Recently, an update on the Whopper Sand in the Gulf of America (Mexico) was published in the oil field trade magazine, AAPG Explorer.¹ New oil drilling has found it to be thicker and more extensive than first thought.^2–4

ICR described the initial discovery of this massive sand in 2001:

The Whopper Sand was first discovered about 200 miles off the coast in the deep Gulf of Mexico [America] in 2001. The first well penetrated an unexpected 1,300 feet of nearly pure sand near the bottom of the Paleogene interval, coincident with the base of the Tejas Megasequence. Surprisingly, the newly discovered sand had sharp boundaries on the top and bottom.⁴

Joshua Rosenfeld, a retired oil geologist, added, “[The abrupt top and base of the sand deposit was] puzzling, since we were trained to expect gradational coarsening-upward bedding during regression [sea level drop] and fining-upward during transgression [sea level rise], rather than the sharp contacts we were seeing.”⁵

A Paleogene (Early Cenozoic) sand, the Whopper Sand is formally known as the Lower Wilcox Formation throughout the Gulf and was deposited shortly after the Cretaceous sediments were laid down at the peak of the Flood. ICR’s research has shown that the Whopper Sand marked the start of the receding phase of the Flood.⁶

Many of the initial well penetrations into the Whopper Sand were drilled in water between 6,000 and 10,000 feet deep. Well completions at these depths can cost as much as a quarter of a billion dollars.¹ But the oil potential is worth the cost of drilling in the deep water. BP, an energy company with worldwide oil and gas operations, alone has found reserves in this sand of up to 10 billion barrels of oil.¹ Some of their wells have had to go through 4,000 to 6,000 feet of water and then drill an additional 30,000 feet below the seabed.¹ BP is finishing two deepwater platforms that are about 300 miles southwest of New Orleans to develop their discoveries. Technology has also had to find new ways to produce at these depths, with some pressures greater than 20,000 pounds per square inch.

This new oil exploration has extended the Whopper Sand farther south into the Gulf’s Mexican waters and farther west into slightly shallower water, about 160 miles off the Texas coast.¹ The Whopper Sand now extends 400 miles east to west across the Gulf. And the thickness of the sand has greatly increased in places also. Our earlier articles reported thicknesses between 1,000 feet and 1,900 feet based on initial well penetrations. But now some penetrations are finding the sand nearly as thick as 8,000 feet!¹

Michael Sweet, codirector of the Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis Project at the University of Texas at Austin, tried to explain this thick and extensive deposit from a conventional point of view, claiming that “the Paleogene is a series of large submarine fans – giant.”¹ Submarine fans can be thought of as underwater delta deposits. They form by the accumulation of sediment-laden, turbulent underwater flows rapidly moving downslope. They leave distinctive thin beds of coarse sand that is followed by finer sand, and topped by clay, producing what’s known as a fining upward sequence. Submarine fans are composed of repetitive stacked layers of these fining upward deposits, resulting in pancaked beds of thin sand and clay.

However, there is a problem with Sweet’s conventional explanation: submarine fans that result in almost 8,000 feet of nearly pure sand with a sharp base and sharp top do not happen today. And this sand extends across much of the entire Gulf! Today’s much thinner and less extensive submarine fans produce a “fining-upward” sequence.⁵ But we don’t see evidence of multiple fining-upward sequences in the Whopper Sand.

Some of the sand has fragments of feldspar, from granite, and tiny rock fragments that indicate it was sourced from as far away as the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, too.¹ What type of energy could move this much sand from those two areas so far offshore?

The best explanation for the Whopper Sand is summarized in my book, Carved in Stone:

So, where did the Whopper Sand come from? The answer appears to be related to the receding stage of the great Flood (Genesis 8:3). The Whopper Sand is near the base of the last worldwide sedimentary sequence formed during the Flood (Tejas). Drainage across the United States changed dramatically as these layers were being deposited, with most of the water flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico [America]. It is logical that the floodwaters that inundated whole continents would have flowed off in catastrophic volumes. High-velocity, sheet-like flow would tend to transport large volumes of sand and rock fragments first, dumping the Whopper Sand into deep water.

This type of flow would only have occurred once during the recession of the Flood’s water. Today, we find mere trickles of flow to the deep water, transporting a mixture of clay and sand down submarine canyons. Because the Flood was global, there are likely other whopper sands to be found in deep water worldwide.⁶

Undeniable evidence for the global Flood can be found for hundreds of miles into the deepwater Gulf. And each new well makes the extent of the sand harder for conventional geologists to explain. The best reason for this massive Whopper Sand is the receding phase of the global Flood.

References

1. Brown, D. 2026. The Next Chapter in the Gulf’s Deepest Play. AAPG Explorer. 47 (4): 10–12.
2. Clarey, T. The Whopper Sand. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org February 27, 2015, accessed April 13, 2026.
3. Clarey, T. A Whopper Mystery for Nearly 20 Years. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org April 22, 2020, accessed April 13, 2026.
4. Clarey, T. 2021. Extending the Whopper Sand Mystery. Acts & Facts. 50 (8): 7.
5. Rosenfeld, J. 2020. Paleogene Drawdown of the Gulf of Mexico? AAPG Explorer. 41 (4): 14–19.
6. Clarey, T. 2020. Carved in Stone: Geological Evidence of the Worldwide Flood. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research, 335.

* Dr. Clarey is the director of research at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his doctorate in geology from Western Michigan University.