This evening I listened to a presentation at the monthly meeting of the Northwest Geological Society. The lecturer presented a new theory about a gargantuan flood created by the rapid release of waters ponded in the Arctic basin. The flood event was 14,000 years ago. The damming mechanism was the same as the for the Missoula Floods–a glacier, or in this case glaciers. Alpine glaciers from Siberia and Alaska closed off the Bering Straits. The rivers emptying into the Arctic provided so much fresh water that the Arctic itself became a fresh water body.
Is was an interesting argument. I’m going to look further at the handouts.
Devotees of Noah’s Flood will love it. If the theory turns out to be sustainable under cross examination and further research, it will be an even larger flood than the flooding of the Mediterranean basin. It will be the largest flood ever. –well, except for Noah’s Flood, if you believe the traditional telling.
One of the problems with Noah’s Flood is that is doesn’t work to explain any major features of geology. Floods have fingerprints, footprints. And no one has found the fingerprints of Noah in the geologic record.
The cool thing about geologic theories, you can go and check out the evidence. I’m ready to get a helicopter and head north and investigate the landscape. That would be fun!
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