1. Colossal water flows during early creation week and early flood
Based on 2017 article:
Colossal water flows during early Creation Week and Early Flood, Answers Research Journal 10:
The aim of this presentation is to ….

2. OUTLINE
Summary
Precambrian geology – crystalline basement; sedimentary sequences
Geological history
Zircon geochronology
Global tectonic events, Water flow episodes, Flood vs Creation
Day Three: basement growth, land emerges
Early Flood: tectonism, rain-triggered erosion, huge surface water flow systems, submarine mass flows.
Conclusions
Supplementary slides

3. summary
North America’s Proterozoic geology provides evidence for enormous erosion and the formation of extensive water flow systems, even spanning the continent.
It is proposed to correlate this geology with early Creation Week and early Flood.
Inferences relating to emergence of land on Day Three:
what is now southeastern North American basement became a region of pre-Flood mountains.
immense runoff from newly emergent land.
Inferences relating to early Noahic Flood:
Immediate pre-Flood topography was drastically changed by the erosional effect of the Flood’s prolonged and globally extensive rain.
Even high mountains were not spared. Water flows carried detritus thousands of km.
Today’s southeastern North American basement provinces (Grenville, Mazatzal, and Yavapai) represent the roots of mountains eroded in the Flood.

4. North American PRECAMBRIAN geology
Precambrian crystalline basement:
SE orogen
earlier Paleoproterozoic
Archean
Proterozoic sedimentary sequences
Source: Rainbird et al. 2012

5. zircon geochronology
Zircons contain high concentrations of important trace elements, including the U-Pb radiogenic isotope system which is highly suited to high-precision geochronology.
Dates from individual zircon grains typically reflect the magmatic crystallization age (and also metamorphism) of a crystalline basement rock.
The age composition of detrital zircons within sedimentary rocks provides an indication of crystalline source rock regions and so input to sedimentary basins.
Because zircon is highly refractory and resilient at earth’s surface, it occurs in virtually all sedimentary deposits and so provides a critical link in understanding the provenance of sediments.
Since zircons are by nature resistant they may undergo multiple recycling events in sedimentary deposits.

6. GLOBAL TECTONIC EVENTS
A number of North American Proterozoic sedimentary sequences inferred to have formed when enormous water flow systems ensued as major tectonic events took place in areas to the east of the sedimentary basins. Grenvillian and Pan-African tectonic Events have been claimed to be the largest such events in the earth’s geological history, based on detrital zircon age data derived from river sands.
These continent-scale tectonic Events may be respectively correlated with Bible Events:
Day Three
Initial Flood

7. water flow episodes
Braided rather than meandering river systems are characteristic of the Precambrian.
Lack of channelized, meandering (low energy) river systems and the presence of mature quartz-arenite sandstone bodies is consistent with extremely high energy and relatively short duration (days) for global early Flood and early Creation Week geological processes.
Subaerial sheet-braided deposits mainly consist of mature sandstone, whereas submarine landslide (mass flow) deposits consist of poorly sorted sediments.
By measuring the inclination direction of crossbeds formed by migration of underwater sand dunes, the way ancient water flowed can be inferred.

8. early flood vs early creation week
The pre-Flood earth surface was destroyed by the Flood (Genesis 6:13) in the sense of being totally wiped or eroded away (Matthew 24:39).
Strontium isotope trends of the Neoproterozoic indicate enormous continental erosion - this can be correlated with the erosion of land associated with the Flood’s rain
The corollary of this is that underlying Archean to Mesoproterozoic crystalline basement and sedimentary rocks can be correlated with early Creation Week.
First 3 days of Creation Week may be seen as a fashioning of an initial ex nihilo-created earth.

9. Day Three - LAND EMERGEs: basement growth, grenvillian event
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:9-10 ESV).
The one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might (Psalm 65:6 ESV)
It is proposed that formation of NE-SW trending late Paleoproterozoic & Mesoproterozoic provinces of SE North America along with Grenvillian Event correlate with processes in earlier part of Day Three.
These NE-trending provinces are characterised by voluminous granitoid plutonism
Believed to represent a time of growth & huge thickening of continental crust to form emergent land and high mountains of the Rodinia supercontinent.

10. Early FLOOD TECTONISM: PAN-AFRICAN EVENT
The phrases, “deeps broke open” and “fountains of the great deep burst forth,” imply fragmentation of the earth’s crust. This is inferred to correlate with Neoproterozoic breaking up of the Rodinian supercontinent, including the Cordilleran and Appalachian margins of North America.
Worldwide continental rifting (and subsequent ocean formation beginning at 0.6Ga) has been inferred - described as the dismemberment of the Rodinia supercontinent “by the most important single continental break-up event in geological history shortly before the dawn of the Cambrian”
Initial rain-triggered continental erosional phase of Noah’s Flood may be correlated with the Pan-African tectonic Event.

11. Noahic Rain-triggered erosion
The Bible describes the greatest rain event ever recorded - 40 days and nights of rain falling on the whole Earth (Genesis 7:12).
Enormous rain would have caused immense erosion of pre-Flood land and consequent deposition of huge volumes of sediment.
Continental erosion, enhanced chemical weathering & changes in global ocean chemistry indicated by numerous geochemical signatures associated with Precambrian-Cambrian boundary.
This is consistent with expected effects of enormous rainfall during the early Flood.

12. Huge surface water flow systems
Enormous river systems interpreted to have flowed from the E to W side of North American continent, several thousand km away! Based on:
paleocurrents derived from cross-bedding in thick Neoproterozoic fluvial deposits indicate regionally consistent W-NW transport.
zircon grains of Grenvillian age recovered from early Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins in NW Canada, > 3000 km away from nearest probable source in Grenville Province.
laterally extensive braided river system
- may have emanated from sources along the entire 5000+km length of the Grenville orogenic front.
Source: Rainbird 2012

13. Submarine Mass flows
Mid-Neoproterozoic (“Cryogenian”) mixtites are poorly sorted sediments and are widespread globally, including the Appalachian Mountains & Cordillera.
These mixtites, interpreted by secular scientists as occurring during ‘glaciations’, more likely represent mass flows that sweeped down into adjacent seas in the early stage of Noah’s Flood due to stupendous rainfall on the continents.
These mixtites have an intimate association with sedimentary rocks indicating warm climates.

14. conclusions
Day Three
Land emerged including (Grenville Province mountains) with Grenvillian Event thickening of continental crust.
Noahic Flood
Tectonism - crustal fragmentation and rifting events, with the Pan-African Event.
Stupendous rain - triggered continent-scale water flows and enormous erosion of land surfaces before the marine transgression completely covered the entire globe.
The Grenville Province represents the eroded roots of pre-Flood mountains.

15. supplementary slides Day Three Grenvillian Event
Grenville Mountain Belt
Grenville Province unroofing
Day Three sedimentation
Noahic Flood
Large floods today
Erosion and Sr isotopes
Great Unconformity
Braided vs meandering river systems
Braided type deposits
Western margin of North America

16. Day three Grenvillian event
“Perhaps the greatest orogenic [mountain-building] event in Earth’s history…” (Rainbird et al 2012).
Huge crustal thickening & mountain building is inferred.
Ga peak in geochemical & isotopic signatures, identified in North America, Western Australia & global data sets, indicates this Event represents a unique episode in Earth’s history (Van Kranendonk & Kirkland 2013)
Paleogeographic reconstructions & tectonic analysis reveal Grenville orogen was perhaps Earth’s biggest:
longest - spanning a quarter of the globe, ~ 20,000 km
widest - as wide as 800 km, with a core zone several hundred km wide (Van Kranendonk & Kirkland 2013).

17. GRENVILLIAN EVENT
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. (Psalm 95:5 ESV)
EVENT associated in secular literature with Mesoproterozoic thickening of Earth’s continental crust.
In striking contrast to most of North America’s older Proterozoic provinces, the basement rocks of SE North America have an overall NE-SW regional trend.
This includes the Late Paleoproterozoic Yavapai and Mazatzal provinces, as well as the Mesoproterozoic Grenville Province.
Inferences:
correlate the Grenvillian Event with the building of high mountains and emergence of land on Day Three of Creation Week.
formation of SE crystalline basement rock provinces on Day Three.
also some Mesoproterozoic sediments formed since the emergence of land on Day Three would have fostered water flow, erosion, and transport of detritus downslope towards the sea.

18. Grenville mountain BELT
The position and extent of the Grenville mountain belt (G) in the supercontinent Rodinia, is shown in orange.
Laurentia is now North America.
(Source: Rainbird and Young 2009).

19. GRENVILLE PROVINCE unroofing
Common occurrence of high-grade metamorphic rocks at the Earth’s surface today indicates uplift & erosion of tens of km of crust.
ie today’s Province represents the roots of a deeply eroded high mountain chain.
Pressure-temperature stability of metamorphic mineral assemblages of gneisses and migmatites have been used to infer formation at depths of tens of km.
The Grenville Province has been described as a large hot orogen. Geothermometry (based on metamorphic mineral assemblages) indicate temperatures in the range 700±50°C or higher. Enhanced radioactive decay has been considered a possible factor in such heating.

20. Day three - sedimentation
Unkar Group & other Late Mesoproterozoic strata in SW North America inferred to indicate N-flowing continental-scale rivers sourced from the developing Grenville Orogen. All units within the Unkar Group contain Paleoproterozoic zircons. Inferred to be a result of water flowing from mountains formed on Day Three in North America’s SE region. (slide 4)
Provenance analysis using zircon grains has been used to infer that big water flow systems transported Paleoproterozoic sediments, shed from the Yapavai & Trans-Hudson Provinces to Paleoproterozoic basins of N Canada such as the Athabasca & Thelon. (slide 4)
The proximal part of the Grenvillian depositional system includes deposits located in the Middle Run Basin and the upper Keweenawan sediments of the Midcontinent Rift. Figure: Krabbendam et al. 2012

21. Large Floods today
In the modern world, local down pours of rain persisting over a limited period can cause:
great devastation of property & habitats, loss of life
landslides, mud flows, erosion and swollen rivers.
A study has concluded that
magnitude of flooding in U.S.A. is highest in regions which experience the most extraordinary precipitation.
precipitation is the primary driver of floods.
maximum peak discharges tend to occur in basins in close vicinity to the ocean that also have mountainous terrain.
The global Noahic Flood expected to have had orders of magnitude greater impact than today’s floods in local basins.

22. Noahic Rain’s Erosion & Strontium isotopes
he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger (Job 9:5 ESV)
Increase in Neoproterozoic strontium isotope ratios 87Sr/86Sr has been explained by accelerated rates of erosion during the Pan-African Event.
In the biblical framework the actual time elapsed would have been of the order of weeks to months, rather than 400 million years.
Figure via: Peters and Gaines 2012

23. GREAT UNCONFORMITY
In the Grand Canyon area, the Great Unconformity is said to represent ~ 1.2 Ga of “missing” radiometric time since 1.75 Ga gneiss is overlain directly by 0.5 Ga sandstone.
- Such locations where Paleozoic sediments lie directly on basement are considered to be where there was erosion only, and not deposition of detritus eroded off of the land in the Flood.
The Grand Canyon Supergroup is considered to represent the “missing time”. The Chuar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup being detritus derived from continental erosion.
Subsequently, the Grand Canyon area’s Paleozoic sediments were deposited as the sea level rose suffiicently to then completely cover the land of the whole earth.

24. river systems – braided vs meandering
Braided rather than meandering river systems are described for the Precambrian.
Lack of meandering (low energy) river systems is consistent with short duration (days) & high energy expected for early Flood’s geological processes.
The initial Flood’s high energy and immense erosion would not have required deep time, & it likely removed evidence of any pre-Flood meandering river channels.
Today’s Amazon River crosses a continent BUT
has many meanders
it is overall relatively low energy
In contrast braided rivers indicate high energy.

25. Braided-type deposits
Well-sorted sandstones from surface erosion of continental land.
Paleocurrents derived from cross-bedding in thick fluvial deposits in basins indicates regionally consistent W-NW transport.
Distant western end of Grenvillian river system represented by braided-type early Neoproterozoic sandstone and siltstone deposits, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Exposed section has a thickness of about 35 m. (figure from Rainbird et al. 2012)

26. Western margin north america
Stage 2 has submarine mass flows & volcanics
Stage 1 includes Grenvillian “age” detrital zircons transported from SE N America.