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The Impact Scenario
Does the biblical account allow for the possibility of any sort of cosmic event or events in connection with the Flood? Or, must the onset of the Flood be attributed exclusively to a divine decree, or angels pouring out buckets of water?
To approach the question from another angle, it might be asked, irrespective of the Flood, where exactly do the impacts recorded in Earths geological strata fit in the biblical scheme of things? If it should be assumed that cosmic events have nothing all to do with the Flood, then just where do the impacts fit in a complete and biblical picture of true reality? What event or group of events accounts for the apparent impacts of space objects on the earth?
Geological strata are found throughout the earth, as are extensive fossil beds and both features are best accounted for by the Universal Flood in the opinion of most who are identified as Young Earth Creationists. In a similar vein, Creationists would do well to explain and treat the evidence of cosmic encounters, i.e. asteroids and comets, which have left craters at hundreds of points across the surface of the planet. These salient features of topography on the Earth and Moon, and other solar satellites as well, should be included in Creation/Flood models.
The trend of opinion among many scientists is that the Earth has been devastated by numerous major impacts during her supposed four billion years of existence. There seems to be no denying that impacts have occurred in the past with catastrophic results, contrary to the widely embraced doctrine of uniformitarianism.
In the world of secular science the extinction of dinosaurs is commonly blamed on a collision about 65 million years ago and the 110-mile crater of the alleged culprit impact is reportedly located in Mexico. Carl Weiland reviews The Great Extinction Mystery by Officer and Page, which disputes the notion that this Chicxulub feature of the Yucatan is an impact crater, or that it coincides with the demise of dinosaurs as a predominate group of animals on the planet. The evidence catalogued in the book suggests that it is something other than an impact, which is further buttressed by the work of Myerhoff and others.
Those who take the Bible seriously would assert that the dinosaurs were contemporaneous with man and that they were destroyed in the flood, except for those on the ark. Then the dinosaurs that came off the ark did not proliferate, and in the years following the flood they gradually became largely extinct.
In secular science nevertheless, many extinction events have been attributed to major impacts. An article in Scientific American charts the top five mass extinctions, and specifies that in three cases, some sort of cosmic impact precipitated the destruction, including an extinction event supposedly occurring 250 million years ago, in which 95 percent of marine species were eradicated, along with 70 percent of land species (Simpson 1-2).
Rosario Nici and Douglas Kaupa, both of the United States Air Force, list five impacts, one of which is said to have formed the Chesapeake Bay, east of Washington, D.C. The authors then declare, Today there are 140 known impact sites on the Earth with many hundreds awaiting verification (1). The surface of the Earth presents hundreds, yea thousands of impact craters, piquing curiosity about the circumstances of their formation. Three of the craters are nearly 200 miles in diameter: Vredefort, South Africa; Sudbury, Canada north of Lake Huron; and possibly that notorious feature along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Dozens of other craters are known to exist, any one of which would likely have caused massive devastation if normal laws of physics had been in action. The Ries Basin in southern Germany, for example, is fifteen miles wide an ancient crater twenty times wider than the famous crater in Arizona of the southwestern United States.
From the Young Earth perspective, what is the timeframe for the formation of these and other great craters on the surface of the earth today, as well as those in deeper geological strata? The time at which the lunar craters were formed, as well as those on other planets, is also included in this question.
Does the biblical account allow for the possibility of any sort of cosmic event or events in connection with the Flood? Or, must the onset of the Flood be attributed exclusively to a divine decree, or angels pouring out buckets of water?
To approach the question from another angle, it might be asked, irrespective of the Flood, where exactly do the impacts recorded in Earths geological strata fit in the biblical scheme of things? If it should be assumed that cosmic events have nothing all to do with the Flood, then just where do the impacts fit in a complete and biblical picture of true reality? What event or group of events accounts for the apparent impacts of space objects on the earth?
Geological strata are found throughout the earth, as are extensive fossil beds and both features are best accounted for by the Universal Flood in the opinion of most who are identified as Young Earth Creationists. In a similar vein, Creationists would do well to explain and treat the evidence of cosmic encounters, i.e. asteroids and comets, which have left craters at hundreds of points across the surface of the planet. These salient features of topography on the Earth and Moon, and other solar satellites as well, should be included in Creation/Flood models.
The trend of opinion among many scientists is that the Earth has been devastated by numerous major impacts during her supposed four billion years of existence. There seems to be no denying that impacts have occurred in the past with catastrophic results, contrary to the widely embraced doctrine of uniformitarianism.
In the world of secular science the extinction of dinosaurs is commonly blamed on a collision about 65 million years ago and the 110-mile crater of the alleged culprit impact is reportedly located in Mexico. Carl Weiland reviews The Great Extinction Mystery by Officer and Page, which disputes the notion that this Chicxulub feature of the Yucatan is an impact crater, or that it coincides with the demise of dinosaurs as a predominate group of animals on the planet. The evidence catalogued in the book suggests that it is something other than an impact, which is further buttressed by the work of Myerhoff and others.
Those who take the Bible seriously would assert that the dinosaurs were contemporaneous with man and that they were destroyed in the flood, except for those on the ark. Then the dinosaurs that came off the ark did not proliferate, and in the years following the flood they gradually became largely extinct.
In secular science nevertheless, many extinction events have been attributed to major impacts. An article in Scientific American charts the top five mass extinctions, and specifies that in three cases, some sort of cosmic impact precipitated the destruction, including an extinction event supposedly occurring 250 million years ago, in which 95 percent of marine species were eradicated, along with 70 percent of land species (Simpson 1-2).
Rosario Nici and Douglas Kaupa, both of the United States Air Force, list five impacts, one of which is said to have formed the Chesapeake Bay, east of Washington, D.C. The authors then declare, Today there are 140 known impact sites on the Earth with many hundreds awaiting verification (1). The surface of the Earth presents hundreds, yea thousands of impact craters, piquing curiosity about the circumstances of their formation. Three of the craters are nearly 200 miles in diameter: Vredefort, South Africa; Sudbury, Canada north of Lake Huron; and possibly that notorious feature along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Dozens of other craters are known to exist, any one of which would likely have caused massive devastation if normal laws of physics had been in action. The Ries Basin in southern Germany, for example, is fifteen miles wide an ancient crater twenty times wider than the famous crater in Arizona of the southwestern United States.
From the Young Earth perspective, what is the timeframe for the formation of these and other great craters on the surface of the earth today, as well as those in deeper geological strata? The time at which the lunar craters were formed, as well as those on other planets, is also included in this question.
