Comparison of Catastrophic Formations (Sidebar 4)

Over time and around the world there are records and visual evidence of catastrophic events. The three that are referred to in this module are Mt. St. Helens, Grand Canyon, and Condor Cliffs in Argentina along the Santa Cruz River. All three are huge geologic transformations of the landscape and appear to have some elements in common and others quite different.

Mt. St. Helens began its eruption on May 18, 1980 by releasing a half cubic mile of landslide material into the Toutle River basin. About the same time a steam blast forced a pumice-laden cloud across the landscape vaporizing, scorching, and singeing the surrounding forest over a distance of 150 square miles. After the first day’s activity subsided, there were 600 feet of new strata in the valley, millions of logs strewn across the barren landscape in wind rows, and gigantic mud flows in the various stream drainages from the mountain.

Loowit Canyon formed in just a very short period. This 100 foot deep incision was cut into solid rock by the action of subsequent mudflows. In 1982 the Toutle River landslide debris was unblocked by still another event in the eruptions of the mountain. Deep channelization in the recently deposited strata took place immediately following the May 18, 1980 eruption. Five new canyons of over 100-foot depth were eroded away.

At the Grand Canyon, the gorge is over 5,000 feet below the South Rim. It extends 277 miles from Utah to Nevada across the northern third of Arizona. The canyon width ranges from 4 to 18 miles and contains many enormous side canyons. It is an incredible erosion site that startles every new visitor by its vastness and grandeur. From the rim, the Paleozoic strata can be seen as the sequential layers starting with Kaibab limestone at the rim and ending at the Tapeats sandstone along the edge of the gorge.

Three theories have been proposed for the vast erosional features of the Grand Canyon: Antecedent River Theory, Precocious Gully Theory, and Breached Dam Theory. Over 1,000 cubic miles of sediment have been stripped from the landscape to form the canyon. How could this happen? Austin believes the strongest evidence supports the third theory in which three massive lakes in Arizona, Utah and Colorado breached their natural dams and cataclysmically drained through the country-side gouging the canyon. Sedimentary deposits have been found in the delta of the Colorado River along the Arizona-California border and beyond.

Formation of Condor Cliffs along the Santa Cruz River was thought by Darwin to have been created by the long acting flow of the river. However, historical records and present-day observations reveal that the river is subject to periodic releases of very large volumes of water from the mountain lakes at the headwaters for the river. These lakes have glaciers emptying into their upper reaches still today. As the ice blocks break away, they could and have formed dams to the outflow of the lakes. Breaching of such impoundments could easily release short duration destructive flows that could carve the basalt of the Condor Cliffs in days rather than millions of years.

All three catastrophic flows (mud and pyroclastic material from Mt. St. Helens, water from breached dams above the Little Colorado, and breached dams from Lakes Viedma and Argentino) could have carved or did carve the downstream canyons in short erosive events. None are attributed to the flood of Noah’s time but are considered to be post-flood events that had profound impacts.

Austin, Steven, A., Keith Swenson, John Morris, Larry Vardiman, 1999. "Mt. St. Helens Tour Guidebook", Institute for Creation Research, San Diego.

Austin, Steven A., Editor, 1994. "Grand Canyon, Monument to Catastrophe", Institute for Creation Research, Santee, California.

McKinney, Paul, M., 1990. " ‘Nothing’ Can Reduce ‘Everything’ ", Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Creationism Vol. 1 pp. 137-142. Creation Science Fellowship, Inc.