Plateaus and Planation Surfaces Give Strong Evidence of Creation
by Owen Borville
February 6, 2019
Geology
Erosional surfaces such as plateaus and planation surfaces show strong evidence for the global flood described in the Book of Genesis and give evidence for the young earth model. These surfaces were eroded flat as the floodwaters receded off the continents and these surfaces can be seen around the world. Plateaus are elevated flat surfaces of a variety of widths and thicknesses while planation surfaces are planed surfaces, or surfaces that have been eroded as a flat plain and occur in many places and environments in the world. Many planation surfaces can be seen in high elevation mountainous regions or near river channels. The planation surface is unusually flat while the surrounding land contains steep slopes and ridges. Many plateaus around the world have been uplifted from below sea level to several thousand meters or feet in height. We know that these surfaces have been uplifted from below sea level because of the marine rock layers and fossils found on these surfaces. After uplift, these surfaces were eroded flat like a table top, most likely as a result of receding floodwaters and sheet erosion.
Some of these planation surfaces have canyons carved into them, such as the Grand Canyon of western North America. This marks the transition from sheet erosion to channelized erosion by the receding floodwaters. During sheet erosion, a large, widespread surge of water flows over the surface as a sheet of water and erodes the surface flat as water continuously and catastrophically engulfs the surface. As the volume of water decreases, the sheet flow turns into channelized flow and large canyons are carved into the surface. These surfaces give great evidence for the global Genesis Flood that occurred less than 5,000 years ago.
Between the heavily eroded mountain ranges of the Rockies and the Appalachians, the central lowlands and plains of North America have been eroded by the Mississippi River basin to form a large, continent-wide planation surface. After the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, many canyons were carved through, including the Grand Canyon. Many other canyons were carved, along with many smaller plateaus, mesas, and erosional features seen in western North America, including Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. The Appalachian Mountains have also seen much erosion, as many canyons and water gaps have been carved by the floodwaters. As these two mountain ranges were rapidly uplifted, the receding floodwaters wiped through and removed much sediment, while many river basins were formed and merged into the Mississippi. A few erosional remnants, such as the Ozark Plateau contain more erosion-resistant rock.
The Plateau of Tibet is adjacent to the Himalaya mountain range to the north in Western China and is one of the largest plateaus in the world. Many canyons and erosional features are carved into this plateau, while erosion rates indicate that these features are very young, within a few thousand years. Just south of the Plateau of Tibet is the Deccan Plateau of India, which is also one of the largest plateaus in the world with many canyons carved through. The central Siberian Plateau also contains many canyons carved through while the west Siberian Plains along with the northern European Plains are also major continental-scale planation surfaces and remnants of the global flood.
It has been noted that the majority of the continent of Africa is a planation surface. From the Sahara Desert in the north to the Kalahari Desert in the south to the Congo Basin and Katanga Plateau in between, the continent of Africa has been described as one large planation surface that has experienced much erosion. There are no tectonic plate boundaries in Africa creating large ranges such as the Rockies, Andes, or Alps. East Africa contains some tall peaks along the "Rift Zone", such as Mount Kilimanjaro, but the majority of Africa is a planation surface eroded by sheet and channel erosion. The Congo Basin was likely eroded as floodwaters from the Saharan highlands, Katanga Plateau, and east Africa merged and emptied into the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, after examination, the work of the Genesis Flood is greatly evident.
The landforms of central Australia show great evidence of large scale continental sheet erosion by the retreating floodwaters of the Genesis Flood. Large eroded and unusual landforms can be seen in central Australia including the Uluru, a large rock which extends further into the subsurface. Kata Tjuta is another nearby site that features large, rounded boulders several thousand meters in height. These features can be termed "inselbergs," or large rocks left behind by the erosion of the surrounding rock. Another term commonly used to describe these features is "monolith." Uluru is composed mostly of a type of sandstone called arkose, which is rich in the mineral feldspar. There is also a lack of faults or breaks in the monolith, giving the impression of one solid rock. The Western Plateau of Australia is a large continental-scale erosional feature that further supports the Genesis Flood occurrence.
The rapid uplift of the Andes Mountains along with the receding floodwaters likely caused the erosion of the Amazon Basin between the Guiana Highlands and the Brazilian Highlands. The Brazilian Highlands contain many canyons and waterfalls, along with the Guiana Highlands to the north. In the Guiana Highlands, many "table-top" mountains, mesas, and plateaus give evidence of rapid, catastrophic erosion by floodwaters wiping out softer rock and slicing through the plateau with razor-sharp cuts. Once again, we see an uplifted continental plateau heavily eroded by the receding floodwaters of the Genesis Flood-first by sheet erosion then transitioning into channelized flow.
From a creationist perspective, these erosional surfaces, monoliths, and inselbergs give evidence of a catastrophic flood wiping out the landscape, with the exception of a few erosion-resistant rocks. The floodwaters eroded and removed the surrounding softer rock and left these harder monoliths behind. Feldspar minerals are known to rapidly alter into clay minerals in a common weathering process, therefore the existence of feldspar in these Australian landforms indicates a very young existence and not millions of years of time. The uniformitarian geologists have failed to explain the existence of these vast erosional surfaces with gradual, uniform erosion over millions of years. Erosion of large planation surfaces or flat-topped plateaus over millions of years does not make logical sense and is difficult to explain. These large scale erosional processes are not occurring today and must have occurred at one time in the past. Uniform processes simply cannot explain planation surfaces and large eroded features such as plateaus, inselbergs, and monoliths. What other type of event could have created these features? The best explanation for these erosional features is a large scale catastrophic flood that covered the entire earth and retreated after continental uplift, causing much erosion of the continents and creating many erosional landforms that we see today.
It should be noted that today there are many flat plateaus in the world that are claimed to be millions of years old by mainstream scientists. These flat plateaus were likely eroded by the receding floodwaters of the global Genesis Flood 4,500 years ago. However, these plateaus remain flat after supposedly millions of years of erosion and weathering. Why haven't gullies and larger erosional features been carved into these flat surfaces over the proposed long periods of time? Large flat plateaus that are observed today are not forming today by current processes and formed at one time in the past. Evolutionists use faulty dating methods to label ages to these landforms without considering the obvious erosional processes that would have occurred for such long periods of time. The best explanation for the age of these flat plateaus is that they are not millions of years old but only a few thousand years old according to the creationist time frame.
by Owen Borville
February 6, 2019
Geology
Erosional surfaces such as plateaus and planation surfaces show strong evidence for the global flood described in the Book of Genesis and give evidence for the young earth model. These surfaces were eroded flat as the floodwaters receded off the continents and these surfaces can be seen around the world. Plateaus are elevated flat surfaces of a variety of widths and thicknesses while planation surfaces are planed surfaces, or surfaces that have been eroded as a flat plain and occur in many places and environments in the world. Many planation surfaces can be seen in high elevation mountainous regions or near river channels. The planation surface is unusually flat while the surrounding land contains steep slopes and ridges. Many plateaus around the world have been uplifted from below sea level to several thousand meters or feet in height. We know that these surfaces have been uplifted from below sea level because of the marine rock layers and fossils found on these surfaces. After uplift, these surfaces were eroded flat like a table top, most likely as a result of receding floodwaters and sheet erosion.
Some of these planation surfaces have canyons carved into them, such as the Grand Canyon of western North America. This marks the transition from sheet erosion to channelized erosion by the receding floodwaters. During sheet erosion, a large, widespread surge of water flows over the surface as a sheet of water and erodes the surface flat as water continuously and catastrophically engulfs the surface. As the volume of water decreases, the sheet flow turns into channelized flow and large canyons are carved into the surface. These surfaces give great evidence for the global Genesis Flood that occurred less than 5,000 years ago.
Between the heavily eroded mountain ranges of the Rockies and the Appalachians, the central lowlands and plains of North America have been eroded by the Mississippi River basin to form a large, continent-wide planation surface. After the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, many canyons were carved through, including the Grand Canyon. Many other canyons were carved, along with many smaller plateaus, mesas, and erosional features seen in western North America, including Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. The Appalachian Mountains have also seen much erosion, as many canyons and water gaps have been carved by the floodwaters. As these two mountain ranges were rapidly uplifted, the receding floodwaters wiped through and removed much sediment, while many river basins were formed and merged into the Mississippi. A few erosional remnants, such as the Ozark Plateau contain more erosion-resistant rock.
The Plateau of Tibet is adjacent to the Himalaya mountain range to the north in Western China and is one of the largest plateaus in the world. Many canyons and erosional features are carved into this plateau, while erosion rates indicate that these features are very young, within a few thousand years. Just south of the Plateau of Tibet is the Deccan Plateau of India, which is also one of the largest plateaus in the world with many canyons carved through. The central Siberian Plateau also contains many canyons carved through while the west Siberian Plains along with the northern European Plains are also major continental-scale planation surfaces and remnants of the global flood.
It has been noted that the majority of the continent of Africa is a planation surface. From the Sahara Desert in the north to the Kalahari Desert in the south to the Congo Basin and Katanga Plateau in between, the continent of Africa has been described as one large planation surface that has experienced much erosion. There are no tectonic plate boundaries in Africa creating large ranges such as the Rockies, Andes, or Alps. East Africa contains some tall peaks along the "Rift Zone", such as Mount Kilimanjaro, but the majority of Africa is a planation surface eroded by sheet and channel erosion. The Congo Basin was likely eroded as floodwaters from the Saharan highlands, Katanga Plateau, and east Africa merged and emptied into the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, after examination, the work of the Genesis Flood is greatly evident.
The landforms of central Australia show great evidence of large scale continental sheet erosion by the retreating floodwaters of the Genesis Flood. Large eroded and unusual landforms can be seen in central Australia including the Uluru, a large rock which extends further into the subsurface. Kata Tjuta is another nearby site that features large, rounded boulders several thousand meters in height. These features can be termed "inselbergs," or large rocks left behind by the erosion of the surrounding rock. Another term commonly used to describe these features is "monolith." Uluru is composed mostly of a type of sandstone called arkose, which is rich in the mineral feldspar. There is also a lack of faults or breaks in the monolith, giving the impression of one solid rock. The Western Plateau of Australia is a large continental-scale erosional feature that further supports the Genesis Flood occurrence.
The rapid uplift of the Andes Mountains along with the receding floodwaters likely caused the erosion of the Amazon Basin between the Guiana Highlands and the Brazilian Highlands. The Brazilian Highlands contain many canyons and waterfalls, along with the Guiana Highlands to the north. In the Guiana Highlands, many "table-top" mountains, mesas, and plateaus give evidence of rapid, catastrophic erosion by floodwaters wiping out softer rock and slicing through the plateau with razor-sharp cuts. Once again, we see an uplifted continental plateau heavily eroded by the receding floodwaters of the Genesis Flood-first by sheet erosion then transitioning into channelized flow.
From a creationist perspective, these erosional surfaces, monoliths, and inselbergs give evidence of a catastrophic flood wiping out the landscape, with the exception of a few erosion-resistant rocks. The floodwaters eroded and removed the surrounding softer rock and left these harder monoliths behind. Feldspar minerals are known to rapidly alter into clay minerals in a common weathering process, therefore the existence of feldspar in these Australian landforms indicates a very young existence and not millions of years of time. The uniformitarian geologists have failed to explain the existence of these vast erosional surfaces with gradual, uniform erosion over millions of years. Erosion of large planation surfaces or flat-topped plateaus over millions of years does not make logical sense and is difficult to explain. These large scale erosional processes are not occurring today and must have occurred at one time in the past. Uniform processes simply cannot explain planation surfaces and large eroded features such as plateaus, inselbergs, and monoliths. What other type of event could have created these features? The best explanation for these erosional features is a large scale catastrophic flood that covered the entire earth and retreated after continental uplift, causing much erosion of the continents and creating many erosional landforms that we see today.
It should be noted that today there are many flat plateaus in the world that are claimed to be millions of years old by mainstream scientists. These flat plateaus were likely eroded by the receding floodwaters of the global Genesis Flood 4,500 years ago. However, these plateaus remain flat after supposedly millions of years of erosion and weathering. Why haven't gullies and larger erosional features been carved into these flat surfaces over the proposed long periods of time? Large flat plateaus that are observed today are not forming today by current processes and formed at one time in the past. Evolutionists use faulty dating methods to label ages to these landforms without considering the obvious erosional processes that would have occurred for such long periods of time. The best explanation for the age of these flat plateaus is that they are not millions of years old but only a few thousand years old according to the creationist time frame.
