The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

breaking open of the fountains of the great deep. It has been postulated that episodic rifting events at the margins of North America between 0.8 and about 0.6 Ga record the fragmentation of a Neoproterozoic supercontinent (Bond et al. 1984; Hoffman 1989). This is consistent with the initial breaking open of the crust with the bursting forth of the fountains of the great deep on a specific day, followed by further extension and then ocean formation. Subsidence histories of passive margins are a key indicator of worldwide continental extension and then ocean formation beginning at 0.6 Ga, and this has been described as the dismemberment of the supercontinent “by the most important single continental breakup event in geological history shortly before the dawn of the Cambrian.” (Bond et al. 1984; Piper 2009). During the Pan-African Event, continental rifting cut across all earlier tectonic grain, initiated Cordilleran sedimentation, and gave birth to the EoPacific between North America and Asia (Carey 1976). B. Enormous water flows and continental erosion and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. (Genesis 7: 12 ESV). and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished (2 Peter 3:6 ESV) “and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:39 ESV). he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger (Job 9:5 ESV) World-wide simultaneous (commencing in the same day) erupting of springs or fountains (including eruption of volcanic material) was followed by global rainfall. Much of the water for the Noahic Flood may have come from various depths within the Earth. The mantle may be a major water source (Bergeron 1997). The Earth’s mantle transition zone, between 410 to 660 km, could be a major repository for water, due to the ability of the higher-pressure polymorphs of olivine-wadsleyite and ringwoodite to host up to ~2.5wt. % H 2 O (Pearson et al. 2014). An anti-creationist geologist said “Sedimentation in the past has often been very rapid indeed and very spasmodic. This may be called the Phenomenon of the Catastrophic Nature of the Stratigraphical Record.” (Ager 1973). In North America, braided-type sheet sandstones are found in lower Neoproterozoic sequences whereas poorly sorted “glacial” deposits are found in mid-Neoproterozoic sequences. This is considered consistent with subaerial sheet flow when the Flood rain began and later mass flows on slopes as the marine transgression of the Flood progressed, respectively. Zircon grains of Grenvillian age were recovered from lower Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins in northwestern Canada, more than 3000 km away from the nearest probable source in the Grenville Province on the other side of the continent. In addition, paleocurrents derived from cross-bedding in thick fluvial deposits in these basins indicates regionally consistent west-northwesterly transport (Rainbird 2008; Rainbird et al. 2012). The presence of mature quartz-arenite sandstone bodies and braided river systems in lower Neoproterozoic successions (Rainbird et al. 2012) is consistent with extremely high energy and relatively short duration (days and weeks) for global early Flood geological processes. Braided rather than meandering river systems are characteristic of Precambrian successions (Eriksson et al. 2013). This is all evidence for enormous water flow systems as part of a gigantic erosional episode due to the Flood’s tectonic activity and the impact of prolonged and geographically extensive rain on the land (Dickens 2017b). The Grenville Province is inferred to contain the roots of a deeply eroded pre-Flood high mountain chain (Dickens 2017b). Stupendous rain of Noah’s Flood would have caused immense continental erosion and would have led to the deposition of Neoproterozoic sediments (Dickens 2016; Dickens and Snelling 2015), including mass flow deposits. The major 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratio increase between 0.9 Ga and 0.5 Ga (Fig. 3) is consistent with erosion of highly radiogenic continental crust (Dickens 2016; Dickens 2017b; Dickens and Snelling 2015; Meert and Powell 2001; Peters and Gaines 2012) during the Pan-African Event (Derry et al. 1994). Neoproterozoic mixtites have been interpreted as mass flows rather than as “glacials” (Schermerhorn 1974). The pre-Flood earth surface was destroyed (Genesis 6:13) in the sense of being totally wiped away (eroded). Pre-Flood people were swept away (Matthew 24:39 ) in the immense water flows. The subsequent decline in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio in postCambrian strata may then be due to the presence of a globe-covering ocean so that the rain no longer directly impacted the land. The ‘Great Unconformity’ (first named for its occurrence in the Grand Canyon, but traceable across North America) provides evidence for the erosion of continental crust as Flood rain impacted the land. Locations where Paleozoic sediments lie directly on basement are considered to be where there was basement erosion only and not deposition of detritus eroded off the land (Dickens 2017b). While the Flood rain was eroding the land (and depositing the Chuar Group sediments), the sea elsewhere continued to rise. The land was then progressively covered by water leading to a global ocean (depositing Paleozoic sediments in the process). In the Grand Canyon area, the Mesoproterozoic Unkar Group and associated mafic magmatism appears to record the presence of a basin within the continent that formed in response to northwest contraction and northeast extension related to the Grenvillian Event to the south. The overlying Neoproterozoic Chuar Group deposition indicates renewed continental rifting in an east-west sense, probably related to the early stages of supercontinent breakup (Timmons et al. 1999). I infer that along with emergence of land on Day Three, a basin formed into which the Unkar Group was deposited. The Chuar Group formed later from detritus derived from the early Flood’s erosion of the land (Dickens 2017b). C. Mass flows Mid-Neoproterozoic mixtites of the North American Cordillera have been interpreted as submarine mass flow deposits during Noah’s Flood (Sigler and Wingerden 1998; Snelling 2009; Wingerden 2003). The Kingston Peak Formation in California is an example, with debris flows and catastrophic coarse clastic deposits having been interpreted (Sigler and Wingerden 1998). The nal basin-forming episode of Proterozoic rocks involved a series of rift basins that once more preserve evidence of multiple Dickens ◀ North American Precambrian geology ▶ 2018 ICC 398