Catastrophic Worldwide Flood

Massive Igneous Mountain Ranges

Massive igneous mountain ranges (such as the Cordilleran Mountain Chain of western North America, Appalachian Mountains of eastern United States, Himalayan Mountain Range between India and China, and Andes Mountain Range of South America) and great batholiths (such as the Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau of the northwestern United States is a basaltic lava plateau (sometimes referred to as batholiths) of incredible thickness covering more than 500 square miles. Many geology textbooks state that this plateau formed by “rapid extrusion of magma from 14 to 17 million years ago.”²⁴ Obviously, uniformity theory does not apply to this massive igneous structure and most igneous formations associated with mountain building (orogeny). “Some manifestation of catastrophic action alone is sufficient”²⁵—such as the tectonic activity of the flood described in Psalm 104:8 (NAS), “the mountains rose; the valleys sank down to the place which Thou didst establish for them.” of northwest United States, and Sierra-Nevada of California) found throughout the world provide exceedingly strong evidence for catastrophic orogeny (mountain building or upthrust) toward the end of the one-year worldwide flood event.

Northern Teton Range and Jackson Lake, Mt. Moran. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior.	The Alps, view of Rigidalstock (left) and Titlis (center), from Mount Stanserhorn, Lucerne, Switzerland. Photo by Roger Gallop

Uniformity theory maintains that mountain building has occurred steadily over hundreds of millions of years, if not billions of years, and the removal of rock and sediment by erosion (denudation) should offset mountain uplift over this vast period of time. Clearly, this is not the case.

This doctrine cannot explain mountain uplift with no denudation, and thrusting, tilting, and folding of rock formations after the rocks have cooled and become brittle (non-pliable) over many millions of years. This poses a time problem for secular geologists. It is clear to most unbiased researchers (setting aside the presumption of uniformity theory) that evidence of folding (i.e., geosynclines), thrusting, and tilting occurred over a short, catastrophic period of time when magma rock was still soft (hot) and pliable.

Geologic evidence indicates a sudden and recent upthrust and tilting of huge mountain ranges—in the words of A. J. Eardley, “… the cause of the deformation of the earth’s outer layers and the consequent building of mountains still effectively evades an explanation.”²⁶ The presence of enormous masses of igneous rock formations (as well as sedimentary rock) throughout the world with massive tilting, folding, and thrusting, and igneous rock formations intruding into massive layers of water-deposited sedimentary rock, remains immensely problematic for secular geologists.

Anticline (arch shaped) with syncline (U-shaped) visible at far upper right in layered gneiss along NJ Route 23 near the rest area exit ramp (west of Butler, NJ) – USGS. Note the blurred image of man standing in foreground, for scale. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior.		Folded limestone layers on Cascade Mountain in Provo Canyon, Utah. Released into the public domain.

Other examples of complete failure of the uniformity theory are the Lewis Thrust Fault located near Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana and Heart Mountain in Wyoming. The thrust fault hypothesis is an attempt by secular geologists to explain how older rock formations were deposited over much younger formations.

For over one hundred years secular geologists have tried to understand how these older rocks came to rest on much younger strata. It is clear to most objective researchers (setting aside the presumption of evolution and uniformity doctrine) that the so-called older rocks were deposited AFTER the younger rocks or the massive reverse thrust was caused by the hydrodynamics of a worldwide flood.

Such inconsistencies are found throughout the world. Based on the biblical worldwide flood event, such formations are consistent with catastrophic geologic processes (that is, earthquakes, volcanism, flood, orogeny with folding, tilting, and thrusting, erosion, and sedimentation) occurring within a short period of time.

Sketch of Chief Mountain and the Lewis Overthrust	Chief Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana. Courtesy of the National Park Services. U.S. federal government, U.S. Department of Interior.