Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
of the Earth, starting with that at Christ's left foot which shows the
globe in a state of chaotic fluidity. As the Earth cools it reaches the
second stage where the surface is smooth. In the third stage the Flood
waters appear and a tiny wooden Ark can be seen floating across them.
In stage four the present distribution of the continents and oceans can
be seen. Stages five, six and seven represent the future. The Earth is
consumed by fires of the Conflagration associated with the second
coming of Christ in stage five, and in its next phase is restored in the
Millennium to its perfect state as a smooth globe. In the final stage the
Earth becomes a star.
The major aspect of Burnet's work was a computation of the
volume of water present during Noah's Flood. Where had the waters
come from to cover all the Earth to a depth of 15 cubits - a considerable
volume? He estimated the volume of water required to achieve this
level of flooding, and suggested that it was eight times the volume of
water in the present oceanic basins. He illustrated how the volume of
water could be estimated by taking soundings using a weighted line,
but seriously underestimated both the areal coverage of the present
oceans and their average depth. Nevertheless such mathematical
frailties do not affect his resultant notions. But what, if there had
been no topographic relief as is now present between the great ocean
depths and the highest mountain ranges? If the Earth were smooth
before the Flood, Burnet reasoned, then much less water would be
needed to cover the surface. In fact, Burnet postulated that the same
volume as is in the modern oceans would have been sufficient. Where
had this water come from originally? Burnet lived with the inclement
English weather, and realised that even continuous rainfall over forty
days and forty nights would not have contributed a great deal of flood-
water. Therefore the water had to have been derived from within the
Earth. He invoked a scenario that had the Earth splitting open to shed
its internal water, and believed that rocks of the surface crust then
collapsed into the resultant voids. This produced the mountainous
continents along the cracked margins and the ocean basins between,
but there was still enough space for the Flood waters to return back
