CPT Q. 053: Could you elaborate more on the effects of the ‘flips’ of the earth during the Flood?

Q. 53. Given that according to your model, there could have been six or more “flips” of the poles, could you expand on the effects that would have on the water that occupied the ocean basins at the time, and what effects the presumed massive tsunamis would have on brittle crustal rocks that would presumably undergo almost instantaneous isostatic displacement with the passing of each wave? My thinking is that this might provide a mechanism for massive breakup of basement and lithified rocks at the onset of the Flood. Also, what might be the frequency of the waves at any given locality?

Response: My first response is that numerical exploration of these questions is still at an extremely primitive level. The model behind the animation I provided as part of the review materials was intended to obtain a first idea of the types of fluid motions that might arise in such a scenario and what some of the important flow mechanics might be. It was not that surprising, given that the earth is spinning, that eddy-like structures would be prominent in the dynamics. In addition, given the frequency if the ‘flips’, the water velocities and wave amplitudes, though large, are not that surprising. My current assessment is that these velocities and amplitudes are both unrealistically large, so it therefore would be useful to explore cases with a smaller number of ‘flips’ – say, one or two. The effects of more realism in regard to continent shapes and locations and changes in continent locations with time also seemed rather urgent to explore. Since I submitted the original materials for review, I have modified the program to include an arbitrary number of circular continent patches in order to investigate the effects of different continent distributions. My preliminary conclusion is that a distribution of continents similar to what exists today yields water flow dynamics solutions qualitatively similar to the one I obtained with a single large circular continent.

At this point, I think the highest priority issue to address is that of reducing the number of ‘flips’ of the earth to only one or two. Some questions then to be answered include:

1. Do the water velocities fall into a more plausible range of only a few tens of meters per second?

2. Are the overall dynamics complex enough conceivably to account for the complexity of the continental sediment record?

3. Are all areas of all the continents eventually affected by high velocity water?

4. How do the solutions depend on the assumed sea level?

5. How does topography on the continents such as linear mountain belts affect the flow dynamics?

6. How does the distribution of continents over the earth affect these issues? That is, are the flow dynamics appreciably different for a single supercontinent compared with the case of dispersed continents like the earth has today?

I feel certain that in the course of exploring these issues many new and unexpected details, in addition to insights to the additional issues you raise in your question, as well as new research directions, will emerge. Let’s pray for a motivated, energetic, and capable young person to spearhead this research endeavor.