The Truth About The Ice Age

Some people are forever seeking to find something that they can claim disproves the Bible. In this regard, they are comparable to the scoffers of whom Peter wrote, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." - II Peter 3:3-10.

Some people believe they have disproved the infallibility of the Bible in what science calls the Ice Age period of the earth. After all, they tell us, the Bible says nothing about the Ice Age so the Bible must be wrong. However, they make one valuable mistake, every event that has taken place over the centuries has been in one way shape or form proven in the Bible.

The Ice Age
The Ice Age (Pleistocene Epoch) is what geologists call what they believe to be the last geological ages of earth history. Many anthropologists believe man attained an evolutionary development, as such, early in the glacial state. The Ice Age is an alleged period of about two million years and ended about eleven thousand years ago. However, an important event which evolutionists ignore the global flood. The flood caused great earth movements and catastrophes never before or subsequently duplicated. Many modern scientists in collecting all their theories, regardless of how silly and unsupported they are, will not even consider the Genesis flood, not even as a theory.

Scientists have collected mounds of evidence proving that ice once covered most of Canada and parts of the northern and central United States. Evidence is also found in northern Europe, northwest Asia, many of the large mountain ranges of Eurasia, and high mountainous areas of the Southern Hemisphere and tropics. But the truth is, scientists still do not know the cause of the Ice Age.  Although theories abound, no one really knows what causes ice ages. Uniformitarianism, a system often involved in dating, has not been able to explain the Ice Age, or events related to the Ice Age. Ice sheets are not developing and melting today so we have no way to actually observe how they developed in the past. The global Flood, believed by most scientists in the 1700s and early 1800s, was really never proved wrong. Scientists in the mid to late 1800s simply decided they wanted to assume uniformitarianism instead.

Several Things Could Have Happened After The Flood to Form The Ice Age
From the description of the flood is Genesis, we can get enough information to form an idea about what the world was like during and immediately after the catastrophe.  Scripture indicates that much of the water for the Flood came from the fountains of the great deep, which refers to the ocean. The bursting open of the fountains of the great deep implies the ocean rose up and covered the land or that oceanic or subterranean sources of water burst forth onto the land. “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights." - Genesis 7:10-12.

Monumental geological and hydrological activity occurred early in the Flood. Gigantic earthquakes could have caused large cracks or rifts in the earth’s crust, explosively releasing subterranean water and triggering volcanic activity. By inference, the mountains before the Flood were fairly low, and even if the mountains were above 10,000 feet the strong currents of a worldwide Flood would have eroded the mountains that did exist. Since the fountains of the great deep are mentioned before the rains, it is likely that they caused most of the rainfall as rainfall was the second contributor to the Flood waters. "

"And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." - Genesis 7: 23,24.

The Flood waters increased and covered the earth by the 150th day, the fastest rise likely occurring in the first forty days followed by a slow rise or prevailing for the next 110 days. The Flood waters then receded from the future continents for the next 221 days when the ocean basins subsided and the mountains rose. "And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried." - Genesis 8:13,14

Embedded within the sedimentary rocks is evidence of incredible volcanic activity that has no parallel today. Unusually thick layers of volcanic flows and ash interlayer sedimentary rocks and fit the worldwide Flood paradigm very well. It appears that at the end of the Flood the world was covered by huge volumes of volcanic ash and gas that had spewed into the atmosphere. The abundant ash and gas trapped in the stratosphere would act as an “anti-greenhouse”. Instead of warming the earth, it would reflect sunlight back into space and cool it. At the same time, infrared radiation would continue to escape the earth. Scientists recognize that volcanic dust and gas can substantially cool the earth. Large modern eruptions usually cool a region or hemisphere a degree or two Fahrenheit. The cooling normally lasts one to three years as the ash and gases slowly fall out of the stratosphere.

The extensive volcanism that would result from a worldwide Flood would have a much greater impact on the climate than in historical times. Volcanic ash and gases from the Flood would probably take at least three years to fall out. Three years would be enough time to start an Ice Age. The eruptions would need to continue for many years after the Flood to sustain it. Geologists recognize that there was extensive volcanic activity during the Ice Age. Extensive summer cooling of the land is the first requirement needed for an ice age to develop. High snowfall is the second. Cooling alone cannot generate more precipitation, since cold air holds less moisture, not more. This is the major reason why uniformitarian Ice Age theories fail. In the Ice Age model after the Flood, the abundant moisture needed for an ice age would be produced by evaporation from a warm ocean at mid and high latitudes.

Why would the oceans be warm?
First, it is likely the pre-Flood ocean was warmer than now. Secondly, if the water from the fountains of the great deep came from within earth’s crust, much hot water would be added to the pre-Flood ocean. The earth’s crust warms about 10°F per 1,000 feet depth. If the water for the fountains came from 3,000 feet, it would be quite warm. If it came from 10,000 or more feet the water would have been hot. Third, intense tectonic activity during the Flood and lava flows would add more heat. Earthquakes and rapid ocean currents during the Flood would mix this warm water with the pre-Flood ocean.

The importance of warm surface water temperatures is that the warmer the water the greater the evaporation For example, if all other variables remain constant, water evaporates three times faster at an ocean temperature of 86°F (30°C) than at 50°F (10°C), and seven times faster than at 32°F (0°C). So a universally warm ocean would generate a high amount of evaporation.

Would all this heat from a warm ocean keep the high and mid latitudes too warm for the Ice Age?
In some areas it would, until the ocean cooled enough by evaporation and contact with colder air.  The Flood and its aftershocks provide the volcanic dust and gases that bring the summer cooling indispensable for the Ice Age. Water from the fountains of the great deep and mixing during the Flood provides a warm ocean. In the mid and high latitudes the warm ocean would cause copious evaporation and produce massive amounts of snow. The two ingredients required for an Ice Age, cool temperatures and tons of snow, were dramatically fulfilled immediately after the Genesis flood. This unique climate would persist for hundreds of years after the Flood as the intensity of the two mechanisms slowly decreased.