Edit - Earth Science Stack Exchange - 江南体育网页版

You are notlogged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it ispeer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Is a complete global flood physically possible on Earth?

Genesis 7:11-20presents an account of a precipitation event which, in 40 days, submerges the entire surface of the earth:

[On] the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened…

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth… all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits [6.86 m].

Based on this account, my questions are:

Given the amount of water on Earth (including all the water as liquid, solid, and gas, in all possible places: the atmosphere, the surface, and underground), is there enough water to flood the whole earth until ‘all the high mountains… were covered’?
What is the estimated rainfall intensity based on this description, and how intense is it in comparison with today’s rainfall intensity in tropical areas?

Regardless of the veracity or otherwise of the account, this makes for an interesting thought experiment.

Answer

Edit Summary

Cancel

3

$\begingroup$ The typical comet might have a thousand cubic kilometers of water. Submerging Mount Everest requires about 4 400 000 000 cubic kilometers. Bit of a difference there. $\endgroup$
–Mark
Apr 22, 2015 at 23:06
$\begingroup$ @Mark Yeah, I said "large"--I realize the average one won't do it. There are suitable bodies in the Oort cloud, though. $\endgroup$
–Loren Pechtel
Apr 22, 2015 at 23:13
6

$\begingroup$ I believe Comet Hale-Bopp is the largest known comet. If we take the upper bound for size estimate (40 km radius) and assume it's a sphere of pure water, that's still only about 200 000 cubic kilometers -- you'd need 22000 of them to flood the Earth. $\endgroup$
–Mark
Apr 22, 2015 at 23:17
1

$\begingroup$ As for Oort cloud bodies, if you assume it's pure water, you're looking for something at least 1100 km in radius -- something on a par with Pluto or Eris, and visually not much smaller than Earth's Moon. We normally call these "dwarf planets", not "comets". $\endgroup$
–Mark
Apr 22, 2015 at 23:27
3

$\begingroup$ The problem with a comet, or comet-like larger body, is that it's going to come down with a heck of a bang. Maybe not quite enough to splash off a second moon (seeen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis), but I would think at least enough to melt the crust. $\endgroup$
–jamesqf
Apr 23, 2015 at 3:37

| Show8more comments

Correct minor typos or mistakes
Clarify meaning without changing it
Add related resources or links
Alwaysrespect the author’s intent
Don’t use edits to reply to the author

create code fences with backticks ` or tildes ~
```
like so
```
add language identifier to highlight code
```python
deffunction(foo):
print(foo)
```
put returns between paragraphs
for linebreak add 2 spaces at end
_italic_or**bold**
quote by placing > at start of line
to make links (use https whenever possible)

[example](https://example.com)
example
MathJax equations $\sin^2 \theta$

formatting help »
answering help »

MathJax help »