Q. 92: How can so much catastrophic tectonic change unfold within the first 40 days of the Flood?

CPT Q. #92 – 101 Q&A on Catastrophic Plate Tectonics

Question: 92. You have made it clear in answering questions of other panelists several times that you see the 40 days of runaway subduction and supersonic jet action as involving both the opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean and then the breakup of Pangea and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. However, since the simulation you showed at the 2008 ICC conference showed the breakup of Pangea only, and it took 40 days and still didn’t appear totally finished, how can all the other movements in the initial phase fit in that 40 day time frame (when the steam jets were active)?

Response: I addressed this issue in detail in my response to questions 54 and 55. Let me summarize here by saying that until recently I had equated the entire 150 day period mentioned in Genesis 7:24 and 8:3 as the interval during which CPT had operated. Allocating a 40-60 day portion of that 150 day interval for the breakup of Pangea and the opening of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans thus seemed reasonable to me. However, recently, as I have given more attention to the significance of the 40 days and nights of rain, I have concluded that it is this 40-day interval, not the 150-day one, which more likely delimits the actual CPT episode. This is because the steam jets and consequent heavy rain are so causally connected to rapid seafloor spreading. So I have now tentatively revised my outlook to the perspective that the vast majority of the rapid subduction and seafloor spreading which occurred during the Flood likely unfolded during the first 40 days, when Scripture indicates the rainfall was so intense. I admit that compressing the time interval, from 150 days to 40 days, during which most of the Flood’s geological change occurred makes it even more difficult for the human mind to imagine. Yet as I seek to put the puzzle together, this seems to be what Scripture is revealing to us.