Big Flood on Mars; Why Not on Earth?

More evidence has been presented for a “voluminous” flood on Mars, where there is no water today.  So why is a comparable flood disfavored for Earth, where water covers 70% of the surface?

In “Fill and spill of giant lakes in the eastern Valles Marineris region of Mars” published in Geology this month, scientists from London and Berlin propose that a megaflood caused by dam breaches of deep lakes scoured out a vast area of the equatorial canyon called Valles Marineris, draining into the northern polar regions:

The existence of Hesperian age (3.7–3.4 Ga) surface water bodies on Mars is a contentious issue, often conflicting with favored climate models. Extensive lakes are proposed to have filled parts of Valles Marineris during this period, yet evidence for their presence and temporal continuity is poorly constrained. Here we report geomorphic and chronologic evidence for the initiation and demise of a voluminous lake system within the basins of eastern Valles Marineris. We find that independent, kilometer-deep lakes were present here well after the wetter, global climate optimum that characterized the previous Noachian epoch (4.1–3.7 Ga)…. The topography data demonstrate that incision of the bedrock barriers between the basins during spillover was driven by a dramatic local base-level difference between the lake surface and downstream basin floors. We postulate that the lake spillover process created an integrated drainage routing system between a voluminous equatorial water supply and the northern plains basin.

In other words, these scientists believe that megafloods from large, deep, voluminous lakes occurred during a less-wet period following the “Noachian” period during which Mars scientists think water was even more abundant.

A press release from the European Space Agency shows an image from their Mars Express spacecraft suggesting a megaflood created channels measuring 1.55 million kilometers.  By contrast, Earth’s Grand Canyon covers less than 5,000 square kilometers.  The scientists believe that snow and ice, melted by volcanic eruptions, caused the flood.

Now silent, one can only imagine from examples on Earth the roar of gushing water that once cascaded through Kasei Valles, undermining cliff faces and engulfing craters, and eventually flooding onto the plains of Chryse Planitia.

The outflow channel extends 3,000 km, the article states.  By contrast, the Grand Canyon is 433 km long.

So what’s the problem with global catastophism on Earth?  Dam breach theories are popular with young-earth creationists.  They find evidence for massive lakes above Grand Canyon that would have contained more water than the Great Lakes combined, likely contained as inland seas after Noah’s flood.  A dam breach at Echo Cliffs, and another at the Little Colorado, could have led to the rapid formation of this world-famous scar on Earth that is far smaller than the channels claimed on Mars.  Creationists propose this with multiple independent sources of evidence, including shorelines of the upper lakes, dam breach notches, evidence of vast sheet erosion and rapid downcutting, and more; yet their theories are despised by the secular geological establishment moyboys* who cannot bring themselves to imagine catastrophes of that scale at home.  Bring it up, and “one can only imagine… the roar”.

The irony is that they can look at dry Mars and imagine catastrophes orders of magnitude larger!  No problemo.  They can even imagine huge lakes approaching ocean depth, and dam breach events there the likes of which they cannot imagine on Earth.  But propose a “Noachian” epoch (lasting one year) on Earth, and they say, Bosh, that’s religious myth.  As usual, creationists present scientific arguments, and the secular evolutionists respond with religious arguments.  Learn to brush away epithets and follow the evidence where it leads.  Ask yourself if it is plausible to propose that “giant” and “extensive” deep lakes on Mars sat there undisturbed for millions of years, only to breach their dams and create gigantic canyon systems in a few days of outflow.  If global catastrophism is good for Venus or Mars where no water is found, it’s good for Earth where water is plentiful.

*moyboys: evolutionists who use the phrases “millions of years, billions of years” with reckless abandon.