Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Indian story, recorded in 1865. It provides a compelling eyewitness account of the eruption
of Mount Mazama, which formed Oregon's Crater Lake more than 7,600 years ago. For
tens of thousands of years, our preliterate ancestors conveyed knowledge from one gen-
eration to the next through oral traditions. For a story to survive retelling over many gen-
erations it has to be viewed as important, it must continue to have relevance or relate to
something still visible to listeners, and it must be highly memorable. Stories of a great flood
satisfy all three criteria, particularly in flood-prone regions.
Upon reflection, my theory that flood stories from around the world are grounded in real-
ity is plausible. For tens of thousands of years, oral traditions were the only means of trans-
mitting information from one generation to the next. And while not all stories bear retell-
ing, tales of disastrous, displacing floods were sure to be retold for generations. Just think
of your own family's lore. It's not the day-to-day events that get passed on, it's the big,
memorable things.
After the devastating blows to flood geology in the first half of the nineteenth century,
geologists increasingly avoided debates over how to account for the biblical flood. The
educated consensus was that just because it was written for an audience with a Mesopot-
amian knowledge of earth science didn't mean that the Book of Genesis wasn't written to
convey the majesty, scope, and power of creation.
By the end of the nineteenth century, mainstream geologists had lost interest in the De-
luge. It was a settled matter. Noah's Flood was widely seen as a local historical event in the
Middle East, even if its precise nature remained debatable.
Thomas Huxley, the last survivor of the generation of prominent scientists who lived
through the battles over Lyell's and Darwin's work, even wrote an essay arguing that a
global deluge inundating the world was a fable that conflicted with geological evidence.
He recalled the century's changes in the relation between geology and Christianity:
At the present time, it is difficult to persuade serious scientific inquirers to occupy themselves, in any way, with the
Noachian Deluge. They look at you with a smile and a shrug, and say they have more important matters to attend
to… . But it was not so in my youth. At that time, geologists and biologists could hardly follow to the end of any
path of inquiry without finding the way blocked by Noah and his ark, or by the first chapter of Genesis; and it was
a serious matter, in this country at any rate, for a man to be suspected of doubting the literal truth of the Diluvial…
history.
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