29/07/13 In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood - Liquefaction During the Flood

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Table of Contents
Preface
Endorsements
Part I: Scientific Case for Creation
Life Sciences
Astronomical and Physical Sciences
Earth Sciences
References and Notes
Part II: Fountains of the Great Deep
The Hydroplate Theory: An Overview
The Origin of Ocean Trenches, Earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire
Liquefaction: The Origin of Strata and Layered Fossils
The Origin of the Grand Canyon
The Origin of Limestone
Frozen Mammoths
The Origin of Comets
The Origin of Asteroids and Meteoroids
The Origin of Earth's Radioactivity
Part III: Frequently Asked Questions
Technical Notes
Index
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Below is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood,
by Dr. Walt Brown. Copyright Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.
Click here to order the hardbound 8th edition (2008) and other materials.
[ The Fountains of the Great Deep > Liquefaction: The Origin of Strata and Layered Fossils > Liquefaction
During the Flood ]
Liquefaction During the Flood
Water Hammers and Flutter Produced Gigantic Waves
Water Hammers. Water hammers occur, usually with a loud bang, when water (or any liquid or
gas) flowing in a pipe is suddenly stopped or slowed by closing (or narrowing) a valve, such as a
faucet. A water hammer is similar to the collision of a long train. The faster and more massive the
flowing volume of water, the greater the sudden compression (or pressure pulse) throughout the
pipe as the water is slowed or stopped. A water hammer concentrates energy, just as a hammer
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striking a nail concentrates energy and produces forces many times greater than a resting
hammer.
Flutter. Vibrations often begin when a fluid (a liquid or gas) flows along a relatively thin, flexible
surface, such as the wing of an airplane, a reed in a musical instrument, or a flat plate. If (a) the
flowing fluid continually thumps or pushes the vibrating surface back toward its neutral position,
and (b) the thumping frequency approaches any natural frequency of the flexible surface, large,
often damaging, oscillations (or resonances), called flutter, can occur.
Both the large area of the earths crust (200,000,000 square miles) and its squishy,
supercritical-water (SCW) foundation gave the crust great flexibility. Therefore, flutter quickly
began as water was escaping beneath earths crust during the flood. Each narrowing of the
subsurface flow channel by the vibrating crust slowed trillions of tons of water and produced
water hammers that thumped the crust at each of its natural frequencies. Undulations rippled
throughout the crust, causing other water hammers, more undulations, large flutter amplitudes,
and pulsations in the fountains. Most people have heard water pipes banging or have seen pipes
burst when only a few cubic feet of water were slowed. Imagine the excruciating pressures from
rapidly slowing a moving underground ocean.
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The escaping subterranean water produced another chain reaction. Pillars (explained in Figure 54
on page 123) had to carry more and more of the crusts weight, because the diminishing
subterranean water carried less. Therefore, pillars nearest the rupture collapsed firstbut in
stages. Then, adjacent pillars, suddenly supporting additional loads, also began collapsing in
stages, as a falling house of cards, creating more vibrations. The crust vibrated in complex,
wavelike patterns, like a fluttering flag held horizontally in a strong wind. Vibrations closed
valves which, in turn, created water hammers, which created more vibrations. The amplitudes
grew, and waves rippled around the earth.
Forces familiar to us will not compress water much. However, the weight of 10 miles of rock will
compress liquid water by about 14%.
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Because the SCW trapped below the massive, vibrating
crust was primarily a gas, SCW was more than a thousand times more compressible (or
springy) than liquid water. The SCW acted as trillions of long, soft springs supporting a
massive (high inertia) crust. That combinationa large mass vibrating on a very compressible
springproduced huge amplitudes and long vibrational periods, about 10 minutes in length. [See
"Frequency of the Fluttering Crust" on page 539.]
Understanding flutter will become extremely important when we get to "The Origin of Earths
Radioactivity" on pages 350395. [For example, see Figure 192 on page 361.] That chapter will
explain basic errors in radiometric dating, the staggering energy and power of the fountains of the
great deep, and why flutter amplitudes were even greater than is now apparentlarge enough to
sometimes lift the top of the fluttering crust out of the flood waters.
The flooded earth had enormous, unimpeded wavesnot normal waves, but waves on top of and
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generated by fluttering hydroplates. With each flutter cycle, high water was forced down into and
up out of the accumulating sediments on the seafloor. Under a wave peak, water was forced, not
only down into the sediments below, but laterally through the sediments, toward pressure
minimums that were simultaneously occurring one half wavelength away, under wave troughs.
Later, when a wave trough arrived, the flows reversed, and water flowed upward. Water almost
completely surrounded each sediment particle deposited on the ocean floor during the flood, giving
each particle maximum buoyancy. Therefore, the sediments were loosely packed and held much
water.
Half the time during the flood phase, water was pushed down into the sediments, stored for the
other (discharge) half-cycle in which water flowed upward. During discharge, liquefaction occurred
if the waters upward velocity exceeded a specific minimum. When it did, interesting things
happened.
Figure 98: Liquefaction and Water Lenses. The wave cycle begins at the left with water being
forced down into the seafloor. As the wave trough approaches, that compressed water is
released. Water then flows up through the seafloor, lifting the sediments, starting at the top
of the sedimentary column. During liquefaction, denser particles sink and lighter particles (and
dead organisms, soon to become fossils) float upuntil a liquefaction lens is encountered.
Lenses of water form along nearly horizontal paths if the sediments below those horizontal
paths are more permeable than those above, so more water flows up into each lens than out
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through its roof. Sedimentary particles and dead organisms buried in the sediments were
sorted and resorted into vast, thin layers.
In an unpublished experiment at Loma Linda University, a dead bird, mammal, reptile, and
amphibian were placed in an open water tank. Their buoyancy in the days following death
depended on their density while living, the buildup and leakage of gases from their decaying
bodies, the absorption or loss of water by their bodies, and other factors. That experiment
showed that the natural order of settling following death was, from the bottom up:
amphibian, reptile, mammal, and finally bird.
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This order of relative buoyancy correlates
closely with the evolutionary order, but, of course, evolution was not the cause.
Other factors, also influencing burial order at each geographical location, were: liquefaction
lenses, which animals were living in the same region, and each animals mobility before the
flood overtook it.
A thick, horizontal layer of sediments provides high resistance to upward flowing water, because
the water must flow through tiny, twisting channels between particles. Great pressure is needed
to force water up through such layers. During liquefaction, falling sediments and high waves
provide the required high pressure.
If water flows up through a bed of sediments with enough velocity, water pressure will lift and
support each sedimentary particle. Instead of thinking of water flowing up through the sediments,
think of the sediments falling down through a very long column of water. Slight differences in
density, size, or shape of adjacent particles will cause them to fall at slightly different speeds.
Their relative positions will change until the waters velocity drops below a certain value or until
nearly identical particles are adjacent to each other, so they fall at the same speed. This sorting
produces the sharply-defined layering typical in sedimentary rocks worldwide. The vast, sharply-
defined sedimentary layers we have all seen are unmistakable characteristics of liquefaction and a
global flood.
Such sorting also explains why sudden local floods sometimes produce horizontal strata on a small
scale.
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Liquefaction can occur as mud settles through water or as water is forced up through
mud.
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Figure 99: Liquefaction Demonstration. When the wooden blocks at the top of the horizontal
beam are removed, the beam can rock like a teeter-totter. As the far end of the beam is
tipped up, water flows from the far tank down through the pipe and up into the near tank,
which holds a mixture of sediments. Once liquefaction begins, the sediments become mushy,
their volume swells slightly, sedimentary particles fall or rise relative to each other, sorting
themselves into layers, each having particles with similar size, shape, and density. Buried
objects with the density of plants and dead animals float up through the mushy sediments
until they reach a liquefaction lens. The same would happen to plants and animals buried
during the flood.
Their sorting and later fossilization might give the mistaken impression that organisms buried
and fossilized in higher layers evolved millions of years after lower organisms. A school of
thought, with appealing philosophical implications for some, would arise that claimed changes
in living things were simply a matter of time. With so many complex differences among
protons, peanuts, parrots, and people, eons of time must have elapsed. With so much time
available, many other strange observations might be explained. Some would try to explain
even the origin of the universe, including space, time, and matter, using this faulty,
unscientific school of thought. Of course, these ideas could not be demonstrated, as
liquefaction can be, because too much time would be needed.
To understand liquefaction better, I built the simple apparatus shown in Figure 99. The 10-foot-
long metal beam pivoted like a teeter-totter from the top of the 4-legged stand. Suspended from
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each end of the beam was a 5-gallon container, one containing water and one containing a
mixture of different sediments. A 10-foot-long pipe connected the mouths of the two containers.
Gently tipping the metal beam raised the water tank. Water flowed down through the pipe and up
through the bed of mixed sediments in the other tank. If the flow velocity exceeded a very low
threshold,
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the sediments swelled slightly as liquefaction began. Buried objects with the density
of a dead animal or plant floated to the top of the tank. Once water started to overflow the
sediment tank, the metal beam had to be tipped, so the water flowed back into the water tank.
After repeating this cycle for 10 or 15 minutes, the mixture of sediments became visibly layered.
The more cycles, the sharper the boundaries between sedimentary layers.
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