In the Beginning_ Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood - Liquefaction During the Flood

29/07/13 In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood - Liquefaction During the Flood

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Table of Contents

Preface

Endorsements

Part I: Scientific Case for Creation

Life Sciences

Astronomical and Physical Sciences

Earth SciencesReferences and Notes

Part II: Fountains of the Great Deep

The Hydroplate Theory: An Overview

The Origin of Ocean Trenches, Earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire

Liquefaction: The Origin of Strata and Layered Fossils

The Origin of the Grand Canyon

The Origin of Limestone

Frozen Mammoths

The Origin of CometsThe Origin of Asteroids and Meteoroids

The Origin of Earth's Radioactivity

Part III: Frequently Asked Questions

Technical NotesIndex

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Below is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood,

by Dr. Walt Brown. Copyright Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.

Click here to order the hardbound 8th edition (2008) and other materials.

[ The Fountains of the Great Deep > Liquefaction: The Origin of Strata and Layered Fossils > Liquefaction

During the Flood ]

Liquefaction During the Flood

Water Hammers and Flutter Produced Gigantic Waves

Water Hammers. Water hammers occur, usually with a loud bang, when water (or any liquid or

gas) flowing in a pipe is suddenly stopped or slowed by closing (or narrowing) a valve, such as a

faucet. A water hammer is similar to the collision of a long train. The faster and more massive the

flowing volume of water, the greater the sudden compression (or pressure pulse) throughout the

pipe as the water is slowed or stopped. A water hammer concentrates energy, just as a hammer



striking a nail concentrates energy and produces forces many times greater than a resting

hammer.

Flutter. Vibrations often begin when a fluid (a liquid or gas) flows along a relatively thin, flexible

surface, such as the wing of an airplane, a reed in a musical instrument, or a flat plate. If (a) the

flowing fluid continually thumps or pushes the vibrating surface back toward its neutral position,

and (b) the thumping frequency approaches any natural frequency of the flexible surface, large,

often damaging, oscillations (or resonances), called flutter, can occur.

Both the large area of the earths crust (200,000,000 square miles) and its squishy,

supercritical-water (SCW) foundation gave the crust great flexibility. Therefore, flutter quickly

began as water was escaping beneath earths crust during the flood. Each narrowing of the

subsurface flow channel by the vibrating crust slowed trillions of tons of water and produced

water hammers that thumped the crust at each of its natural frequencies. Undulations rippled

throughout the crust, causing other water hammers, more undulations, large flutter amplitudes,

and pulsations in the fountains. Most people have heard water pipes banging or have seen pipes

burst when only a few cubic feet of water were slowed. Imagine the excruciating pressures from

rapidly slowing a moving underground ocean.12

The escaping subterranean water produced another chain reaction. Pillars (explained in Figure 54

on page 123) had to carry more and more of the crusts weight, because the diminishing

subterranean water carried less. Therefore, pillars nearest the rupture collapsed firstbut in

stages. Then, adjacent pillars, suddenly supporting additional loads, also began collapsing in

stages, as a falling house of cards, creating more vibrations. The crust vibrated in complex,

wavelike patterns, like a fluttering flag held horizontally in a strong wind. Vibrations closed

valves which, in turn, created water hammers, which created more vibrations. The amplitudes

grew, and waves rippled around the earth.

Forces familiar to us will not compress water much. However, the weight of 10 miles of rock will

compress liquid water by about 14%.13 Because the SCW trapped below the massive, vibrating

crust was primarily a gas, SCW was more than a thousand times more compressible (or

springy) than liquid water. The SCW acted as trillions of long, soft springs supporting a

massive (high inertia) crust. That combinationa large mass vibrating on a very compressible

springproduced huge amplitudes and long vibrational periods, about 10 minutes in length. [See

"Frequency of the Fluttering Crust" on page 539.]

Understanding flutter will become extremely important when we get to "The Origin of Earths

Radioactivity" on pages 350395. [For example, see Figure 192 on page 361.] That chapter will

explain basic errors in radiometric dating, the staggering energy and power of the fountains of the

great deep, and why flutter amplitudes were even greater than is now apparentlarge enough to

sometimes lift the top of the fluttering crust out of the flood waters.

The flooded earth had enormous, unimpeded wavesnot normal waves, but waves on top of and



generated by fluttering hydroplates. With each flutter cycle, high water was forced down into and

up out of the accumulating sediments on the seafloor. Under a wave peak, water was forced, not

only down into the sediments below, but laterally through the sediments, toward pressure

minimums that were simultaneously occurring one half wavelength away, under wave troughs.

Later, when a wave trough arrived, the flows reversed, and water flowed upward. Water almost

completely surrounded each sediment particle deposited on the ocean floor during the flood, giving

each particle maximum buoyancy. Therefore, the sediments were loosely packed and held much

water.

Half the time during the flood phase, water was pushed down into the sediments, stored for the

other (discharge) half-cycle in which water flowed upward. During discharge, liquefaction occurred

if the waters upward velocity exceeded a specific minimum. When it did, interesting things

happened.

Figure 98: Liquefaction and Water Lenses. The wave cycle begins at the left with water being

forced down into the seafloor. As the wave trough approaches, that compressed water is

released. Water then flows up through the seafloor, lifting the sediments, starting at the top

of the sedimentary column. During liquefaction, denser particles sink and lighter particles (and

dead organisms, soon to become fossils) float upuntil a liquefaction lens is encountered.

Lenses of water form along nearly horizontal paths if the sediments below those horizontal

paths are more permeable than those above, so more water flows up into each lens than out



through its roof. Sedimentary particles and dead organisms buried in the sediments were

sorted and resorted into vast, thin layers.

In an unpublished experiment at Loma Linda University, a dead bird, mammal, reptile, and

amphibian were placed in an open water tank. Their buoyancy in the days following death

depended on their density while living, the buildup and leakage of gases from their decaying

bodies, the absorption or loss of water by their bodies, and other factors. That experiment

showed that the natural order of settling following death was, from the bottom up:

amphibian, reptile, mammal, and finally bird.17 This order of relative buoyancy correlates

closely with the evolutionary order, but, of course, evolution was not the cause.

Other factors, also influencing burial order at each geographical location, were: liquefaction

lenses, which animals were living in the same region, and each animals mobility before the

flood overtook it.

A thick, horizontal layer of sediments provides high resistance to upward flowing water, because

the water must flow through tiny, twisting channels between particles. Great pressure is needed

to force water up through such layers. During liquefaction, falling sediments and high waves

provide the required high pressure.

If water flows up through a bed of sediments with enough velocity, water pressure will lift and

support each sedimentary particle. Instead of thinking of water flowing up through the sediments,

think of the sediments falling down through a very long column of water. Slight differences in

density, size, or shape of adjacent particles will cause them to fall at slightly different speeds.

Their relative positions will change until the waters velocity drops below a certain value or until

nearly identical particles are adjacent to each other, so they fall at the same speed. This sorting

produces the sharply-defined layering typical in sedimentary rocks worldwide. The vast, sharply-

defined sedimentary layers we have all seen are unmistakable characteristics of liquefaction and a

global flood.

Such sorting also explains why sudden local floods sometimes produce horizontal strata on a small

scale.14 Liquefaction can occur as mud settles through water or as water is forced up through

mud.



Figure 99: Liquefaction Demonstration. When the wooden blocks at the top of the horizontal

beam are removed, the beam can rock like a teeter-totter. As the far end of the beam is

tipped up, water flows from the far tank down through the pipe and up into the near tank,

which holds a mixture of sediments. Once liquefaction begins, the sediments become mushy,

their volume swells slightly, sedimentary particles fall or rise relative to each other, sorting

themselves into layers, each having particles with similar size, shape, and density. Buried

objects with the density of plants and dead animals float up through the mushy sediments

until they reach a liquefaction lens. The same would happen to plants and animals buried

during the flood.

Their sorting and later fossilization might give the mistaken impression that organisms buried

and fossilized in higher layers evolved millions of years after lower organisms. A school of

thought, with appealing philosophical implications for some, would arise that claimed changes

in living things were simply a matter of time. With so many complex differences among

protons, peanuts, parrots, and people, eons of time must have elapsed. With so much time

available, many other strange observations might be explained. Some would try to explain

even the origin of the universe, including space, time, and matter, using this faulty,

unscientific school of thought. Of course, these ideas could not be demonstrated, as

liquefaction can be, because too much time would be needed.

To understand liquefaction better, I built the simple apparatus shown in Figure 99. The 10-foot-

long metal beam pivoted like a teeter-totter from the top of the 4-legged stand. Suspended from



each end of the beam was a 5-gallon container, one containing water and one containing a

mixture of different sediments. A 10-foot-long pipe connected the mouths of the two containers.

Gently tipping the metal beam raised the water tank. Water flowed down through the pipe and up

through the bed of mixed sediments in the other tank. If the flow velocity exceeded a very low

threshold,15 the sediments swelled slightly as liquefaction began. Buried objects with the density

of a dead animal or plant floated to the top of the tank. Once water started to overflow the

sediment tank, the metal beam had to be tipped, so the water flowed back into the water tank.

After repeating this cycle for 10 or 15 minutes, the mixture of sediments became visibly layered.

The more cycles, the sharper the boundaries between sedimentary layers.

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