The Genesis flood: Where did all that water come from? Where did it go?

Answer 1

There is simply not enough H2O in the world to cover the world. Not by a LONG shot. Anyway, as everybody knows, the Genesis account is plagiarized wholesale from the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh." At best, these legends may be a remembrance of a local flood that effectively destroyed the "world" of the locals.

But religious idiots can always respond with "Why does it matter when you have God in the equation?" Indeed. It's a real shame that this brand of religion trains people in every kind of intellectual dishonesty as if it were a virtue. "God" is the default answer to any question they can't answer seriously. "The God ate my homework."

Really, they ought to celebrate the fact that the Flood legend is demonstrably untrue; because a God who would petulantly destroy His own creation for "disobeying" (which He must, after all, have "designed" them to do, in His omniscience and omnipotence) is obviously a Monster.

Answer 2

40 days & 40 nights of rain according to the Bible. Never says where it went to, just that the floodwaters receded.

Tho a firm Christian, I cannot take most of the book of Genesis literally, esp. since I know most faiths had a flood myth (or something that indicated a new start like that). Those who wrote Genesis could have no idea how big the world actually is, and so little details like how much water would be needed to cover the face of the Earth were not considered (& I suspect that 40 was a special number, indicating a long period of time, as it shows up at other points in the Bible).
Since it's a religious text, however, let's chalk it up to divine work and leave it at that. Or consider it a metaphor (?) for the need for change, and the effort need tomake that change.

Answer 3

According to Genesis, the earth at the time was a single continent with no high mountains or deep valleys (lakes, etc). And was covered by a cloud canopy that no longer exist.

When the flood occured, the land was broken, allowing the oceans to pour in on much of the land. The water within the earth itself (which many scientist believe may be more than in all the oceans) was released. Add to that the water canopy and it is not difficult to cover everything to a heights of 150 feet (which is how deep the Bible says the flood was).

Following the flood, much of the water remains today as lakes, rivers, etc. Some returned to within the earth, where it remains today. The rest became part of the rain cycle that still exist today. It took nearly a year for all the water to "dry up" according to the Bible.

There was a lot more than happened then just 40 days of rain showers.

Answer 4

It substitute into possibly geothermal warmth and subterranean water that led to the flood. all of us understand from the 1st financial ruin of Genesis that the greater youthful earth substitute into actually coated with the stuff. examine the bills of modern-day evidence that a similar techniques can even have occurred on Mars ... and around a similar envisioned time. Planetary gravitational stresses can and do reason super quantities of warmth to be generated ... greater suitable than sufficient to evaporate super volumes of water ... supersaturating the ambience ... and as quickly as the stresses have been relieved or bumped off ... making an allowance for the speedy cooling that should reason all that moisture to precipitate into one, long, cataclysmic flood ... merely simply by fact the bible describes it. No wacky creationist concept is mandatory ... merely seismic interest ... perhaps led to with the aid of the close attitude of a brilliant meteor or a rudimentary planet ... that could have broken up, and is without doubt one among the source of the asteroid belt, that could at the instant be spoke of between the earth and mars. the entire purpose of the flood substitute into to wipe out all of advent, so God ought to commence over with Noah and his family members ... so survival isn't an argument. God easily had the capability to supernaturally shield Noah, alongside with all that have been interior the Ark, no rely what substitute into happening exterior of it. We merely don't understand precisely how he might have achieved it ... nor can we ought to understand.

Answer 5

'Rapid thawing and re-freezing of the polar ice caps is all I can think of.'

Where did the other 99% of the water come from? It would take four times al the water presently on Earth to flod the planet above the Himalayas.Truth is, a global flood was proven impossible in many ways long ago.

Answer 6

National Geographic had a special on the other day that presented a few scenarios of how it might have happened...but each one was shot down with hard science!

My fave was the one where all the water that lies below us in all
the worlds well springs, suddenly shot out in tremendous geysers all over the planet..coupled with a spontaneous melting of all the worlds glaciers and the polar ice caps as well..

Answer 7

It came from above.
The Genesis account tells how, on the second “day”, God made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse formed a division between the waters below it, the oceans, and the waters above it.
Genesis 1:6-8
The waters suspended above the expanse evidently remained there from the second “day” of creation until the Flood.
This is what the apostle Peter was talking about when he recounted that there “was an earth standing out of water and in the midst of water...."
Where did they go?
Some evaporated, others enlarged already existing rivers and lakes .....like the Atlantic and Pacific rivers.

Answer 8

Lets look at this from the Christian point of view,

#1 God is all powerfull

Christians believe this correct?

So following rule number one, if god is all powerful whats to stop him from making a little extra water to flood a planet?

while it may seem ridicules from an atheist point of view just think of how fun it would be to be in complete control of a planet...

i would have a blast with it.

Answer 9

Came from the sky.
Went down the drain at the bottom of the ocean.

This was special water which allowed salt water and fresh water to magically not mix, therefore preserving the lives of all the sea creatures.

Answer 10

You didn't need a whole lot of water back then. The idea was to kill all living things that breathed air.

I rather doubt there was life at that time covering 100% of the land mass of the planet earth.

Therefore the water only needed to cover the parts that had life on it.

See how easy that was? :>)

No muss, no fuss.