Noah's Global Flood: Enough Water for 40 Days of Rain?

Yes! Enough for 23 inches a day worldwide for 40 days, from water trapped in volcanic magmas from Earth's LIPs (Large Igneous Provinces).


Figure 1. Distribution of known large igneous provinces (in black, after Reviews of Geophysics, by Coffin and Eldholm, 1994)

A common criticism of the Biblical Flood account is that it would be impossible for rain to occur 40 days and nights over the surface of the entire earth without stopping.

If you believe in the Almighty Creator God who created the entire Universe miraculously in six days, it would be no great difficulty for him to supply that much water. He could have done it miraculously, of course. Or he could have done it by using what was already available on Earth and the Solar System.

In his article Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Hamilton Duncan shows that there is at least enough water trapped in molten rock (magmas) beneath the surface of the earth to supply 23 inches a day for 40 days everywhere on the planet! But how could all that water suddenly shoot into the atmosphere? A simultaneous bombardment of comets and meteors worldwide would be enough to cause the upper layer (mantle) of the Earth’s surface to lead to sudden decompression of the upper mantle, which would cause the trapped water to vaporize and erupt spectacularly into the earth’s atmosphere, shooting many miles up into the sky. Duncan concludes: “A world where 40,000 volcanoes simultaneously erupt would be extremely dreadful and may very well be the world referred to in Genesis 7 and 8.”

Of course, the miraculous hand of God is involved at some point! He is the one that warned Noah that the Flood was coming, and told him exactly how to build the Ark to take refuge. He is the one that sent the rains at their appointed time, and caused them to stop on the 40th day. May we recognize the awesome majesty, splendor and strength of our Creator (1st Chronicles 16:26-27).

(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 41: Jeriah's Choice of The Coming Wrath)

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written by Marko Malyj

Reference

Hamilton Duncan, Volcanism, "Fountains of the Great Deep", and Forty Days of Rain, Creation Research Society Quarterly Journal, Volume 47, Number 1, Summer, 2010.