What is the physical evidence for a global flood?

Question

I would imagine that a geological event on the scale of a global flood would leave extensive evidence in its wake. To what extent can phsyical data be interpreted as consistent with the idea of a global flood?

Answer 1

If you pick up any modern textbook on geology you will find plenty of explanations of sea fossils in geologic strata and all sorts of other "evidence" of a flood. Evidence is often times only evidence to a person who has already accepted the conclusions.

In my experience, I see that the same modern geological understanding that rejects the idea of a flood allows people to find oil and minerals all over the world, to make accurate predictions about the stability of the tectonic plates, and to correlate perfectly with evidence from archeology, paleontology, astrology, and meteorology. I look at this "big picture" and conclude that the case for modern geology is strong and that for a flood is negligible; research the subject and make up your own mind.

Answer 2

The Answers in Genesis website has an article that covers historical records of the flood - Comparison of secular historical records, where they look at 200 flood traditions from across the world. 95% of the traditions had common elements with the Genesis account and described a worldwide flood.

Answers in Genesis also provides a number of articles describing geological evidence for a worldwide flood: Geological Links

Answer 3

I can provide evidence that suggests a global flood when taken together, but you can never really prove something that happened in the past.

1. Fossils. The fact that so many fossils are found, and often in large collections, is kind of odd if you believe the flood didn't happen. Normally dead animals rot away, are eaten by other animals, or otherwise have their remains scattered by the elements. Flood conditions that bury the animals whole, are very desirable in producing fossils (you have to have the right minerals from soil and water encasing an object before it will fossilize).. Just think for a second how silly it would be to say that the larger fossil collections were not caused by a flood or simular catastrophe, that's how the arceologist explain allot of them, by some sort of local flood for each deposit. So why not accept the global Flood? That explanation was written well before anybody had a reason to explain them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fossil_sites
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fossil_Parks

2. History. While I know there are definitely exceptions, all around the world ancient civilizations record a global flood (but it of course is usually dismissed as part of their mythology). Interestingly enough many of them include a story about people in a boat with names very similar to Noah and his family. http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/flood.html

3. The geologic column, and fossil record. It just happens that the order of materials in the geologic column, and the order fossils are generally* found, are the order those materials hydraulically sort into if mixed in flowing water and allowed to settle. (Don't take my word for it, try it!)

4. Polystrate fossils. That is to say, fossils that that span multiple layers in the geologic column. All over the world entire forests of trees are found petrified joining multiple geologic era's, so either they stood still for millions of years while the layers formed around them so they could be petrified. (In the upright position, without rotting), or they were petrified by being buried in some catastrophic event.

To Be Continued later..... **

*And don't be fooled, although I hear claims to the opposite all the time, fossils do end up in layers they supposedly shouldn't be in frequently.

**Also I am staying on topic and only talking about some of the evidence of a global flood, others may come and hijack this thread to talk about their old earth 'science', I'll address those in the appropriate threads.

Answer 4

I am no archaeologist even today, but even as an child I found one piece of evidence to contribute.

When I was a kid my dad always used to complain that he could never find his tools. That's because half of them were strewn about in the woods where I had absconded with them. He never could keep a hatchet around, but one of the other tools I loved was a sledge hammer. Where we lived there wasn't much dirt, maybe 6" if you were lucky, then you hit limestone bedrock. I used to smash every bit of rock I could get loose into bits.

Why? Because inside every single sample were fossils ... specifically fossils of sea creatures. I collected literally hundreds of sea-shell fossils.

We lived on on the top of of a ridge at 7,500 feet elevation in the middle of the Rocky Mountains in the middle of a continent.

Answer 5

Walt Brown

Has done a significant amount of research and study on this topic. He graduated from MIT and ended up retiring from the Air Force as a Colonel.

I think that you'll find his theory incredibly compelling, His Website.

Basically he says that the earth was created relatively flat. Not flat in the sense of non-spherical, but flat in the sense of no mountains, valleys or oceans. Then the flood happened and caused some major devastation.

It ends with the idea that the oceans are the evidence of the flood, the mountains are the evidence of the flood, the fossils, the tilt of the earth's axis, the seasons, all of this is evidence of what happened in Walts theory. It really explains everything in a very logical argument..