Has Evidence For The Flood Been Found In The Black Sea? | The Institute for Creation Research

 
Has Evidence For The Flood Been Found In The Black Sea?

In November of 1999, the story hit the newspapers. Evidence for the Flood of Noah's day had been found! Through examination of the sediments in the bottom of the Black Sea, scientists claimed to have discovered evidence that the ocean had suddenly and permanently inundated an earlier fresh- water lake. Fossils of freshwater clams had been abruptly replaced by marine clams in the in the sea's muddy bottom.

The Black Sea lies between modern day Turkey and Ukrainian Russia, fed by numerous rivers. The sea sits in a deep bowl, connected to the Mediterranean through the 19-mile-long Bosporus strait near Istanbul.

As originally reported in the August 1998 issue of Earth, geologists Bill Ryan and Walter Pitman speculated that people thrived around an original fresh-water lake in this location, isolated from the ocean by a natural dam. But as the most recent Ice Age ended, huge volumes of melted ice were released into the oceans, raising its level until it overtopped the dam. Eventually the dam failed, catastrophically flooding the valley and lake below. The survivors of this flood would have migrated in all directions, taking with them the story of a great flood. Could this have been the seed-thought which, when embellished, became the Biblical flood, the researchers asked?

Certainly this would have been a big flood and would have been remembered by survivors. But it wasn't the great flood of Noah's day. The Biblical flood was more than "big"—it was global. There were no survivors who migrated to new areas. Furthermore, the muds on the sea's bottom merely cover the true evidence, thousands of feet of sediments (now sedimentary rock) full of marine fossils. These layers cover vast areas and give testimony to intense marine processes, operating at rates, scales, and intensities far beyond those occurring today even during major flooding. All people today descended from the few survivors on board the Ark, not only the cultures surrounding the Black Sea, and as predicted, nearly all cultures, worldwide, have flood legends.

In the creationist model, the Ice Age followed the Flood and lasted for several centuries. Sea level during that time was an estimated 600 feet lower than today as vast quantities of water were trapped on the continents. When the ice melted, the rising ocean poured into the once-dry Mediterranean valley and then through the Bosporus into the Black Sea area, with the volume and force of hundreds of Niagara Falls. This was a big flood, but not the flood.

The regional flood sediments hardened into rock and were uplifted to form our modern continents. This evidence, far different from lake-bottom sediments, is found today covering the continents, even beneath the Black Sea. Essentially all modern landforms, from lakes to mountains to deserts, are a result of, not survivors of, Noah's Flood. This new claim is a misguided attempt to adapt the Bible to old-earth geology. It throws Christians a sop by saying "there may be some history in the Bible, just don't look too closely."

*Dr. John Morris is President of ICR.

Cite this article: John D. Morris, Ph.D. 2000. Has Evidence For The Flood Been Found In The Black Sea?. Acts & Facts. 29 (2).

The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...

NEWS
Ichthyosaur Graveyard Explained by the Flood
Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live...

CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...

NEWS
Acoustic Communication in Animals
We are all familiar with vocalizations in the animal world. For example, dogs bark, birds sing, frogs croak, and whales send forth their own distinct...