Catastrophism
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Catastrophism is the assumption that entire strata systems, and even groups of systems, were accumulated in a hydraulic cataclysm matching the description of sudden catastrophic events. Within creationism such an event did occur according to the biblical account of the global flood in the time of Noah.
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Historical Development
The concept was first promoted by Georges Cuvier, a famous French comparative anatomist and vertebrate palaeontologist. It was expressed quite concisely in the release of the Discourse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe in 1812 by Cuvier. It was concluded that throughout Earth's history many catastrophic near global or regional floods had happened.
In 1830 to 1833, Charles Lyell (1797–1875), who was actually a lawyer, published his influential three-volume work entitled, Principles of Geology. This in turn re-established uniformitarianism and dealt a major blow to catastrophism with its eventual traction gained within the European geologists' minds. What the Pinciples of Geology emphasized was the concept of slow, gradual gathering of sediments. It developed a framework that is still used today to interpret geologic formations and changes. Charles Lyell embraced the assumption that present-day rates of change and magnitude should be used to interpret the past record of geological activity.[1]
Evidence
The earth's history has without question been violent. However, life remains and flourishes. The central focus of the creation vs. evolution debate is whether catastrophes in earth's past were the result of natural processes over millions of years, or a catastrophic flood of global proportions as described in the Bible as God's judgment.
If we assume the geologic column was formed during the global flood, then this deluge was also accompanied by numerous volcanic flows and quite possibly meteor bombardments. What we see all over the world consistent with a global flood is layers upon layers of sedimentary rock or strata with millions of fossils in it. Several sites provide us with examples of large-scale catastrophic processes important for understanding the mechanisms responsible for the formation of the earth's strata.
Global flood
- Main Article: Global flood
The secular interpretation of earth's history assumes there were repeated floods and other catastrophes which caused the extinction of many animals, but were of insufficient intensity to destroy all terrestrial life. However, the Bible says there was a flood that no terrestrial animal or human could survive without divine intervention. And indeed, a single event capable of depositing the entire geological column would not be survivable. It is certainly a fact that cataclysms have occurred in the earth's past, and vast layers of sediment testify to these disasters. When you examine the evidence closely you will see that the fossil record has simply been misinterpreted by the atheistic scientific community, and is instead a recording of a devastating global flood.
The extensive distribution of sedimentary rocks would quickly be interpreted as the result of a single major catastrophe by geologists but for the presence today of living animals whose existence atop of these formations must be explained naturalistically. Given the depth and distribution of the sediments that cover the earth, it is a foregone conclusion that no terrestrial animal could have survived their deposition if formed during a single event. Likewise, if the flood occurred as described in the Bible, animals could not have survived without God's supernatural intervention. God told Noah there was going to be a flood, gave him instructions on how to survive the event, and had them board the ark before the flood began. The evidence from a historic scenario like Noah's flood could simply not be believed by a naturalist. The only possible naturalistic interpretation is that the organisms alive today were able to survive the deposition of these massive rock layers without such assistance. A naturalist must believe the geological column accumulated at an extremely slow and gradual rate over millions of years for the many fragile organisms alive today to avoid extinction.
An interesting fact is that if North America didn't "float" on the mantle, the waters would almost be as high as the Rocky Mountain system.
| “ | A University of Utah study shows how various regions of North America are kept afloat by heat within Earth’s rocky crust, and how much of the continent would sink beneath sea level if not for heat that makes rock buoyant....
Mile-high Denver’s elevation would be 727 feet below sea level and Salt Lake City, now about 4,220 feet, would sit beneath 1,293 feet of water. But high-elevation areas of the Rocky Mountains between Salt Lake and Denver would remain dry land.[2] | ” |
Reference
- ↑ Mortenson, Terry. "Where did the idea of 'millions of years' come from?" Answers in Genesis, June 21, 2007. Accessed August 6, 2008.
- ↑ University of Utah. "Without Hot Rock, Much Of North America Would Be Underwater." ScienceDaily, 25 June 2007. Accessed 7 November 2008.
Related Links
- Up with Catastrophism! by Dr. Henry Morris. ICR Impact #38
- Neo-Catastrophism by Dr. Gary Parker
See Also
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