Catastrophic Plate Tectonics (CPT) proposes that the single pre-Flood continent broke up quickly and explosively (i.e., catastrophically). Originally, the plates moved apart at a speed of metres per second—billions of times faster than today. Many (not all) creationist geologists think CPT is an excellent model to explain the Flood. Note: ‘model’ here means an assumed explanation of how the Flood occurred. It is consistent with the Bible but not a direct teaching of the Bible. But what could cause such fast plate movement?

TOP ROCK BREAKS THROUGH

God created one single continent. At the edges, there was likely some cold rock, denser than the asthenosphere below it. This instability would be ready to sink through any weakness.

But why would God create such an unstable situation? God knows the future. Man would become so wicked about 1,600 years after creation that God would need to start over. So maybe God created a world that would Flood at that time. But what would cause the top part to break through? A clue comes from blacksmiths working with iron and steel. They heat the material red-hot to make it much softer and easier to bend.

Many minerals are the same. They become much weaker when hot and also under pressure—sometimes as much as billions of times weaker.

Eventually, the pressure and heat would weaken the bottom part enough for the top to break through. As rock sank, it would make more heat by friction and cause more stress. The underlying rocks would soften even more. This softening allows even quicker sinking and even more heating and stress, thus even more softening. The rocks would eventually reach speeds of several km/hour, called runaway subduction.

CONVEYOR BELT

As the rock layer sank, it would pull the rest of the plate along, like a giant conveyor belt. The continent would tear apart at the other end, forming the Mid-Ocean Ridges (the world’s longest mountain ranges). Magma would pour up through the tears, evaporating vast amounts of water. This would produce a long chain of powerful steam jets. Remember Genesis teaching of huge ocean fountains erupting? (See Bible verse).

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.” Genesis 7:11

The steam would eventually cool enough to condense in the air. It would then fall back as a huge global downpour, just as the Bible vividly describes. No ordinary rainstorm lasts 40 days and 40 nights (Genesis 7:12)! Also, the plate movements would push water onto the land. Eventually, all the land would be flooded.

EVIDENCE

CPT explains many things that don’t make sense under the usual ‘slow-and-gradual’ theory. The most important is the subducted plates themselves—plates underneath another plate. If plates had always moved slowly, they couldn’t have forced their way through. Rather, they would have stopped or blended in. But some have pushed down over 700 km.

Also, consider what happens if a hot object is in contact with a cold object. Heat moves from the hot thing to the cold thing until both have the same temperature. Now consider the cool subducted plate inside a much hotter asthenosphere. If the plate had pushed in slowly, over 100 million years, it should have warmed to the asthenosphere’s temperature. Instead, the plate is often thousands of degrees cooler. This coolness makes sense if it was pushed in quickly, only about 4,500 years ago.

BIBLE VERSE

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.” Genesis 7:11

A CATACLYSMIC EVENT IN HISTORY

The above verse provides the timing of the Flood in real history. It is so important that God tells us the very day in Noah’s life the Flood began. It also tells us how. First, huge fountains in the “great deep” (the oceans) erupted. Next, torrential rainfall. The “windows of heaven opened” is the Hebrew way of saying, “It rained cats and dogs.” CPT is a possible model consistent with the Bible’s true history. The Flood began in the oceans, then came the downpour.

This story was extracted from the latest issue of Creation magazine http://www.creation.com.