The Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus leave no question of Divine judgment of humanity by a past global flood upon the earth. But few topics ignite as much debate – or fascination – as the search for its historical evidence. From marine fossils embedded high in mountain ranges to vast, flat plateaus and sedimentary rock layers stretching across continents, the geological record is filled with features that are quite compelling signs of a cataclysmic, worldwide deluge. Proponents point to the rapid burial of plants and animals, the existence of many massive fossil graveyards extending for miles, the presence of marine fossils far from any modern sea, and the lack of erosional time gaps between the sedimentary layers as powerful evidence of a recent global flood that reshaped the face of our planet. As new discoveries continue to emerge, the question remains: do these clues truly point to a single, planet-wide catastrophe occurring thousands of years ago, or are they the result of slow and gradual processes occurring over millions of years. This article explores selected evidence of a global flood and what it means for an understanding of human and Earth history.
There is evidence of a global flood in inspired Scripture
- What did God say He would do? “And behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish” (Genesis 6:17). The literal reading here is clearly global.
- What did God say He did? “Thus, He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:23). Again, clearly global.
- What did God promise? “And I establish My covenant with you [bow in the cloud-v.13]; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). If the Genesis flood were only local or regional, then God lied, for there have been many such floods since.
- The New Testament has over 100 references to Genesis 1-11 (see Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). In every instance, they viewed those chapters as historical, true, and authoritative.
- Jesus, the Son of God, taught that the ark, Noah, and the flood were factual history. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark…” (Matthew 24:37-38).
- If the Genesis flood were not global, how could Jesus liken it to His final universal judgment? “…and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:39). If many outside the suggested “local” flood of Genesis escaped judgment, wouldn’t that imply that many would escape the final judgment as well?
In my doctoral work in biology, the fossil record was the showcase of science. Today, the fossil record has been preempted by creationists and proponents as evidence of a global flood. Why?
The discovery of massive fossil graveyards around the world
Billions of nautiloids, corals, clams, sea lilies, snails, and other marine organisms are fossilized in a seven-foot-thick layer within the Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon. This graveyard stretches for 180 miles across northern Arizona and into southern Nevada, covering an area of at least 10,500 square miles. It is estimated that it would take twenty-four cubic miles of lime sand and silt, flowing in a thick, soup-like slurry at more than eleven miles-per-hour to catastrophically overwhelm and bury this huge, living population. Another such graveyard in France has hundreds of thousands of both marine and terrestrial creatures buried together on the continent.
The discovery of marine fossils high on mountains
Marine fauna had to first be buried in sedimentary layers on land. When the layers buckled at the end of the flood, the marine fossils in them were uplifted even to the heights of the Himalayas in Nepal. To find marine fossils in layers on top of most mountains and at 2,950 feet above sea level in most layers of the Grand Canyon, marine creatures had to be swept over the continents, buried in layers there, and then lifted when the mountains formed.
The discovery of exquisitely preserved fossils
Thousands of delicate jellyfish were found impeccably preserved in sandstone covering more than 400 square miles in the South Australian outback. Researchers concluded this could not happen slowly over time, but they had to be buried very quickly. A marine reptile about six-feet long was fossilized at the moment of giving birth. Some squids have been found with ink still in their ink sacs. Fish were buried and fossilized so quickly that fine details of their fins and eyes can still be studied today.
These discoveries add to the mountain of evidence of a global flood.
I am a biological scientist, not a geologist. I am persuaded by those who are, however, that there are good reasons to conclude that the sedimentary rock layers we observe today were deposited rapidly by a cataclysm such as the biblical global flood.
The Presence of rock layers across continents provide Evidence of a Global Flood
It would take an incredible force to deposit a world-wide series of layers. For example, the Tapeats Sandstone consists of beds of sand extending across the entire U.S., North Africa, and the Middle East. The Coconino Sandstone layer near the top of the Grand Canyon is on average 315 feet thick and covers an area of about 930,000 square miles extending from Mexico to Canada. The volume of sand in this layer is about 55,000 cubic miles.
Features within sedimentary rock layers
Huge boulders are found in the layers that could have been deposited only by huge storms such as the catastrophic flood. Also, there are sloped sand beds (cross-beds) within some rock layers that can only be deposited by rapidly flowing water with powerful currents.
No time gap between rock layers
The evolutionary time scale maintains that it took millions of years for the sedimentary layers to accumulate. If so, the boundaries between the strata should show weathered surfaces from millions of years of erosion. We don’t find that but rather evidence of only rapid erosion with flat and featureless boundaries. This is consistent with rapidly deposited strata without long periods of elapsed time.
Presence of folded rock layers
The Kaibab Plateau in the Grand Canyon is 4,500 feet above sea level except the eastern portion which is about 2,000 feet. At some time in the past the higher section was pushed up to create a 90 degree fold (a right angle) where the two parts connect. The rock at the fold should be broken since it would already be hard if it was deposited over millions of years. But it isn’t cracked. The likely explanation is that the rock layers were deposited rapidly and within months uplifted while they were still soft and pliable (like modeling clay).
Only a catastrophic event can adequately explain these observations providing even more compelling evidence of a global flood.
Even these cows knew how to move to higher ground, avoiding some recent, localized flood waters.
The most typical response of those who deny the evidence of a global flood from the bible is that it is a myth or only a local flood. That the text of Genesis is written as historical narrative (and not an allegory or myth) has been adequately defended by Hebrew scholars. The questions below are a challenge to those who teach a local flood interpretation of inspired scripture.
- Why was there a need for the ark at all? Noah and his family would only need to move to higher ground if it were only a local flood.
- Why gather the animals and birds at all? They, too, could easily escape from the flood zone.
- God said the flood was a judgment upon all the wicked on the earth (Genesis 6:11-13). Surely, they were scattered widely enough and capable of escaping a local flood.
- Did God fail at His task (see Genesis 6:17 — “…everything that is on the earth shall perish”)?
- Does the Bible not tell the truth (see Genesis 7:23 — “…and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark”)?
- How could the ark land on the mountains of Ararat from a local flood (Genesis 8:4)?
- How would a local flood last about a year, and why would Noah need to wait about seven months after landing if it were only a local river flood?
- Has God failed to keep His rainbow covenant (Genesis 9:8-17)? Many major and destructive local floods have occurred since then, which would violate His promise if He were only speaking of a local flood.
Finally, the teaching that the universe arose billions of years ago, and that life on earth has been in continuous evolution for millions of years, conflicts with a “restart” by a global flood. Throughout all my education, I was instructed to believe that millions of years was required to form fossils, oil, rock layers, diamonds, petrified wood, canyons, etc. Scientific research has now discovered the conditions needed to form all these, and these conditions would all exist as the result of a catastrophic global flood (heat, pressure, sediment movement, and layering, etc.). We also know that it can happen in days, months, and years, and does not require millions of years.
There is much more evidence of a global flood I could layout, however, my goal was to provide just a glimpse of what already exists. The reader who wants to have more proof should read Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge’s book, A Flood of Evidence (Master Books, 2016).
You can trust the Bible. Every denial of its truthfulness is shown to be false when all the facts are known. Jesus said,
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18).
Sources: Answers Magazine, “Global Evidences of the Genesis Flood,” July-Sept. 2021, pp. 44-52.
