that the two sides of the Atlantic must have been land bridged together. He then pushed all of the continents together in the Atlantic and the landmasses do seem to fit together like jig-saw puzzle pieces.
Anthropologist have since used the super-contentent Pangia theory to explain many migratory patterns by herding animals Evidenced by the fossil record and hemispheric migration patterns of today (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html.). The super-contentent Pangia theory has had many consequences for geology, geophysics, oceanography, and paleontology; especially the concept of plate tectonics, that has become a scientific discipline all of its own.
Super-continent Pangia
Playing with the continental pieces of the Pangia puzzle, another German scientist, Otto Hilgenberg, presented yet another bizarre theory in 1933. Hilgenberg noticed that not only did the continents fit together in the Atlantic, but they also fit together in the pacific. He cut away all of the oceans and found that the continents fit nicely together to form a planetoid 64% smaller than present day earth. In a sense, he found that it was never the super-contentent of Pangia, but it was rather the planetoid Pangia.
Image of planetoid Pangia
Hilgenberg's Expanding Earth Theory then speculates that some unexplained mechanism caused the planetoid to expand and grow to its present size. However, there were no imaginable mechanisms to explain the expansion of the planet and the concept of Expanding Earth Theory quickly fell by the wayside (http://understandearth.com/Earth%20Ezpansion%201.htm.)
So here we have several theories about the formation of the earth, but none of them hold water. All of them have failed to explain the total process of earth formation. However, if you remember back to the "Psychology of our Understanding," any good detective knows that each perspective may not always contain the whole story. Each perspective can be wrong in detail, but if witness to a real event, each perspective will contain threads of the central truth.
"Scientist still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence ... Further, we have to be prepared always for the possibility that each new discovery, no matter what science furnishes it, may modify the conclusions we draw." (Wegener, Alfred, The Origins of Continents and Oceans, 1915.)
Dr J. Marvin Herndon
Whole earth decompression dynamics
(www.understandearth.com)
Finally, a scientific thinker of today that finally comprehends how all these different planet formation theories blend together. The Nebular Hypothesis of solar system formation is a good start. However, from those early low temperature and low pressure beginnings, giant gaseous protoplanets are allowed to form. Dr Herndon, a geophysicists with a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry, reaffirms that a protoplanet as large as 300 times earth's total mass would easily generate the temperatures and pressures necessary to forge our planet into what it contains today. Conditions would easily generate earth's massive iron/nickel core and finally explain the process that liquefied earth's interior. Conditions would have also supported the formation of the many unusual compounds and minerals that form the crust. Additionally, the extreme gravity of 300 times earth's mass would also compress the central planetoid to 64% of today's diameter, which brings us right back to Otto Hilgenberg's Expanding Earth Theory.
It is actually the planetoid Pangia at the heart of a large gaseous protoplanet, with possibly as much as 300 times earth present mass and the new perspective brought to the equation by Dr Herndon is the introduction of stellar mechanics. Astronomers have long known that early stars are often unstable and often have violent explosive events that eject massive amounts of stellar matter into space. Combined that revelation with the fact that the interior of our solar system appears swept clear of much of the debri of solar system formation.
All of the planets inside the asteroid belt have minimal atmospheres compared to the gaseous giants beyond the asteroid belt. Photo evidence indicates that even the face of Mercury has the scars of some of its surface being ripped away. Dr Herndon suggest when our sun went through one of these eruptive events the tsunami type wave of ejected stellar matter swept away much of the inner solar system. Sweeping the atmospheres away from the inner planets. Sweeping away, or pushing away, the more loosely held space bodies and debris. Perhaps the asteroid belt was formed by this sweeping mechanism and the inner solar system became cleared of the many objects that generated the impact craters of our past. Perhaps the asteroid belt merely represents the extent of this stellar tsunami wave front. A wave front that was finally slowed to a standstill by the gravitational pull of the sun and leaving its accumulated rock and inner-solar-system debris in a well deformed ring, we call the asteroid belt.
This stripping mechanism ripped much of the earth's gaseous atmosphere away. Without the gravitational effect of all that missing mass, the compressed planetoid Pangia was allowed to decompress into present day earth. Finally, explaining the geophysical mechanism that expanded the earth to today's present diameter.
Dr Herndon called this his "Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics." It is as simple as squeezing a rubber ball in your hand as hard as possible, then letting go. The ball will decompress back to its larger diameter. Isn't this as obvious as a forest full of trees?
The Bible Story Revisited
So now, let us compare these various perspectives of planet formation with the Bible story and Dr Herndon's perspective of reality. The Bible made such outrageous claims in the statements about the conditions before the flood, and during the flood itself.
Gen 1:6 "And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." NIV
Gen 1:6 "And God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'" KJV
Gen 1:7 "So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it..." NIV
Gen 1:7 "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters above the firmament: and it was so." KJV
Gen 1:20 "... let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." NIV
Gen 1:20 "...and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." KJV
Protoplanet Theory also emplaces a great, Jupiter like, high pressure, thick atmosphere around the Pangia planetoid. Witnessing to this same thick atmosphere, Judeo-Christian literature speaks volumes on the 'Earth's Pre-Flood Vapor Canopy' theory (Dillow, Joseph, C., The Waters Above, 1982, The Moody Bible Institute.) The only variation between the two theories/stories is that the Bible and the creationist emplaces a clearing in the atmosphere at the crust's surface to facilitate predeluvian Biblical life. A place for birds to fly.
I Ponder, if there could possibly be such a atmospheric clear weather zone around the planetoid of a giant gaseous, Jupiter like, protoplanet?
Our own atmosphere is composed of several layers, of often, extremely different weather patterns. Those pretty cumulus clouds form above 20,000 feet. Commercial aircraft usually fly at altitudes where the average temperatures are 40 and 50 below zero. The jet stream is a river of high speed air racing around the globe driving weather patterns on the ground.
Rayleigh-Taylor Stability
and laminar flow
The Rayleigh-Taylor Stability/Instability laws offer exhaustive statistical predictive ability to the interaction dynamics of fluids and gases (Taylor, R., J., Plasma Physics, Part C, 1961, Journal of Nuclear Energy.) Sounds extremely complicated, but is brilliantly displayed on the surface of Jupiter. Each cloud band is moving at different speeds. The turbulent edges where the two cloud bands interact form areas of Rayleigh-Taylor Instability. Rayleigh-Taylor Stability areas are near the center of the cloud bands where the cloud movements are smooth and undistributed. The smooth flowing areas are also defined as 'Laminar Flows,' which can rip along as in a jet stream, or meander along as a warm summer's day.
The mathematics can be done in such a manor as to justify the existence of just such a warm summer's day laminar flow at the surface of this protoplanet world (Dillow, Joseph, C., The Waters Above, 1982, The Moody Bible Institute.) However, for me, just the possibility of a humanoid habitat is enough evidence from this perspective to be added to the total pool to Ponder. Other relevant perspectives include the wide spread acceptance, use, and dependence on the super-contentent Pangia Theory, although we now know it better to be the Planetoid Pangia Theory.
Anthropologist and paleontologist have depended on Pangia's massive land bridges to help explain why so may similar dinosaurs fossils were found throughout the world. Hemispheric migrations could have disseminated many species throughout the world (http://pangia.org/wegener.htm.) Some of the newer fossil finds have even been classified by their apparent migratory path, such as the Austral-Asian Dinosaurs discovered in the 1980s (http://www.dinoruss.com/de_4/5c60dc2.htm.) Even the Illinois State Geological Survey considered the continental migration of the Brachiosauri, because fossil remains are found in the Western U.S., Tanzania, and Portugal (http://pttc.isgs.uiuc.edu/faqs/pdq41.html.)
Even a few paleontologist have written about the flight characteristics of dinosaur style soar-a-pods, like the pterosaurs, pterodactyls, and pteranodons. Many have concluded that these heavy creatures could have only flown, with their 40 to 50 foot wingspans, if the atmospheric density was greater. Also at home in this thicker atmosphere, would be the fossilized dragonflies with their 32 inch wingspans (http://www.harrypottermagic.org/Evolution%20of%20Creationist/Chapter%2007.htm.).
If the dinosaurs were living on Planetoid Pangia, then vegetation had already been firmly established. Creationist have much literature concerning the greenhouse effect of the Vapor Canopy Theory (Dillow, Joseph, C., The Waters Above, 1982, The Moody Bible Institute.) An amplified greenhouse effect would not only have caused the atmosphere to be warmer, but would have tended to create a uniform temperature distribution from the equator to the poles ((http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-128.htm.) Evidence of 90 foot plum trees were found in the New Siberian Islands and scientists have found tropical forest and coal deposits in Antarctica (http://www.harrypottermagic.org/Evolution%20of%20Creationist/Chapter%2007.htm.). In fact there is even speculation that the coal deposits of today are merely remnants of the original predeluvian biomass (http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/vaporcanopy.html.)
The Mechanism of the Flood
Gen 7:11 " ... all the springs of the great deep burst forth,..."
Here we are back to this outrageous statement of the flood itself. Does Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics have any explanation for the process of the Biblical flood? Just imagine what this ole planet must have gone through immediately after our sun ejected our protoplanet atmosphere. Decompression would not have happened slowly. Rather a catastrophic decompression process exploded from within and slowed over geological time.
A catastrophic rapid decompression would have squeezed a lot of material up and out of the ground. Fluids of any type, including water, would have been ejected from the earth's mantle with incredible pressures. They certainly would have appeared to have bursted forth! Volcanic eruptions and lava flows would have happened on and unimaginable scale. For example there were lava flows in Siberia that if spread over the entire earth would cover the globe to a depth of ten feet (J. Marvin Herndon PhD., Radio Interview, 03/06/2006).
(www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/geo)
This continued decompression and up swelling of material would have first appeared at the fault lines caused by the separation of the continental plates, as they began to grow outwardly from the center of the planet. As the earth quaked apart, fountains from the deep would have burst forth. First ejecting gasses and ground waters, then followed by heavier materials and lava flows. Eventually, these predeluvian fault lines became the four mid oceanic ridges that continue to ooze forth the basalts that form our ocean floors.
(www.purdue.edu/geo)
Ponder this, Seventy-one percent of the earth's surface today is indeed water, the oceans, with an average depth of 3.8 kilometers. Only 29% of the earth's surface is land, whose average elevation is 623 meters. If all the continents and land masses were leveled into the sea using a giant bulldozer, nearly two miles of water would cover our entire earth (http://www.khouse.org/articles/1997/12.)
How much of all this water was originally trapped within the soft mantle of the earth prior to decompression? Almost anywhere we build on land, all we have to do is sink a hole into the ground far enough and we have a well. Our cultural knowledge base also recognizes that this well water actually comes from a large ground water aquifer. Many of the aquifers are hugh in scale, for example, the Kansas-Missouri aquifer includes all the ground water between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River Valley. Just imagine the scale of the water aquifers trapped within our planet's mantle. These mantle aquifers could possible be so much larger than man has ever considered before. Now consider the wringing-out, the ejection, and release of these mantel aquifers under the massive pressures of planetary decompression. The bursting forth of the springs of the great deep could have possibly accounted for much more of the water of the Biblical flood than the actual rain did.
This possibility raises an age old which came first, the chicken or the egg, puzzle. Did the earth decompress and expand in an orderly manner where the crust grew outwardly and the bursting forth fluids simply filled the gaps and cracks? Or could have the more fluid and mobile waters burst forth with such fury that the waters rose much more quickly than the land masses. In this scenario the waters would have easily covered the global land masses to great depths and the land masses would eventually push their way though the waters surface.
(Red Canyon Park, Canon City Colorado, Katz Cree)
As a citizen of the American West, there is a certain attraction the the concept of the land masses being pushed up through turbulent and abrasive floodwaters. There are sandstone formations here in Colorado that are obviously formed by running water, yet, they are at 9,000 feet above sea level and still standing precariously perched after all these geological active years.
(Garden Of the Gods Park, Manitou Springs Colorado, Katz Cree)
Additionally, for the first time in my life I actually understand how the great monuments of Utah and Arizona were formed as the flood waters receded and the Colorado Plateau raised emptying the shallow seas of Wyoming-Montana basin. The concept that, all of this land transformation was brought about just a little at a time over an evolutionary million and millions of years, has just never made any sense to me. Imagine if you let your garden hose drip into the driveway for several days. You would not have large erosion patterns with plateaus, standing monuments, and possible arches. Rather, you would just have one deep canyon cutting its way into the ground. The only way to generate large erosion patterns with plateaus, standing monuments, and possible arches is to spill the bath tub over this same area in one large splash.
(Red Canyon Park, Canon City Colorado, Katz Cree)
The North American continent could have pushed it's way through the waters surface overnight and the receding floodwaters washed there way over the American South West. Even if the event took several days, weeks, and even years, the massive volumes of receding floodwaters took their toll on the soil composition of the area. Additionally, theses flood waters would have been followed up by the floodwaters of the Wyoming-Montana basin's shallow sea, as the Colorado plateau continued to rise in elevation.
Consider the wash patterns drawn above. If the process took millions and millions of years, and the Colorado River is ultimately responcible for carring away the massive volume of erroded material; shouldn't the Baja Bay be filled with a hugh Mississippi River style delta? Instead, it appears that all of this erroded materials were rapidly flushed into the Pacific. The Mississippi River delta has just formed since because of its gradual slope and vertical drop.Just check your local plumbing codes. To insure that your drain will carry its content all the way to its mouth, most codes limit builders to a slop of only 1/4 inch per foot. Any steeper slopes, such as the Colorado River, the water will just leave its content behind.
This mass recession of waters over the American SouthWest combined with a stress fracture of the earth's crust could easily, and catastrophically explain the Grand Canyon phenomena. A fracture caused by the continued up swelling from "Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics." A continued up swelling that began catastrophically explosive and slowed to today's present rate. A continued up swelling that has been responsible for all of our volcanic activity. A continued up swelling that has been responsible for all earthquake phenomena. A continued up swelling that has been responsible for all of the activities of plate tectonic .
Plate Tectonics
Whole Earth Decompression Theory explains well the activities observed as plate tectonics. The different continental plates do move about, bumping and grinding together, as the earth continues to decompress, that is obvious. The Arrogance of Plate Tectonics is apparent when you consider that according to theory as proposed, Australia would have had to march its way half way around the globe to find its present home.
The scare is that one day the California coast will fall into the Pacific. Predictions, from various sources, about future landmass changes include the sinking of Portland and Seattle and their surrounding coastlines and a dramatic ripping apart of the North American Continent that opens the mouth of the Mississippi into a wide bay (http://iamamerica.com.) Not that I offer prediction or prophesy as a investigative tool, but I do find the correlations to Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics interesting.
Jus look at current evidence of an expanding earth can be observed in the Horn of Africa."The largest tear in the earth's crust seen in decades, if not centuries, could carve out a new ocean in Africa ... The 60kn-long rift was sparked by an earthquake on September 14, 2005." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5191384.stm) "The fissure, now 13 feet wide, formed in just three weeks ... the beginning of a long process, which will eventually lead to Ethiopia's eastern part tearing off from the rest of Africa, a sea forming in the gap." (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/10/tech/main1115779.shtml)
The Four Rivers of Eden
Gen 2:5 "... God had not sent rain on the earth..."
As a modern man living on this side of the predeluvian era, it is sure hard to imagine a world without rain. However, the atmosphere of the protoplanet exist in such a different state than today's atmosphere. Pressures would be much different, temperatures are different, gravity is different, composition is different, and therefore, density of the atmosphere and its dynamics are different. Would these conditions naturally allow raindrops to form?
Gen 2:6 "but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground..."
Here is a Biblical statement, that if taken as fact, would fit perfectly into "Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics," as presented by Dr Herndon. During the Protoplanet stage, the planetoid Pangia was squeezed, with enough gravitational pressure, to be compressed into a smaller diameter. A diameter that is only 64% of today's earth. Under these conditions, water, and other low density liquids and gasses, would surely be springing from the ground in an artesian fashion.
Gen 2:10 "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters."
These four headwaters scripturally formed the four major rivers of the predeluvian era. I do not claim to understand there proper locations. I do not claim that we can then trace these rivers back to the location of Eden itself.
However, I do Ponder the super-continent Pangia, AKA planetoid Pangia, continental plates alignment puzzle. Just where do we pieces the continental plates back together to form our birth planetoid Pangia? Do all of the continental plates fit tightly together leaving no space at all for water filled lowlands between the plates. Or do the continental plates align more loosely around the continental shelves and rivers and other waterways highlight many of our modern coastlines?
Image of planetoid Pangia with rivers
So, is there truth in this story?
A continued up swelling that seems to validate Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics over, and over again. Even many culturally based legends, myths, and folklore seem to validate Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics. As for scripture from the Holey Bible, it is obvious that all stories are witnessing to the exact same event, even in detail. Noah's flood could have, and most likely did, occur exactly as written in scripture. No matter if the story is seemingly implausible to our cultural knowledge base today, the geophysical science of Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics blends the many stories, theories, and perspectives, toward the central truth. In fact, as Dr Herndon said, 'That when you are on the right track, the many different pieces simply fall together (J. Marvin Herndon Phd., Radio Interview, 03/06/2006).
The problems with this conclusion
Whole Earth Decompression Dynamics admittedly begins with a catastrophic explosive decompression, which eventually slows to today's current rate. However, Noah and family are back on dry habitable land in just over a year. Even if most of the volcanic eruptions were underwater, how could the atmosphere clear itself in just over a years time? It doesn't seem plausible.
Yet, I an reminded of our discussion back in "The Psychology of Understanding." I am examining my cultural knowledge base and my ability to entertain alternative perspectives.
I Ponder this:
given fact # three in our original quest, that time is not linear,
who is to say what time periods passed.
All the same questions about the six days of creation can be asked once again. Was the forty days of rain actually forty days as we know the? Did the year journey within the ark, actually take a calendar year, as we know it? Just remember what Hollywood has taught us all about Einstein's "Special Theory of Relativity." If you and I boarded a spacecraft for another star, we may only travel a few years, but back on earth many hundreds of years may pass.
If this modern law of space-time is relevant to us today, then it must have the same application to Noah and family within the ark. Noah and family may have not even noticed a time dilation. For them it would have just been a year. A long and trying year of rhinoceros breath and cabin fever, but for the earth, time may have passed at a different rate to allow the earth the time required to heal.
A second issue arises when you consider the extreme change to the pressures, gravity, and environments between planetoid Pangia and planet Earth. Noah, his family, and all of the life forms within the ark also had to undergo some type of hyperbarric decompression. The lord truly did destroy both man and the planet. Man and the surviving life had to adapt and adjust to a completely different living environment.
