Genesis says: All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 7:11.
Thinking people for many centuries have wondered how anyone could believe that the earth was covered with water up to 15 cubits above the tallest mountain. 7:20. Their conclusion was that the flood was either a regional event or it never happened. Now, there is new evidence to show that there is an ocean, perhaps larger than all the oceans of the earth, deep under the earth. http://www.livescience.com/1312-huge-ocean-discovered-earth.html. The ancients believed that there were waters above the earth (the floodgates of the sky held them back) and waters under the earth. They claimed that there were fountains which went down to these waters under the earth.
Now this ocean is 300 miles beneath us and goes from about 440 kms to 660 kms. The earth's crust is only 3 miles thick at the bottom of the Mariana's trench and only a few more miles thick at such places as the Toba super volcano. The finding of a ringwoodite diamond has raised the question of whether there is interaction between this lower ocean and the earth above through volcanoes. It is possible to speculate that a particular super volcanic eruption might open a channel to these oceans below. When the passage was open, the tremendous pressure on the ocean below caused by the crust of the earth would be temporarily transformed into an artesian well and super volcanoes erupt over vast areas, as much as 25 sq. miles. The heat from the evaporating water would fill the atmosphere and for a short while it would seem that the floodgates of heaven were opened. So, it is possible to conceive that at sometime in the past, may be 70,000 years ago, a super volcano opened a passage to the ocean below and in fact the earth was inundated with water to a level of 15 cubits above Mt. Everest and Mt. Anaconda.
This speculation raises new questions not easily answered. First, I want to deal with the problem of oxygen. The animals on Noach's Ark breath oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during their process of breathing. However, the earth was completely covered as is clear from the dove not finding a green plant to return to Noach. 8:9. If there was no plant life left on the face of the earth, where was the oxygen coming from that allowed the animals on the Ark to live. The answer is two-fold. First, the plant life in the ocean was not destroyed and it continued to produce oxygen. In addition, the photoplanktin continued to produce oxygen. Thus with only a few beings to use the oxygen, there was enough oxygen being produced to meet the needs of the animals on the Ark.
Next, I want to deal with the problem of the draining of the excess water. The story says that by the passage of 150 days, some bare land began to appear. 8:3. How did that happen? Obviously, some of the water was removed by evaporation, but that would have been insufficient to have such a dramatic effect. The super volcano must have acted as a drain. The water would then have flowed back into the space that was created when the volcano exploded. Science tells us that the super volcano creates a huge caldera. Perhaps the super volcano's caldera was still a hole to the ocean below.
Next, we have to deal with the question of food. Genesis 6:21. However, to provide for the sustenance of such a huge number of animals would require vast amounts of food. The food problem requires several miracles. First, the carnivores must become as described in Isaiah's prophecy and be willing to lay down with the lamb. The snakes must be willing to co-exist with the child. These animals must be willing to eat grass, grain and vegetables. Second, the food must have been multiplied. Whatever is the physics of conversion of energy into food is not a problem to the being who governs us, but it must have happened in a massive way to keep alive the huge population on the Ark. Third, the Ark must have existed in at least one additional dimensional bubble at the time of the flood so as to allow a huge expansion of its size. Today, we are capable of conceiving of such an event, but the ancients were not.
So we see that it is no longer madness to conceive of the possibility of a the flood, just as it is described in Genesis. It remains speculation, but now speculation based upon some factual evidence. Contemplate this possibility my readers and write to me with solutions to these problems. Find a solution to the food without a miracle. Find a solution to the need for space with out a miracle.
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