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Chapter 2 · Catastrophe
Coastlines before
It is hard to work out the exact geology of the pre flood era. Many of the original rocks are either covered by sedimentary or igneous formations, or have been metamorphosed during the flood. Looking at the sedimentary rocks, which are not igneous intrusions, especially those carrying fossils we can get a fair idea of what the terrain looked like. It seems that there were no deserts or harsh landscapes. There were no precipitous mountains and frightening gorges. The soils were well balanced and constituted a variety of different coloured sandstones, quartz and jaspers. There were probably mountains, rivers and lakes with a well-designed drainage system to the sea.
![]() Zimbabwe's Kyle National Park; showing granite hills |
The rocks deep down under the sandstones may have included some granite. The countryside would have been gentler and higher areas would not have had the steep gradients we now see at high altitudes. The coastline was different from that seen today. Most of Mozambique was under water with the coastline stretching along the east of the Lebombo to Pafuri, to Beira up to Sinja. Zimbabweans would have had their own beaches in Gona re Zhou. The coast may have jutted out a bit in the vicinity of East London and parts of the West Coast. God designed everything for mans’ comfort, benefit and pleasure, but this countryside was to change when the torrents of rain fell out of the sky. |
Comets
Where did all the rain come from to last 40 days and 40 nights? An estimated 24 000 meteoroids – each weighing more than 3.5 ounces – strike the earth annually. Meteoroids are made up of stone and/or iron. A good example of a meteorite is the Hoba farm meteorite 25 kilometres from Grootfontein in Namibia. This is the world’s largest meteorite and weighs approximately 54 tonnes. Comets including the famous Halley’s Comet contain large amounts of water in the form of ice. Meteorites and icy comets could have hit the earth releasing large amounts of water and in some case leaving large craters. They could have produced powerful gravitational forces, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, giant tidal waves, spin axis shifts and other nasty affects on the earth.
Mammoths found in the Northern Hemisphere support the theory of icy
comets. They have been found frozen with plant material still in their
mouths, meaning that they were killed almost immediately and covered by
snow. Over 116 large impact sites have been found that were created or
most likely to have been created by meteorites or comets. Most of these
crater sites are found in Western Europe, the USA and Australia. Five of
these craters are 76km-140km in size, including the 87-mile wide Vredefort
dome in South Africa. Just one of these five larger crater sites may have
had a collision capable of destroying a large part of the life on earth.
The Lake Acraman impact crater in Australia has a 56-mile diameter. It
was estimated that the energy released in this impact would probably have
been the same as 50,000 to 100,000 hydrogen bombs going off all at once.
Most of these impact craters were not formed in recent historical times
and probably fell at the same time during the flood. The combined affects
of all these meteorites and comets would have been enough to have started
flooding, bringing the rain, tidal waves and ruptures in the earth causing
volcanic activity.
Water Beneath
Recent research has uncovered deep-sea vents, which release water from
under the earth. We don’t really know how much water there is under the
ground. This underground source could have been one of the water sources
during the flood and mentioned in the Bible. The underground waters could
have been released as the ground developed fractures due to the rising
sea.
Sedimentation
If you place soil and water in a glass and shake it, you will find when
it settles, that the heavier material settles at the bottom and the lighter
towards the top. This is the law of gravity at work. Clays often settle
together, while vegetable matter may bunch up and float. Some of the floating
vegetation will eventually sink. The flood deposited sediments in much
the same way. This is why in Southern Africa and other parts of the world
there are heavy boulder beds, conglomerates, shale, ironstones, clays,
sandstone, coals etc. 99% of sedimentary rocks in Southern Africa show
evidence of having been deposited by a large body of water. In the Molteno
sediments in the vicinity of Lesotho there are coarse-grained grey/buff
sediments with wellpreserved plants and insects to the virtual exclusion
of body fossils. The finer grained red beds in the Elliot area nearby,
yield abundant well-preserved body fossils, but not much in the way of
plants. This pattern of exclusivity of plant and/or body fossils in certain
types of sedimentary rock is common in the fossil record. It has been noted
in the Zambezi valley and all over the world. This is a mystery to evolutionists
but is easily explained by our simple experiment with the glass. If fossil
deposits took place over millions of years, plants would have been deposited
with the vertebrates in the same rocks on a regular basis.
Palynology
Sedimentary rocks in Southern Africa show no evidence of having been
laid down over millions of years. Rather, they show sediment forming rapidly
over a short period of time. Palynology is the study of pollen, spores
and their dispersal. These plant microfossils called miospores are smaller
than 0.2mm in size. In the Sebungwe district in Northern Zimbabwe a borehole
was drilled to a depth of 1200 feet. It was found that the miospores were
of the same mixture all the way through the sediments, showing an unbroken
sequence of sedimentation upwards. This is would not be the case if the
rocks were formed over millions of years and rather shows a deposit created
in a short time, such as during Noah’s flood.
Physics Laws
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction – a physical
law taught in school. This means that for all the geological formations
we see there had to be a ‘cause’ that formed them. With the removal of
this force we have a pretty stable Southern Africa today. What was that
force that doesn’t react on the landmass today? Why don’t we have earthquakes
and volcanic activity in areas that had so much in the past?
Earthquakes
Well as the floodwaters rose they covered the highest mountains to a
depth of 6 metres. With this depth of water tremendous forces were unleashed
which altered the geology and geography of the earth. Cracks developed
in the continents, magma oozed up and there were volcanic eruptions. Tremendous
earthquakes shook everything. Seismic activity has been measured in Zimbabwe
since 1959. The areas that have produced earthquakes of 5 or more in magnitude
include Kariba and Hwange. Kariba is particularly unstable due to the volume
of water in the dam. Hwange has much mining activity and is fairly close
to Kariba, explaining the earthquakes there. Very little earthquake activity
takes place in other parts of the country, although mining sometimes causes
earthquake activity. If these pressures and disturbances cause earthquakes,
how much more would the Flood have caused ruptures in the earth’s crust
and frightening earthquakes? The floodwaters moved large masses of sedimentary
rock in awesome mudslides and deposited the rock causing further instability.
Some of these sedimentary deposits are as much as three kilometres deep.
Rivers overflowed their banks and caused terrible flooding. The amount
of suspended matter passing the Orange River station in recent times has
been computed at 50 million tonnes in an average year. At this rate in
1,500 years the Southern Africa land surface could be lowered by 30 cm.
This modern erosion is nothing compared to that unleashed in the flood.
Rising Seas
The rising seas killed the coral reefs, shellfish and other sea creatures
that couldn’t swim away. There were strong tidal activities and ocean currents
caused further destruction. Since the floodwaters have now subsided there
is now little pressure on the surface and less instability. Occasional
earthquakes and plenty of hot springs, such as those in Northern Zimbabwe
and parts of South Africa, are all that is left of the volcanism of that
period. One of the many towns in the region that has benefited from the
presence of hot springs is Windhoek, which has used hot springs as a water
supply. With the sea levels rising at present, we may see more activity
that is volcanic in the near future.
Volcanics
With the large volumes of water covering the land, the instability caused volcanic activity resulting in the formation of dykes, lava flows and cracks in the earth’s crust. Igneous rocks formed at the same time as the sedimentary rocks were being deposited. Volcanoes formed such as the Messum crater in Namibia, found about 50km west of the Brandberg. This crater has a 20-kilometre diameter. In Southern Namibia there is a 2 kilometre wide volcanic crater called Brukkaros. The Ongeluk volcanoes of the Transvaal and Griqualand West were formed under water, as denoted by the pillow structures with chert filling between the pillows. The 500 square kilometres Pilanesberg National Park protects a complex of volcanoes and the famous Sun City gambling resort. Volcanic vents or diatremes filled with lava agglomerate, or tuff, have been found in the hundreds in South Africa and Lesotho. Agglomerate is a mass of large volcanic fragments bonded together by heat, while tuff is consolidated volcanic ash. Most volcanic pipes were perforations in the earth’s crust and seemed to have only produced gas. Lava, such as that found at Montaux- sources is about 4,500 feet in thickness. These basaltic volcanics are found up to an altitude of 10,000 feet.
Sandstone sediments were deposited as lava poured out of these pipes.
Some volcanic necks are fairly large and many cover over 100 yards in diameter
and can reach a mile wide. Some of the volcanic necks are circular and
some elongated. The great Moderfontein volcano near Jamestown covers an
area of 5 square miles and is filled with agglomerate. The area of eruption
around Roodepoort and Swartfontein is 8 miles long. The Belmore volcano
near Barkly East had sedimentation forming as the volcano was erupting.
At Tent Kop in Maclear, lava and ashes were ejected before the deposition
of the sandstone. Sandstones were washed into volcanic necks, while ash
and volcanic bombs ended up in the sandstone showing simultaneous formations.
Some of the lava flows in this area covered one or two hundred square miles.
As the lavas poured out very little time took place between the flows showing
a rapid formation. The large amount of water sedimentation associated with
volcanic activity shows that these volcanics were formed during the time
of the flood.
Diamonds
Igneous and metamorphic processes that formed many of our minerals accompanied the formation of volcanoes and lava flows. Tsumeb in Northern Namibia has produced 184 different minerals, 10 of which have not been found anywhere else in the world. The diamond you see sparkling on a woman’s finger was most likely formed during the flood. The source rock of most diamonds is a bluish ground called Kimberlite, named after Kimberly in South Africa. Kimberlites are found in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. Kimberlites are rich in carbon dioxide and water. Industrial diamonds can be formed at high temperatures and at a pressure of about 90 K bars.
Volcanic activity accompanied by water, carbon containing sediment and the pressure of the Flood Sea, provided perfect conditions for the formation of diamonds. Carbon was formed during the flood as a sedimentary deposit in various rocks. The Flood Sea explains the brecciation of much of the kimberlite and the sedimentary material associated with some of these kimberlites. Fossils have been found with the Orapa and South African deposits, showing the kimberlites formed recently. Southern Africa is famous for its diamond deposits. Kimberly in South Africa was one of the prime sources of wealth in the Victorian era and helped finance the development of this region. Diamonds were found here in 1871 and soon there were 50,000 miners working away on the site.
The result was the biggest man made hole in the world dug without large
machines. The hole is 180 metres deep. About 14.5 million carats of this
precious rock have been recovered from that site. The famous Cullinan diamond
was found at the Premier mine near Pretoria in 1905. The Orapa, Jwaneng
and Letlhakane mines south of the Makgadikgadi Pans and near Gaborone,
produce about 85 % of Botswana’s exports. In 1925 a young soldier found
an attractive stone near Port Nolloth, which is close to the Orange River
mouth. As diamond fever gripped the many miners who came here, the South
African government and De Beers mining took control. Areas on either side
of the Orange River and along the coast became no go areas reserved for
diamond mining. Diamonds had been washed down the Orange and Vaal Rivers,
with some reaching the sea to be deposited along the coastline. Some deposits
were washed inland, as the ocean was higher during and soon after the flood.
Diamonds are mined offshore using suction devices and dredges, while those
on land are dug out of the sands. From the Orange River there is a decrease
in the mean size of the diamonds both north and south along the coast.
These deposits show that the Orange largely brought down the diamonds,
from Kimberlite sources in the interior.
Greenstones
The greenstones are basic lavas that cover a large part of Zimbabwe.
The greenstones contain amygdaloidal and pillow structures with water laid-down
sedimentary rocks. The sedimentary rocks include agglomerates, tuffs, arkoses,
greywackes, cherts, banded ironstones, slates and limestones. Algal structures
have been recorded to the north of Bulawayo in limestones carrying graphite
and they were situated well down in the greenstones. The pillow structures
in the greenstone rocks point to a sub aqueous and submarine eruption.
These green stones are often regarded as being some of the oldest rocks
around, but it is clear that they erupted under the floodwaters.
Granites
The granites of Southern Africa are thought to be millions of years old because they do not have many fossils associated with them. According to evolutionary theory, rocks that have no fossils would have formed before life started to evolve. However, igneous rocks in their formation are unlikely to trap fossils due to their heat, so these are mistakenly labelled as the first rocks. The high temperatures around these rocks as they formed during the flood would have destroyed any fossils, so the lack of fossils does not imply great age.
In fact, if these rocks have been around longer than the other rocks, then they should have fossils of many different ‘ages’ nearby. As this is not the case, the idea that these rocks are so old is laughable. A method used to date igneous rocks is the faulty radiometric dating system. These often give very old readings that ‘make’ the rocks appear older than they really are. The Hualalei lava flow in Hawaii was dated using the Potassium-Argon method to between 400,000 years to 3.3 billion years old. This is acceptable to those who believe in evolution. The problem with this reading was that the lava flow was less than 100 years old. Similar readings have been obtained from other young lavas. This shows the unreliability and poor science involved in dating rocks with radiometric dating techniques. The use of some of these radiometric-dating techniques can be likened to using a 30-cm ruler and marking each centimetre as a kilometre. Zimbabwe probably has the best granite formations in Southern Africa, as they stretch across a large part of the country.
In the Matobo hills there are plenty of conglomerates mixed in and around
the hills, with much of the material having been derived from these same
rocks. In some valleys, there are giant boulders that could only have been
moved by an incredible power. The fragmentary nature and different crystal
structures of the granites that were exposed to water resulted in the strange
rock formations we now see today. The Matopos has strange orbicular granite
formations that are a mystery to geologists. These were most likely to
have fashioned as the granite formed under water. Much of the granite in
Zimbabwe, the Cape and Swaziland are intrusive into other rocks, including
sedimentary rocks, showing they were formed during the flood. The presence
of greenstones and sedimentary rocks show granites were formed in association
with water.
Basalt
Basalt is another common hard rock found in Southern Africa, much of
it having been formed under water. In Lesotho, the Cape, Swaziland, Lebombo
Mountains, Springbok flats, Soutpansberg, Kalahari region and parts of
Namibia are found extensive basalt deposits. There is a marked absence
of sediments and weathered horizons between the lava flows. A borehole
drilled at Victoria Falls to 152 metres was found to have no sediments
between the flows and no evidence of weathering before the next flow formed.
Rocks called zeolites present around the Victoria Falls gorges are some
of the rocks showing these basalts formed under water. The Zambezi valley
had a lot of Basalt mixed in with water deposited sandstones. Pillow structures
found in the basalt at Kariba and parts of Matabeleland shows that these
rocks formed under water. At Kariba, a dinosaur was found associated with
pillow lava and water laid down sediments. Basalt rocks North of Bulawayo
are found with shale and sandstone between the flows. The alternating basalt
and thin sandstone are further evidence for the formation of these rocks
during the flood. Similar alternating deposits have been found elsewhere
in the region. All of this shows that Basalts were formed rapidly, with
sandstone sometimes being washed in between the lava flows by the floodwaters.
Dykes
Another widespread rock is dolerite. The dolerite dykes of the Karroo were formed during the flood period. Like many of the Basalts, the flows took place soon after each other, following each other rapidly and freely. This is shown by the upper surfaces of previous flows not being exposed for long before a new sheet covered it. A sheet of dolerite North of Hopetown covered approximately 13000 square kilometers. The Great Dyke in Central Zimbabwe is said to be the longest linear mass of rock of its type in the world. This dyke runs roughly 530 kilometres and can reach a width of 11 kilometres. Other intrusive dykes and faults parallel the Great Dyke. The Great Dyke is a source of valuable platinum and chrome reserves. The pressure on the land surface by the Flood Sea caused this dyke and those faults nearby. The Great Dyke was strongly weathered as it formed under the sea. All this evidence indicates that the volcanic activity, granites, basalts, dolerites and other igneous rocks were formed very quickly, in association with water and occasionally fossil formations. The Flood Sea had all the necessary ingredients to cause this and is the best fitting explanation for their formation.
Current
Flow
There is much evidence to show that when the floodwaters had reached the maximum height, the currents flowed in a general North South direction with few exceptions. This is independent of the type of sedimentary rock or its depth. The exceptions are explained by tidal and river activity, during and after flooding. In some areas of Botswana and Zimbabwe, the directions were slightly different. If there was an ocean covering Southern Africa during the flood, we should have evidence for the movement of ocean currents across the sub continent. The striated marks on rocks, the dune formations and rock foldings, all show the current directions during this period. One of the best indicators of the flood current flow is found in the
Dwyka or boulder beds, found in parts of Southern Africa. Flood currents
have made marks on rocks from the Cape up to the Congo. This shows us the
general flow of the Flood Sea at the height of the Deluge. It also explains
why we have so much sediment on the Agulhas bank. The continental shelf
is from 30 to 45 miles wide on the Atlantic side, but reaches a 150-mile
width on the Southern Agulhas bank. There is a rough sketch to show how
the main foldings, fractures and faults of Southern African rocks tie in
with the flow marks in the rocks. This is probably one of the strongest
evidences for the flood in the sub region and helps explain so much of
our geology.
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Dwyka
The boulder beds of the Cape Province of South Africa are called the Dwyka and are bluish or greenish in colour, being compacted and fine grained from water action. They contain sand, pebbles and boulders of a great variety of rocks, the majority are recognised as conglomerates, quartzite, sandstone, shale, slates, crystalline limestone, jaspers, banded ironstones, granites, gneiss, diabase and amygdaloidal lava, quartz porphyries, serpentines etc. The smallest fragments are commonly angular and larger ones show some rubbing off the corners. Some specimens reach 10 feet in diameter, though most are normally smaller. Some of these were transported hundreds of miles. The boulders are scattered in the matrix without orientation and in some cases, they are arranged in well-defined layers. Similar large rocks are found in other parts of Southern Africa and have been given this same Dwyka name. Many people have been mistaken in thinking that glaciers formed these large rocks. The only water forces that could have moved rocks of this size are the forces of glaciers, ocean currents or very big rivers. To say it was a sea that caused these formations would be admitting there was a worldwide flood, so glacial processes are often accepted in the scientific community for much of the activity. Research has found that so-called glacial deposits in the Coeriesfontein and Vryburg areas were created in a sub aqueous state. Geologists have found that the so-called Dwyka shale associated with the boulders, in some areas accumulated under marine or estuarine like conditions. Boulders of the Dwyka have arkose with a content of kaolin, which are unlikely to have been deposited in a glacial formation. In the Southern Karroo, intercalated varves occur within the deposits at Douglas and in the valleys of the Northern Karroo. These varves probably accumulated in fresh water. The development of varves is apparently inhibited by saline conditions, due to the flocculation of clay particles. The Flood Sea would have had more fresh water in it. The deposits though often show no definite marine or freshwater formation, which ties in well with Noah’s flood. These boulder beds contain coal bands and plant remains. |
Plants in Glaciers
Plants found in so-called glacial deposits include carbonised plant
stems and a frond wedged in between boulders of rhyolite near Strydenberg.
At Matjiesfontein plant specimens were found in pseudo boulders of quartzite.
Plants were also found on the Riet River near Kimberly in shale, which
contained large boulders. These plant remains in the deposits make it very
unlikely that glaciers deposited these rocks. Fossil tree trunks have been
found in Dwyka deposits. The tropical nature of a large part of Southern
and Central Africa makes it unlikely that glaciers ever existed here. In
South Africa the Dwyka shales contain the fish Palaeoniscus capensis and
the aquatic reptile Mososaurus. The shale may contain from 12 to 14 % carbonaceous
matter, including hydrocarbons and some oil can sometimes be produced.
This shows a large amount of living matter was deposited with the boulder
beds. The few marine fossils from the inland of Southern Africa shows that
the sea covered the land for a short period of time and this is supported
by a mix of both salt and fresh water types. Marine fossils in the Dwyka
boulder beds kill the theory of an ice formation for these rocks.
Rocks moved
The rock floors, on which the boulder beds rest, are often polished and finely striated, showing the force that moved them. Some of these boulder beds reach a thickness of 600 metres. Many of the rocks were striated or scratched as the sea currents forced them along. Some were flattened or faceted from this and the water pressure. Beautiful striated surfaces are to be found on lavas at Pniel, Douglas and Riverton. From the many striated pavements, it is easy to see the direction of the current flows. This and the inclusion of rocks carried by the current and the knowledge of their origins all help. Some rocks were carried 800 miles. Rocks from the Transvaal can be found at Barkly West and Hopetown. Griquatown jaspers and Matsap conglomerate are found in parts of Namibia and the Western and South Western Karroo. They are not found anywhere to the south or south east of Griqualand west.
A good place to see the boulders still resting on the striated rock
surfaces is at Nooitgedacht near Riverton in the Kimberly district. At
Tafelberg on the Palala River the coal measure grits rise from a pedestal
of granite and where these rocks join, the contact discloses a striated
surface directed south 30 degrees west. Coal formed in this striated surface
and coal would never be found in a glacier. Glaciers go in the direction
gravity takes them. A large glacier heading in a general southerly direction
didn’t cover the whole of Southern Africa, from tropical Angola down to
the Cape, nor were there many small glaciers going in the same direction.
The glacial theory is not logical and does not explain things very well.
Rather what has happened is that powerful ocean currents of the Flood Sea
dragged rocks over rock bases and formed the scouring marks.
Fish River
The mighty Fish River Canyon in Namibia is regarded as one of the world’s
natural wonders. It is said to be second only to the USA’s Grand Canyon
in size. It is 160 km long, 30 km wide and 550 m deep. The violent waters
of the flood had sufficient force to carve out this Canyon.
Marked Rocks
Some other examples of current marked rocks include: From Zululand to Transkei strips of marine sediments bent down on the southern seaward side indicating a southern flowing current. In Natal, coarse sandstone in the Vryheid area seems to have come from a northeast origin. In Natal, the planes of some rocks dip west or southwest suggesting that the source of the detritus was situated to the east of Zululand. The rock foldings of the Cape and Drakensberg mountains show by their contortions to have been formed while wet, by a current coming from a general Northerly direction. In the Cape the sandstone as a whole becomes finer in grain towards the south, the pebbles smaller and fewer with thinner bands of shale in the south. The Cape Mountains have their largest pebbles in the conglomerates in both the northwest and northeast. The sediments contain jaspers that can be matched with those of the Northern Cape, Vryheid and Zululand. The foldings in the Natal and Cape show the current flow took the sediments in the direction of the Cape.
The Bokkeveld shales of the Cape contain blue-grey muds that were laid
down in water. The sediment gets finer to the south indicating a northerly
source. There is no doubt that the Bokkeveld beds were deposited in the
ocean as is shown by the marine fossils and flow marks in the rocks. The
Witteberg rocks like others of the Cape get finer as they go south. The
Cape sedimentary rocks are folded with a generally south facing wedge.
In the Swellendam Heidelberg basin and in the Oudtshoorn area the dips
are almost universally northwards from 10 degrees to 25 degrees and near
Uniondale at angles of 45 degrees. Southerly inclines of up to 50 degrees
are to be found in the Cape. Nearly all the sedimentary rocks in this area
seem to have a Northerly origin. Huge gouges were taken out of the Cape
Mountains by waters flowing south, enabling rivers formed on the north
side of the mountains to flow into the southern ocean. All the important
rivers of the Cape mountain system such as the Gourits, Gamtoos, Sundays,
Fish and Kei originate in the interior region behind the mountains and
flow south through the mountains, through deep gorges to the sea, defying
meteorological and geological barriers.
All carried by Flood Sea
In the Western Cape at Saldanha, rocks were most likely to have come
from a Northerly direction. The quartz porphyry and grey granite may have
come from a site 8 kilometres to the Northwest. Lydianite, hornfels, dark
blue quartzite and flagstones may have come from Saint Helena bay 32 kilometres
to the Northwest, while white, blue grey and reddish quartzite could have
come from Piketberg 40 kilometres to the northeast, across from the valley
of the lower Great Berg River. These deposits were not beach or river deposits.
Some of the rocks had been transported to positions higher than their source
areas. Only the powerful floodwaters could have done this. A current moving
from the northeast to southwest deposited the fossils deposited in this
area. Near Niewoudtville, scratched marks on rock surfaces are found aligned
in a direction of South 57 degrees east. Jasper gravels found south of
the Orange River originate from the Griquatown and Doornberg hills. These
rocks are found in the Hopetown area at 3600 feet and were transported
here from about 70 miles to the north. Small fragments are found near Hopetown
and Britstown up to altitudes of nearly 4 000 feet. These rocks would have
had to have gone downhill and then up again. The flood best explains this
geology, as only powerful ocean currents could have taken these rocks uphill.
The pebbles become gradually smaller as one goes further to the Southeast.
Mariental and Bushmanland have scratched rock floors showing the sediments
originated from the north. In Namibia, sediments along the South side of
the Windhoek highlands show considerable folding. The trends are northeast
to Southwest. In the Great and Little Karas Mountains, we find scraped
surfaces showing a general north south direction. You may have been bored
with all this, but the geology plainly shows there were ocean currents
and they had specific directions of flow.
Gauteng Gold
The Transvaal sedimentary deposits contain boulder beds; conglomerates, pebbles, grits, sandstone and clays all deposited by water. These deposits came from a general northerly location, as is seen from the marks on the rocks and the sediment content. The sediments of the Witwatersrand reach many thousands of metres thick and were moved south by the flood ocean currents. In this area, sedimentary rocks in some places are characteristically contorted. The lack of pattern in these contortions, with no affect on the strata above and below, means that these are not tectonic features. It seems the sediment was moved while still soft by some strong force easily accounted for by strong flood activity. The Witwatersrand area produces a large part of the world’s gold supply and has been one of the great sources of South Africa’s wealth in the 20th century. The Transvaal contains colossal amounts of platinum, chromite and magnetite in the norite. Valuable deposits of platinum, chrome, tin, vanadium, fluorite and gold are found in the area.
It has been estimated that the Gauteng area at one time accounted for 25 % of the gross product of Africa – all this built on the gold fields. The gold found here is irregular, jagged or angular in appearance. If the gold had been deposited in a river, the grains would have been more rounded. The gold is found in huge water laid down fans originating from a general northerly direction. The course material was moved in a high-energy environment. We can safely say that flood currents carried the material and formed the Gauteng gold belt. The source of the material at the Witwatersrand gold fields was from a west to Northwest source. It is accepted that these deposits were formed in a sea like environment. The contention is as to whether it was formed in a sea, Lake Floor or marine beach delta. The sizes of the conglomerates imply a very strong water flow. The flattening of some rocks and the way they were deposited point to a marine “placer” on a wide scale.
The large amount of organic matter found in the Flood Sea could have
produced the sulphuretted hydrogen required for the formation of pyrite
that is associated with the gold. Increases in pressure and temperature
brought about the conversion of iron oxides into ferric sulphate. This
then led to the solution of gold particles by the latter. The ferric sulphate
was converted to ferrous sulphate and sulphide. The precipitation of the
gold was aided by these and hydrocarbons. The iron ores were formed into
pyrite and the balance of the hydrocarbons into graphite. This explains
the graphite, gold and pyrite found together and shows that a marine environment
best explains the Gauteng and many other gold fields.
Ferricrete
Ferricrete in compact beds up to several feet in thickness are found
in various parts of South Africa. These consist of a large proportion of
clay, sand and angular fragments of quartz or other material, cemented
together by hydrated oxides of iron. The Transvaal sediments include water
laid down banded ironstone with silica rich sediments, some being rich
in soda. These ferruginous rocks require specialised conditions such as
a basin or large body of water, with certain oxidising conditions. The
flood provided for these conditions.
Kalahari Sands & Victoria Falls
The Kalahari sand formations show the current flow of the flood better than many rock formations. Large parts of Southern Africa were swept by flood currents and left behind undulating dunes, which we call Kalahari sand. When the floodwaters subsided, the Cubango, Cuando and Upper-Zambezi systems were left to flow along the same routes that the currents had taken. This explains why the Okavango formed and why the water never reached the Ocean.
The Okavango, Makgadikgadi and many smaller pans of this area were like large puddles left over after the ocean waters subsided. Many have since dried up, as there is insufficient water in their catchment areas to replenish what they lost. The Upper Zambezi has only recently joined the Zambezi below Victoria Falls. The Lower Zambezi has less fish species than the Upper Zambezi, showing the two sections of the river have only recently joined each other. The Lower Zambezi was probably a smaller river before the flood, if it existed. If the Lower Zambezi had been around for millions of years, the number of fishes should be equal or greater than above the falls. Victoria Falls is classified as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It is 1708 metres wide and has a maximum height of 103 metres. In March 1958 a record flow of 700,000 cubic metres of water per minute plummeted into the gorges. The Victoria Falls area has three main sections. These sections are the Upper Zambezi, Victoria Falls with zigzag gorges and the long 80 kilometres or so Batoka gorge system. The Batoka gorge is surrounded by some of the roughest country in Southern Africa. |
![]() Victoria Falls; separating the Upper Zambezi from the Lower Zambezi River |
You can easily see that a huge volume of water gauged out the rough
terrain covering this country and the Batoka gorge. There seems to have
been no gradual erosion causing the water to cut through the gorges neatly
and it appears most of the erosion took place violently under the sea.
The Batoka gorge 60 kilometres down river from the falls is no more eroded
than the gorge 10 kilometres down river from the falls. This should not
be the case if they are millions of years old. The beautiful Masuie Falls
a few kilometres down from the falls would have cut back a lot further
if it had been flowing there for millions of years. Closer to the falls
there are zigzagged gorges that are very different and would have been
formed by a slower erosion process since the flood. Above the falls all
the way to Kazungula on either side of the river, huge Kalahari sand dunes
were formed by the floodwaters. Some of the sand was washed into dunes
downstream of the falls. These dunes often have an alignment of 90 degrees
to the present river. Some of these dunes are more than 100 metres higher
than the surrounding country. Good examples of this are those sand areas
found on either side of the river close to the falls. These dunes were
formed by powerful water activity. The Zambezi drained a large part of
Northern Botswana’s ‘puddle’ that was left over from the flood. Victoria
Falls and the Batoka gorge system were made in a very short period of time
and not in millions of years.
Kalahari sands their makeup
The Kalahari sands were deposited by water, the top sections may have been windblown in places since the flood, but the lower sections show definite water deposition. The sands vary from a red to grey colour. The Kalahari sand begins at the Orange River just North of Upington and spreads over the Kalahari Desert through parts of Namibia and Zimbabwe, then into Angola and Zambia. These sands are found in the Northwest Transvaal, north of Pretoria, the lower Olifants valley, the coastal belt of the South West Cape, at Kimberly and the Western Free State. Namibian sands have been found with signs of water deposition as they had water laid down limestone or calcrete formed by the flood. The Kalahari basin consists of various clay, molluscs, calcareous marls, sands and gravel bands with overlying sand. In the western Kalahari there is a fossil Calcium Carbonate horizon of a vertisol-like soil. In the central Namib, a dark grey layer contains organic carbon, charcoal, ash, fossilised plant and animal matter, implying denser vegetation and higher rainfall.
The evidence shows the Kalahari was never originally a desert and was devastated by the flood to form the inhospitable environment we find today. Before the flood, it was well watered and rich in vegetation. Linear dune ridges in the North West of Zimbabwe are 0.5km to 2.5km apart and up to 120m high and can stretch unbroken for many tens of kilometres. These dunes have many similarities to the dunes found in Botswana and have mud flats associated with them. The grain size of the sand in Northwest Zimbabwe rarely exceeds 1mm in size and ranges from 0.15mm to 0.4mm. The particles are not well rounded or sorted. Clays are often found between the dunes in Zimbabwe, which are most likely to have been deposited by water. In today’s active desert dune fields, the combined silt and clay content are normally very low and do not exceed 5% of the total sediment. In the Zimbabwe Kalahari sands, these figures are exceeded and this contradicts desert deposition theories.
If you fly over the dunes, you will see that a current seemed to flow
in a general Northwest to Southeast direction. Evolutionist claim winds
were the sole cause of the kalahari sands. Only impossibly powerful winds
could have made anything similar to the dune formations we now have. The
wind direction would have been different from that of today’s winds, to
form the alignments of these dunes. To support the ocean current theory
we have many non Kalahari sand rock hills in Central Namibia stretching
across to the Okavango, aligned in the same direction with the dunes and
these couldn’t have been made by a wind. To the south of the Kalahari,
many of the hills around Kuruman and north of the Orange have the same
alignment with the sands. In the Lake Ngami area grey, yellow, red and
violet crystalline limestones alternate with calcareous shales and sandstones.
The strata of these rocks are dipped southeastwards at moderate angles.
The same sort of direction the sand dunes are directed. Minerals such as
Kyanite, garnet, epidote, sillimanite and andulisite show the Kalahari
sands came from a general northwest direction.
Large Pans
During the flood, some areas were eroded to flat surfaces or into pan country. The Flood formed the 75-mile long Etosha pan in Namibia, while in Botswana the famous Okavango and the pans of Makgadikgadi were the result. The 15,000 square kilometre Okavango Delta is one of the worlds largest inland Deltas and probably the most dramatic. Inland pans are found from North Calvinia through Britsown and west of the Free State, with an arm stretching through Gordonia towards Gibeon. Most of these pans are circular or oval but they may be irregular in shape. Some are many miles in width such as Haakshein Vlei and Koppies Kraal pans found in Gordonia, which are 14 miles by 6 miles and 9 miles by 5 miles respectively. Government’s pan in Strydenberg is 16 miles by 2 miles in size. Many pans are found in the Transvaal. Some of these pans are many miles in diameter. These are fresh water pans in contrast to the saline Cape pans. Lake Chrissie is a water body that has a length of 6 miles and is surrounded by hundreds of smaller pans, in an area of about 740 square kilometres. Pans are found in the Marico district and on the Kaap plateau. All these pans have bases of water laid down sedimentary rocks, showing they were originally formed by water. Most pan depressions are only slightly below the surrounding country, though a few are as much as 200 feet beneath the surrounding country. Krans, Vogelstruis and Vogel pans in the Hopetown area are sunk abruptly, with the Northwest rim in each case being cliff capped with calcareous tufa that covers the surrounding countryside.
The Kalahari sand areas have thousands of small pans littered between
the sands and dunes. Many of the depressions in the northern Kalahari were
formed in water drainage lines. An area of light coloured sand, which sometimes
forms dunes, bound the southern and southeastern sides of many pans. An
example of this is Salt Lake between Belmont and Douglas. These may be
from wind action taking place since the flood. The 12,000 square kilometres
Makgadikgadi depression is covered with a greenish, siliceous saline crust
and once covered 80,000 square kilometres. After the flood, pans were left
behind by the floodwaters and have been progressively shrinking to this
day. The reason for this is that the catchment areas are too small to keep
them full. The Swartkolkvloer pan in the North West Cape is about 80 square
kilometres in size, compared to its previous size of 120 square kilometres
after the flood. This pan was linked to other pans that were also larger.
The Alexandersfontein pan near Kimberly at 19 metres above its present
level was 44 square kilometres in size and its catchment was 390 square
kilometres in size after the flood. Where did all the water come from to
fill these water bodies at their original size and how did such large pans
form by water? The flood explains this drying puddle syndrome, which is
not unique to Southern Africa, in which lakes and pans have been drying
up since the flood.
Limestone
We build our houses with cement and rock that were formed by the floodwaters. Limestone is used to make cement and often has human or animal remains in it. So we have all benefited from the misfortunes of those dying in the flood. Dolomite prevails over the Transvaal, Northern Free State, Griqualand West and Ovamboland. These areas were covered with a deep, warm sea, which formed these rocks. Much of the limestone in Southern Africa has turned into dolomite. Some deposits had manganese in them recalling the modern deep-sea oozes. Aragonite was directly precipitated from the calcium sulphate contained in seawater by the action of ammonium carbonate from the decomposition of living organisms. This aragonite was the material from which dolomite and limestone were formed.
There is no doubt in the minds of geologists that the dolomite in the
Transvaal and Cape is a marine deposit formed in the open sea away from
land, but probably at no great depth. The oolitic bands, conglomerates
and ripple-marked surfaces point to tidal activity. The Otavi dolomite
is estimated to be 7,000 to 10,000 feet thick and has limestone in it. It
is probably the thickest of its type in the world. Sandstone and shale
mixed in with it shows it was water deposited. Dolomite normally replaces
calcium carbonate and this would take place in a tidal setting or just
above the high water mark. Chert may be also mixed in with the dolomite.
The siliceous skeletons of sponges and diatoms may have formed cherty matter
found in the limestones. Banded ironstone is also found with the dolomite.
This would indicate that the dolomite formed under a large body of water.
Some limestones and dolomites in Southern Africa are called micrites and
were formed in quieter water conditions; others called oolites were formed
in violent water. Both conditions were present in the flood. The flood
deposited coarse materials, leaves and fossils into limestone breccias,
making them ideal for fossil hunting. Limestone is found in the Cape mountain
ranges and this would have formed from the tidal activity washing over
these formations when the sea was higher.
Stromatolites
With all the vegetation and animal matter in the Flood Sea, there was an ideal environment for the build up of algae. When Lake Kariba filled with water, the troublesome salvinia weed and blue-green algae formed on parts of the lake. This same algal build up would have taken place during Noah’s flood. When the floodwaters began to drop, they left these algal deposits on the surface and these were mixed in with other rocks by tidal activity. Stromatolite is the name given to these rocks containing blue-green algae. They are abundant in Zimbabwe and found in the Transvaal, Namibia and Northern Cape. These algal deposits are often thick and may be mixed in with other sediments such as limestone and graphite. Algal deposits of such size could only have been formed with a large volume of water, with lots of nutrients in the water. Algal structures found in Dolomite north of Kimberly were elongated and mound like, measuring 10 metres across and 60 metres in length. These stromatolites appear to have been formed by marine currents in a deep-water environment, which may have been in a tidal area.
The mounds have an East West elongation that would be at right angles
to the shoreline. All of this shows some of the Southern African dolomites
were formed in marine conditions. Limestone formations, such as the well-known
Cango caves of the Southern Cape and the remote Drotsky’s caves of Botswana,
have attractive stalactites and stalagmites. Most stalagmites and stalactites
grow slowly; giving the impression it took them many millions of years
to form. We know that cave formations formed in tropical areas grow quicker
than those formed in temperate regions. The high rainfall of the tropics
causes this difference. Some of these formations would have grown faster
with more water present after the flood.
Clay
In Griqualand West and Botswana, fine mud was deposited by the deep
floodwaters. There is no break with the dolomite and chert below. Similar
muds, of the same reddish and bluish colour, are found in deep parts of
the ocean. Shales in Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa were formed in deep
water and this is shown by the fineness of the grain, even stratification,
uniform dark blue or black colour and by phosphatic nodules carrying fish
remains in Natal. Kaolin clay is found amongst granites in Zimbabwe and
extensive deposits of other clays are found in other parts of this country.
Weathering or water processes, here and in other parts of the region, could
never have produced the thickness of these clays. A large volume of water
had to be involved.
Marine Fossils
There should be very few marine fossils far inland, as the time period was too short for the marine populations to establish themselves there. That is why Zimbabwe and Botswana are almost devoid of marine fossils. The seashell or marine fossil deposits show us where the seacoast was before the flood. Around the coasts of Africa marine deposits show that there was no continental drift as has been taught. If plates were moving and new land was coming out of the Atlantic Ocean, the African continent would be covered with ancient marine sediments, but this is not the case.
There are obvious cracks in the earth’s surface caused by the flood
and tectonic activity, but no movement like we see in some textbooks. There
are a few isolated marine sediments far inland in Southern Africa, which
show that the Flood Sea covered the land for a short time. There was though
a mass extinction of marine creatures during the flood along the coastlines.
How can we explain such densely packed fossil beds along the coastlines?
The reason why we have more shellfish fossils than fish fossils in these
deposits is that the fish coped with the flood scenario better than the
slow moving shellfish. Many of these shellfish died rapidly and were never
opened up by predators. Many marine species became extinct during the flood
due to the incredibly violent conditions. At Conception Bay in Namibia
a conglomerate with molluscs reaches ten miles inland.
Zululand
At Port Durnford in Zululand, oysters, fishes, foraminifera and mammal
bones were found together with lignite. This shows how the floodwaters
mixed here, as elsewhere, a mixture of marine and terrestrial sediments.
Foraminifera are marine protozoans having a perforated shell through which
amoeba-like pseudopodia emerge. In Zululand a brachiopod called Agulhasia
has been found in sediments. A brachiopod (lampshell) is a marine invertebrate
having a ciliated feeding arm and a two-valve shell. Agulhasia is normally
found at depths greater than 240 feet. A violent sea can explain the presence
of these creatures deposited so high up on land. In Zululand, the ocean
settled marine sediments at the base of the Lebombo, at Komatipoort and
also along the Limpopo. In Zululand, deposits reach a depth of 1830 metres.
Coccoliths have been found in Zululand marine deposits, which in other
parts of the world form chalk. Many of the marine sediments of the East
Coast show a resemblance to living forms.
Coelacanth
The Coelacanth was presumed to have become extinct 80 million years
ago. It was regarded as a direct ancestor of humans. They suddenly turned
up off the Comoros in 1938 and more recently near South Africa and in Indonesia.
The find of this fish was mind boggling to evolutionists and had the same
affect on them as a dinosaur having suddenly walked down the street. These
fish can live at depths of 180m and inhabit submarine caves. They can swim
upside down or on their heads and they bear live young. Fossils of this
fish showed lobes, which scientists mistook for the beginning of legs.
This is why these fish were thought to be the missing link between fish
and land creatures. Research has shown that this was nothing more than
a scientific myth. Only a serious flood could have killed these creatures
and deposited them in land sediments.
Cape Marine Deposits
There is a uniformity of marine sediments in the Cape deposits showing
no evolutionary process. The Cape marine sediments are not found more than
20 miles inland and are usually less than 10 miles from the sea. These
sediments are found up to 1200 feet above sea level and the dunes and limestone
in the area indicate the sea was higher. Those deposits found between mountain
ranges are normally on the seaside of the mountains. The Cape marine sediments
contain ammonites, cephalopods, echinoids, brachiopods, ostracods and foraminifera
(all different types of shellfish and small sea creatures). Foraminifera
are tiny one-celled creatures. Their sensitive shells chemically record
the temperature and salinity of the water when they were alive. When they
reproduce they discard their shells which lie on the ocean floor, leaving
a record of past water conditions. Sedimentary samples taken from the Gulf
of Mexico showed that some time in the past there was a dramatic drop in
the salinity of the sea by 10%. This can only have been Noah’s flood.
The Cape
The Saldanha Bay area, covered in another section of the book has a
great variety of mixed marine and terrestrial sediments. The same mixture
of deposits is found around Port Elizabeth, where there are thick marine
deposits mixed in with terrestrial deposits. At Douglas cephalopods, brachiopods,
fish and fossil wood are found at the same sites. The reason why there
are marine deposits many kilometres inland is easily explained by the strong
tidal activities of Noah’s flood. As the sea rose and then subsided a multitude
of creatures were killed. Sediments on the Agulhas bank and on the southwestern
Cape were dredged and showed phosphatic concretions, fish teeth, ear bones
of whales and shells. These show that much of the flood sediment lies in
the ocean.
Freshwater Fish
Freshwater fishes living in our rivers in Southern Africa show there
has been a linkage between southerly and northerly water bodies. There
is evidence that northerly fishes somehow managed to go south. Did the
fishes somehow migrate across land? No! They did not because they swim!
However, the floodwaters covering Southern Africa enabled migrations. In
parts of the region, there are isolated pans or water bodies with fish
in. There is no explanation as to how these fish got there. The beautiful
killifishes are found in isolated pans such as those of the Gona re Zhou
and Beira area. How did viable populations survive here if evolution is
true and how did they get there? In Namibia, the Guinas Tilapia and Cave
Catfish are found in very isolated water bodies with no evolutionary explanation
as to how they got there. These fish mysteries are easily explained by
Noah’s flood. These fish have relatives further north from which they could
have been derived. The floodwaters may have washed them south, or they
may be the remains of a once resident population that lived in a well-watered
area before the flood.
Coal
Every time we drive a car, we use fossil fuels derived from organisms
that died during Noah’s flood. We use coal for farming and for various
industrial purposes. Gas made in the flood keeps the braaivleis burning
and many kitchens cooking. Coals in South Africa are found mostly east
of the 26th meridian and South Africa has produced up to 29 million tonnes
of coal a year. Coalfields are found in Natal up through to Swaziland,
the Transvaal then into the Free State. Many of the fields are linked and
cover an enormous area showing there was a large deposition at the same
time. These coalfields are found in Botswana, around the Drakensberg, in
Karroo deposits, extensively in Zimbabwe and then down into Mozambique.
Sediments of the Zambezi valley are thousands of metres thick in places.
They contain mudstones, sands, grits, fine sands, siltstones, coals and
fossils. In some areas of the Zambezi Valley, pebbly arkose and shale are
mixed in with coal seams showing water was involved. The nature of the
sediments, show there was a quick deposition, violent in places and a large
amount of water involved. The sandstone mixed in with the conglomerate
shows that there were periods of high energy flooding.
Hwange
The Hwange coalfield can produce half a million tonnes a year and has
been mined for decades. Up to 1975, the Hwange coalfield had not produced
spores or pollens. This shows that it was not a peat formation, but formed
by a gravity sorting process in water. Other coals in the region did have
spores
and pollens in them, but were also gravity sorted. Plant remains and impressions
have been found in the Hwange coalfield. The coals of Zimbabwe often show
a southwest to northeast direction, which would tie in with the prevailing
water currents at that time.
South Africa Coal
Coal seams in the South of Southern Africa are thick and reach more
than 150 to 300 feet. Coals in parts of Natal were deposited by currents,
which seem to have been going in a generally southwesterly direction, indicative
of ocean currents. Between Dundee and Ladysmith oval ferruginous concretions,
carrying fish remains are abundant in a thin zone in the shales associated
with the coal. Coal seams at Witbank include boulders showing they were
formed in a violent environment. Glauconite is associated with coals in
South Africa and this shows a large water deposition. Some marine fossils
were found in South African coals. These include a sponge, a cephalopod
and acritarchs. On the Zululand coastal plains there are areas covered
with sands, lignite, gravel, laterites, coastal dunes and rocks. North
and South of Richards Bay, we find sedimentary rocks, which contain mammal
remains, marine fossils, woody debris, lignite and cross-bedded sandstone.
This is strong evidence for the formation of coals during the flood and
that they were not formed by peat formations.
Drift Coals
The constant association of coals within shales; their mixing with and passage into shale layers; their microscopic structure; the absence of fireclays and the fragmentary nature of the plant remains, point to many of the Southern Africa coal seams being drift coals. The drift theory, in which plant debris is transported and then eventually sinks as a concentrated organic mass, best explains our coal formations. This also explains why clay is often mixed in with the coals.
The way it works is that drifting vegetation collects together and then sinks in water at a certain time causing the formation of coals. In the deposits, we find wood, fossils and all sorts of other objects mixed in. Unfortunately, evolutionists have rejected the drift theory of coal formations. The reason is that the South African coals are too wide in extent and too persistent. This would imply a huge water deposition, which could only be explained by the flood, as no river or lake system could do this. Obviously, this does not fit into evolutionary beliefs and so they will not accept it. South African coal seams show the best coal at the base and the poorest at the top. This is further evidence for a quick deposition rather than formations taking millions of years to form.
The drift theory was once accepted but it seemed too catastrophic to have happened and many now believe in peat formations, even though the geological evidence says otherwise. To have a peat formation we should have signs of prolific forest growth in the form of root bearing beds, tree stumps in growing positions etc. Instead, roots and tree stumps have been found above coal seams. At Vereeniging, stumps of trees were found washed into the coal along the Vaal River over an area of two acres. Some of these trees reach a length of 50 feet. These deposits cannot be satisfactorily explained by a peat formation and show the coal must have formed in water.
The Deluge would have swept up a tremendous amount of vegetation, which
would have floated in huge rafts of decaying trees, leaves etc. with insects,
reptiles and other small creatures hanging on. This vegetation would have
sunk at regular intervals, depending on its ability to float and formed
the coals we now know. Much of the material in the coals may not have come
from that vicinity and could have been transported hundreds or thousands
of miles. The presence of ash in the coals shows that it was a time of
great volcanic activity. Many of the Southern African coals have bases
of conglomerates or sands, with some having settled in more violent moving
water and some softer, depending on the currents and water flow.
Botany
Studying botany, we find that there are many linkages between the plants
of Southern Africa and those found further north. Some of our modern plants
may have been present in the areas where they are now found before the
flood, while others may have been moved south with the flooding. Zimbabwe
has a Cape element in its vegetation and links with the afro-montane vegetation
in Malawi. The high rainfall forest types of Zimbabwe are linked to plants
found in the Congo, Angola and other Central African forests. Yet how did
populations in Southern Africa cross natural geological barriers to get
there or here? Within the region we have many isolated pockets of plant
species cut off from their relatives by geographical features. Some plant
species have a North South distribution and cross many different types
of habitats and yet are not found throughout those habitats. Examples of
these can be found by scanning plant distribution maps. All of these botanical
mysteries can be very confusing, but flood geology can explain them.
Oil
Canadians have used heat to produce oil in 30 minutes from garbage, showing that it doesn’t take long to produce oil. Oil can be made very quickly and doesn’t take millions of years to form. Oil shale is derived from algae and terrestrial plants. It is amazing how stagnant pools with plants in them, will sometimes produce oil, giving the impression that there is oil in the vicinity. This may take place within weeks of this vegetation standing in water. The Mkanga formation of Cabora Bassa has carbonaceous mudstones containing a mixture of algal bacterial matter and plant debris, showing that water was involved in its formation.
Oil shales that are similar to coal have been found in various parts
of South Africa with oil gas. Some of the oil shales are closely associated
with coal and often enclosed by coal. Certain bituminous coals are known
to furnish from 10 to 25 gallons of oil per ton on testing. Torbanites
or oil shales are found in the Ermelo and Wakkerstroom districts and are
closely allied with the coals. Torbanite is a type of oil shale containing
oil algae, botrycoccus and colloidal matter. It is found between Breyten,
Ermelo, Wakkerstroom and Utrecht. A mine north of Ermelo was mined for
its torbanite and yielded oil. Thin carbon rich seams are found in the
region and are present as either a mixture of hydrocarbon and uranite or
substances resembling bituminous coal. Polymerised hydrocarbons occur in
veins in the Fish riverbeds to the North West of Keetmanshoop. In the Karroo
rocks small quantities of an oil or tarry material have been found in many
parts of the Northern Karroo, and parts of the Free State, usually in cavities
or joints in intrusive dolerite or adjoining strata. Coal measures near
Dannhauser in Natal have sandstones impregnated with mineral oil. At Barkly
East pitch has been found in crevices in the agglomerate filling of a large
volcanic neck and in joints in basalt. At Madrid near Bethlehem the basal
sheets of lava rest on sandstone and have for a distance, amygdales filled
with calcite and a black glossy hydrocarbon, which is said to be altered
pitch. Natural gas is found in northwestern Zimbabwe, South Africa and
Mozambique. Torbanite points to a definite marine deposition.
Mountains on Coast
As the floodwaters subsided they formed the shapes of our present coastlines.
All along the west Coast of the sub-continent, reaching around the south
coast to the Lebombo, Eastern Transvaal, through Eastern Zimbabwe to Malawi
are mountain ranges. The force of the ocean currents and tidal activity
formed these Mountain ranges when the sea was higher. The Atlantic current
swept up the west Coast through the Namib Desert and Skeleton coast. The
Indian Ocean would have covered most of Mozambique and reached into the
Zambezi and Limpopo valleys. At one time the sea washed up against the
Eastern Transvaal and Eastern districts of Zimbabwe. When the floodwaters
came down they left these mountains, hills and ocean swept flats as relics.
Madagascar is not really covered in this book but has similar Mountain
ranges on its eastern side, probably caused by similar forces. The floodwaters
would have receded in stages with huge tidal activity over the many months
mentioned in the bible. The volcanic Lebombo mountain range is 400 miles
long and goes in a north south direction. These and the mountains of Zimbabwe
and the Eastern Transvaal were all formed at the same time. The ocean currents
and tidal waves folded most of these mountains, but the Lebombo were also
formed as a result of faulting caused by the Flood Sea.
Same Time
There is no stratigraphical break in the great mass of sediments of the 10,000 feet Cape Mountains, even between the Witteberg and Karroo rocks. All the rocks were deposited at the same time as is shown by the intense folding. The folding was not caused by tectonic activity but by water. Rock marks on many of the Cape formations show a violent deposition or movement formed them. A gritty matrix of rocks and scratched inclusions occur on Sneeuwkop and Victoria Peak near Stellenbosch. These rocks and the sandstones beneath to a depth of as much as 200 feet have been locally squeezed into sharp folds. The strata above and below are not disturbed showing a water formation of great magnitude. The rocks in the Cango and Gamtoos areas of the Cape have beds highly folded and sheared and generally inclined southwards at fairly high angles.
Even the Cape granites have their long axes set parallel to the Cape
Mountain foldings, suggesting their introduction by the same forces that
caused the crumpling of the rocks. Some granite intruded the Cape sedimentary
rocks as the waters were folding them and causing the metamorphosis of
the sedimentary rocks. In the Cape and Pondoland the iron compounds in
the sands were reduced to a ferrous state, the feldspar grains decomposed
and the clay transported to the ocean. This shows erosion under a tremendous
amount of water. Some of the sandstone in the Cape is up to 4000 metres
thick. The height of such water borne deposits, with no evidence of earth
uplift shows how high the water was. The Cape fold ranges now form a barrier
and prevent the winds bringing moisture to the arid Karroo. Highly folded
rocks are found between Luderitz and Bogenfels in Namibia. The rocks were
formed under strong pressure directed from the Atlantic side; having become
crumpled along axes trending south-southeast. The evidence shows many of
the coastal mountain ranges were formed by the large tidal activity present,
which deposited the sediments. In some cases this led to some igneous activity.
Wave Activity High Up
In Namibia marine sandstones, grits and conglomerates containing diamonds
are found 500 feet above sea level off the West Coast. The Namib Desert
has large dunes such as those at Sossusvlei left over from the flood, showing
the huge tidal activity that took place. Many of these coastal dunes are
worked on by the wind but they can’t hide the fact that they were originally
deposited by water. The blood-red dunes reach a height of 150 metres. If
you want some fun, dune boarding is now done on some of the bigger dunes.
Sea level marks on the Namaqualand coast have been found at 2m, 5m, 7-8m,
17-21m, 29-34m, 45-50m and 75-90m above sea level. In the Cape sea level
marks have been found at 5m, 15m, 30m, 60m, 90m, 200m and 240m above sea
level. Raised beaches have been found at 300-400 feet at Stellenbosch and
near Mossel Bay and about 400 feet at Plettenberg Bay. Some of these raised
beaches have rolled pebbles, sand and occasional shells, shelly limestone
or phosphated rocks with caves to mark sea cliffs, such as between Gordons
Bay and Cape Hangclip, or east of Plettenberg Bay. At Durban there are
shells at a height of 415 feet with sands even higher, which were deposited
by floodwaters. Raised beaches are found 200-250 feet high in Natal.
Erosion Surfaces
Between the shore and the main escarpment and well developed in the south and southeast are relics of former erosion surfaces that become fainter and more fragmentary with height. Some stand at 2000 feet or more. Of such is the inland and coastal plateau of Natal, the coastal terraces of Pondoland falling into steps to the sea, or the benches of the Bredasdorp. Prominent among them are those between False Bay and East London, which are shown by gravels and sands. They are table-topped hills with sharp edges and pinnacles, all marking the same height. The deposits are generally coarse, though variable, including loose boulder strewn slopes and pebble beds with intensively hard conglomerates.
There seems to have been at least two successive stages of planation,
deposition and cementation that produced surfaces differing by a few hundreds
of feet in height. The lower peneplain stands at 700 feet to 800 feet and
begins at Hermanus extending through Bredasdorp, Mossel Bay, George, and
Knysna and repeated beyond to Humansdorp and between Gamtoos and Port Elizabeth.
East of Alexandria it rises inland 1000 to 1500 feet. The higher peneplain
stands at 1000 to 1250 feet and begins West of False Bay. Its remnants
dot the Ruggens between Caledon and Heidelberg to reappear in the East
at Bellevue at 1600 feet and the Zuurberg ranges, and West of Humansdorp
up the Long Kloof and Baviaans Kloof to about 3000 feet at the divides
with the Olifants and its tributaries. The terraces are finely developed
about Loverwater Poort, Strydberg etc., where they stand at a maximum height
of about 900 feet above the Olifants channel. Benches are found in the
Ladysmith district. At the base of the Wittenberg the terraces are found
between 2000 and 3000 feet above sea level. The fact that there are no
marine sediments at the highest heights indicates the short time the flood
covered the earth. Erosion surfaces are found at 6500 feet in the Klein
Zwartberg and along the Langbergen.
Natal Dunes
Dark red and chocolate sands occur along the coastal areas of Kwazulu–Natal
and in Mozambique. The coastal dunes of Natal and Zululand were formed
by marine transgressions. The sand possibly came from the continental shelf
or was washed from inland by flood currents. The sizes of these enormous
dunes, some of which are 500 feet high, show the power that the Flood Sea
had. A lot of sand was washed into the sea to be then dumped on land. Table
Mountain is made up of sandstone that the sea dumped during the flood.
Its odd shape may be due to the meeting of the two oceans at this point.
Lagoons
There are many pans along the coast, which are lagoons cut off from
the sea by these huge sand deposits. They are found both along the Atlantic
coast and bordering the Indian Ocean. They are either salt or fresh water
bodies. Some of these are well known such as St. Lucia and Sibaya Lake.
Undersea Marks
A rocky bank about 30 to 40m below sea level and about 10km south east
of Cape point has rounded pebbles, cobbles and boulders. This is a possible
wave cut terrace caused by the flood tidal activity. Off the coast of Natal
banks of sand are found down at 108m below sea level. So the tidal activity
left its mark above and below sea level.
Rivers Undersea
There is evidence that many rivers flowed at higher levels and carried more sediment with them at one time. Many rivers in Southern Africa have been found to have their bases under thick sediments – implying they were more violent and damaging during the flood period. At Mackay Bridge on the Sundays River, 3 miles from its river mouth bedrock was not reached at minus 112 feet. In the Buffalo River at East London the bedrock was found to lie in the middle of the estuary at 122 feet below water level and overlain by clays, sands and shelly beds. At Port Shepstone the clays and silts were not yet passed through at 140 feet below the low water mark at a point ¾ mile from the mouth of the Umzimkulu River. Borings to bedrock under the Tugela River reached –40 metres at 34km from the sea.
The former channels of the Breede and Gourits rivers are traceable across the Agulhas bank and submarine canyons are found off Saldanha bay and detected off the Umtata River mouth and Zululand coast. The Orange River has a huge underwater bank offshore showing it must have carried a large amount of sediment. This and its higher gravel beds reaching 80 metres above the present river, show that large volumes of water flowed down this river. The rivers of Southern Africa must have carried large amounts of sediment, during and after Noah’s flood. The Mozambique plain seems to be made up of a large amount of sediment carried and deposited by the Indian Ocean. The Zambezi would have carried down a large amount of this sediment and much of it would have been slumped westwards by the ocean currents. Cave sites along the Cape coast contain sediments in them overlying Flood sea sediments and the indication is that the sea must have formed the caves quite recently.
In South Africa; uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park; "Barrier
of Spears"
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