The Great Flood in Light of Scientific Evidence - Research Paper Example

The "Great Flood"- In Light of Scientific Evidence Abstract Man is at a predisposition to refute, and often ridicule, any occurrence that seems contrary to common nature. Because of his conviction towards modernity and scientific thinking, any event or belief that doesn't have a scientific explanation or goes beyond rationalistic comprehension, is deemed to be false. To satiate man's want of a rational explanation for events and miracles described in the Holy Bible, scientific evidence is being sought after and investigated. One of the most important events that have rolled out innumerable debates, expeditions and investigations, is the "Great flood", a global deluge which seems to have occurred about 46,000 years ago. According to the Bible, Noah and his three sons survived the flood in a wooden ark, along with hundreds of animals representing every species on earth. All other living beings perished, and the ones surviving today are all descendants of the survivors of the Great flood. Described in great detail in the Book of Genesis (6-9), this event has witnessed ample speculation from all quarters of the world, and scientists and explorers have set out to unveil its mysteries. Through this paper, I intend to prove in light of sound scientific evidence, that the Great flood cited in the Bible is a real event that occurred thousands of years ago, and that Noah and his ark really existed. Keywords: Great flood, Noah's Ark, fossil graveyards, coal beds, Polystrate Fossils, Coconino Sandstones , Genetic pool, Mt Ararat The "Great Flood"- In Light of Scientific Evidence The Holy Bible states that God wished to wipe out all sin from the surface of the earth and that all humans were subjected to God’s wrath except a few who were righteous. A great flood destroyed every living being on earth, while Noah and his family survived in a huge wooden ark, which he built with God's guidance. A pair of every animal, male and female, was taken to safety in the Ark, while rain lashed on earth for a period of forty days and forty nights. “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” (Gen. 7:11-12, New International Version). Noah's three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, along with a few others, survived the flood, and mankind was repopulated from them. The Bible further cites that Noah's ark rested on Mount Ararat after the flood waters subsided. In view of this revelation, innumerable scientific expeditions have explored the Ararat mountain range in Asia Minor, in search of Noah's Ark. An object resembling a ship's bow has already been found, jutting out of mud and lava atop the mountains. The Turkish Air Force was the first to notice this object. Porcher Taylor, a professor at the University of Richmond confirmed its presence, after a long period of study through satellite imagery. Surprisingly, the dimensions of this object perfectly correlate to the dimensions of Noah's Ark described in the Bible. Following this discovery, many other expeditions have investigated the area, unearthing wood, anchors made from stone, and other remains of what might have been an ark. No matter how spell bounding such a discovery may seem, it is imperative to decipher the events of the great deluge in light of scientific evidence and data from recent expeditions. In order to prove that the great flood was an actual reality and not just a mythological event inscribed in ancient literature, I wish to put forth the following conditions, which if true, refute all possible arguments against the possibility of the great flood: 1. Fossil evidence suggesting fossilization under rapid conditions 2. Geological evidence of a global flood 3. Evidence of abundant water, enough to cover the surface of the Earth 4. Genetic dead-end due to lack of genetic variability, as mankind seemingly repopulated from a small population 5. Archaeological findings suggesting the existence of the ark 6. Ancient submerged towns and cities 7. Accounts of a similar event in almost all other cultures All the above conditions are discussed as follows, based on geological, biological, genetic and historical data: Evidence from fossils The biggest evidence of a worldwide flood comes from fossils that have been rapidly buried under flood conditions. It is important to note that the formation of intact fossils occurs only under certain special conditions. When an organism dies, its soft and degradable parts either decay and rot or are eaten by scavengers. Intact fossils with non-degraded soft parts can only be formed when the organism is buried rapidly, even before the decay process can begin. Many such intact fossils have been found all over the world. According to Ashton and Westacott (2006), There are many instances where preservation has been remarkably complete. Even delicate structures such as flowers, insects, and the soft tissues of animals have been fossilized meticulously, as well as footprints and burrows. Examples include soft tissues of fish such as muscle fibers, with even the cell nuclei still able to be studied; pieces of skin, developing eggs, and even stomach walls and stomach contents; and dinosaur soft tissues such as skin impressions and organs that are able to be CAT scanned to study their structure. (p. 133) Such well-preserved fossil specimens clearly indicate that there has been a very rapid burial of organisms on a large scale. This could only have occurred due to landslides and sudden deposition of sediments due to huge and immense floods. However, this evidence is not enough to substantiate the occurrence of a global flood. If a ‘global flood’ really occurred, many such fossils should be found all over the world in completely preserved states, all dating back to the same time. Amazingly, innumerable fossils have been discovered all over the world in all continents, in completely preserved states under similar conditions of fossilization. Moreover, these fossil specimens are found to spread across vast areas of land, with thousands of animals buried together at the same spot. Because of the vastness of the area of these fossil mounds, they are termed as “fossil graveyards”. Examples of such fossil graveyards include the shales of the Cow Branch Formation, on the Virginia-North Carolina border, the Morrison Formation, the Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation in the Nemgt Basin of Mongolia, the Thunder Bay Limestone in the Michigan Basin, the Cretaceous chalk beds in North-west Europe that stretch from Ireland to Turkey, Egypt and Israel, and others in Western Australia. What’s more impressive is the fact that almost all these fossil graveyards consist of a mixture of marine as well as terrestrial organisms, which is only possible under flood conditions. These burial sites also possess animals and plants belonging to different climatic zones, dumped into a single spot. For example, the Cumberland Cavern in Maryland has fossils of animals from semi-tropical areas, arid regions as well as those from cold regions. The rock fissures in England and France have fossils of organisms belonging to both cold and temperate zones. Similarly, the Norfolk forest-bed in England has remains of plants from temperate zones, cold northern zones and tropical zones (Plaisted, 2004). Moreover, the order of appearance of most fossils in the sedimentary rocks defies the sequence supported by evolutionary and Darwinian theories. Coal beds belonging to millions and billions of fossilized trees and plants have also been found on many continents, all of which date back to a similar time, and are found to be fossilized under similar conditions. The amazing similarity between the plant fossils across continents is proof enough, of a global catastrophe. Geological evidence of a global flood There is abundant geological evidence in support of the Great flood. One of the biggest proofs comes from the discovery of polystrate fossils described by Rupke (1966). These fossils consist of trees buried upright across multiple strata of sandstone, shale and limestone. Most of these trees do not have roots and seem to have been uprooted and deposited far away from their native place. Many such fossil trees appear in Nova Scotia, Germany, USA, France, Canada and England. Only a global flood can explain such a wide dispersal of trees across continents. Another impressive evidence comes from the Coconino Sandstones in the Grand Canyon and their other equivalents spread across Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, that are made of about 42000 cubic kilometers (10,076 cubic miles) of sand. These sandstones have been formed by continuous deposition of large volumes of sand pushed by huge waves of water, one layer over another, in a very short period of time. Cross-beds in this sandstone indicate that water over 295 feet deep flowing at 40-60 inches per second moved sandwaves up to 59 feet high to deposit this sandstone layer over such an incredibly vast area. Yet at that rate of deposition, the 10,076 cubic miles of sand would have been deposited within a few days! (Ashton and Westacott, 2006, p.138) There is no erosion between the layers of sandstone in the Grand Canyon, which proves that the layers were deposited rapidly over a short period of time, before erosion could have taken place. The magnitude of deposition of these sandstone layers, coupled with the rate and scale of deposition projects compelling evidence of a huge amount of water spread across a wide area of land. Similar sedimentary rocks are found all over the world, in exactly the same state as those found in the Grand Canyon. Evidence of abundant water If the flood actually took place, there must have been enough water to submerge the entire land on the surface of the earth. The big question is, “where did all that water go?’ It must have receded somewhere, but where to? A recent investigation on the interior of the earth has revealed the presence of a “vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean” (Than, 2007). This discovery is the first of its kind, where a huge water body was found in the earth’s deep mantle. Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington University, and Jesse Lawrence, his former student made this extraordinary discovery. After analyzing 600,000 seismograms that were collected from seismographs across the planet, they found that the seismic waves dampened in a region below Asia. This suggested the presence of water, which was later confirmed to be true. There is more water on the planet than we know of, till date. Genetic dead-end Since only a few humans survived the flood, entire mankind has been repopulated from a fairly small population. If this was true, then the human genome should show signs of running down due to lack of genetic variability. This is indeed found to be true, as studies performed to assess mutation rates in human mitochondrial DNA, generally used for phylogenic analysis and evaluation of ancestral lineage, show that the gene pool is exhausted. Moreover, the mapping of the mitochondrial genome shows a genetic bottleneck. In further support of this fact, ABC news reports two studies published in Nature: The studies, published in the journal, Nature, paint a picture of a population of humans migrating off the African continent, and then shrinking at some point because of unknown adversity. Later populations grew and spread from this smaller genetic pool of founder ancestors, a phenomenon known as a bottleneck…In view of this extraordinary finding, Professor Carlos Bustamante of Cornell University pointed out “the one thing that I think we cannot say from this study is that any one person's genome is any healthier or evolutionarily fit than another person's genome”. (Gene studies confirm 'out of Africa' theories, 2008) This is a clear indication of the genetic dead end we are facing today due to lack of genetic variability. Archaeological findings suggesting the existence of the ark There is compelling evidence of the presence of a ship and its petrified remains in a glacier in the mountain ranges of Ararat. According to Balsiger (2010), “If the Ararat ice cap continues to shrink in future years, perhaps some of the remains of the long sought after ark will be openly exposed. Unless subsurface radar imaging is allowed by Turkish officials for some future expedition, this might be the only hope for finding remains of the ark, which has remained hidden under the ice” (p.355). However, Turkey has already officially announced the discovery of the Ark. A Turkish army captain first noticed the Ark while examining aerial photographs of the region. About 20 miles south of the Ararat Mountain, a boat shaped form, 500-515 feet long, is clearly visible. It can still be observed on Google Earth at Latitude-39°26'26.26"N and Longitude- 44°14'5.30"E. As the ice of the glacier melts, the ark is becoming increasingly visible. Soon after this discovery, a team of American scientists led by Ronald Eldon Wyatthad set out in search of the ark. At 7,000 feet, in the midst of crevasses and landslide debris, the explorers found a clear, grassy area shaped like a ship and rimmed with steep, packed-earth sides. Its dimensions are close to those given in Genesis: 'The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits,' that is, 450x75x45 feet. A quick two-day survey was made. A scientist in the group says "a ship-like object that has almost unbroken symmetry. (Noah's Ark? Boat like form is seen near Ararat, 1960, p. 112) The rock anchors of the ship and other artifacts have also been discovered at the site and a museum has been established to showcase these. Ronald Eldon Wyatthad and his team tested the remains of the Ark, and found it to consist of petrified wood, having vertical rib timbers and man-made metal alloy fittings made of Aluminum and titanium, all of which were confirmed by lab analysis. The fact that the ship’s dimensions perfectly correlate with those given in the Bible, is proof enough that it is Noah’s Ark. Ancient submerged towns and cities If the great flood actually occurred, there should be evidences of ancient cities submerged under water. A team of researchers have found remains of an ancient city submerged off the western coast of Cuba. In another instance, well preserved remains of an ancient town spread across 311 miles have been found near Yonaguni, an island in the Japanese archipelago. Countless other cities under water, have been found near many places, including India, Italy and Germany. Accounts of a similar event in all other cultures Events similar to this great deluge have been recorded in other historical books and civilizations. About 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, a similar event is reported to have occurred in Sinop, a northern Turkish province. An ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, reports a similar incident in Babylon. Many accounts from Sumerian, Chinese, Hindu, Greek, Mayan and Aztec civilizations also report such a flood. Most of them possess surprising similarities with the biblical description. This could have been possible only if all the different cultures originated from a single one. Apart from the evidences cited above, there are hundreds of other proofs pointing out the probability of a Global flood. In light of all these facts based on biological, geological and historical data, it is difficult to disprove the fact that a Global flood really occurred and that Noah and his Ark are very much a reality than mythology. I therefore conclude that all these proofs stand testimony to the times of Noah and that the Great flood stated in the Bible is a true incident. References Ashton, J., & Westacott, M. (2006). The Big Argument: Does God Exist?. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Publishing Group. Balsiger, D. W. (2010). Miraculous Messages: From Noah's Flood to the End Times. Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos. Gene studies confirm 'out of Africa' theories. (2008). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/21/2168920.htm Noah's Ark? Boat like form is seen near Ararat. (1960, September 5). Life, 49, 112-1143. Plaisted, D. (2004). Geology and the Flood. In A Creation Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.cs.unc.edu/~plaisted/ce/flood.html Rupke, N. A. (1966). A Study of Cataclysmic Sedimentation. Creation Research Society Quarterly,3, 23. Than, K. (2007). Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth. LiveScience. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/1312-huge-ocean-discovered-earth.html Read More