οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν (Luke 19:40)
Flood Geology Challenge #6:
The Gulf of Corinth separates mainland Greece from the Peloponnesian Peninsula. It is the site of a rich and lengthy human history. The famous city of Delphi sits on the northern side of the Gulf. Around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago this was one of the most central and important cities on earth. People came from all over to hear a message from the god Apollo spoken through the oracle. A temple was set up over the site where the oracle received her messages.
Theater (foreground) and Temple of Apollo ruins (background) in Delphi (photo by author).
On the south side of the Gulf is the city of Corinth. Corinth also has about 3,000 years of well documented history with artifacts dated much older. This was also an important place in New Testament times. The Apostle Paul visited and stayed in Corinth for 18 months (Acts 18:1-21). Paul also wrote his epistles of first and second Corinthians to the church in Corinth.
The human history is important to note, because there is every indication that the area looked identical geographically to what it does today. From a Young-Earth perspective, that narrows the time of formation of the geologic layers and features considerably. From that point of view, the geology must have formed in the Great Flood.
The Gulf of Corinth is one of the most active tectonic areas in the world today. It is presently extending or spreading apart at a rate of 1.6 cm per year according to GPS measurements. The southern coast is also, interestingly, rising by about 1 to 2 mm/year known from exposed reefs and uplifted Roman-aged harbors. This is because the African Plate is subducting under the European Plate and is buoyantly “pushing” up from below. What this means is that the sediments and sedimentary features associated with the “rifting” of the Gulf are now uplifted and exposed for study on the Peloponnesian side.
The extension is thought to have begun in the Pliocene around 2 to 4 million years ago. That is relatively recently geologically, but much too old for a Young-Earth timescale. Regardless of the absolute ages, it can be shown that there are far too many processes to be accounted for in a catastrophic Flood.
Before the rifting began, the area was the site of a carbonate platform in the Mesozoic. These carbonates and the surrounding clastics were uplifted and, in places, metamorphosed into quartzites and marble during the Hellenic Orogeny in the Oligo-Miocene. It is this rock that forms the famous Acropolis, and where it’s marbleized, it was used to build the Parthenon and surrounding buildings.
Left:The Acropolis in downtown Athens is an erosional limestone remnant. Right: closeup of the Parthenon which is made out of metamorphosed limestone, or marble (photos by author).
On the Peloponnesian side of the Gulf are a series of huge parallel normal faults that necessarily young towards the Gulf. The faults near and offshore are presently active while the more distal southern faults are not. On the fault blocks exposed you can see a progression of large-scale Gilbert Deltas that can be shown to relatively young towards the Gulf where Gilbert Deltas are actively forming. These older deltas formed with their tops at sea level, their steep foresets ended in toesets that showed a water depth of around 400m.
Evrostini Gilbert delta on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Here, the complete delta is seen in cross-section from topset to foreset to toeset. The vertical relief of this outcrop is about 400m (photo by author).
As the Peloponnesian side was uplifted the rivers that formed the deltas cannibalized their own delta, re-depositing the sand in the next delta forming in the Gulf. This cross-cutting relationship can be seen and mapped in the field. The rivers that could not erode fast enough to keep up with the uplift were redirected towards the south where they died out. Where clastic sedimentation was stopped, carbonate reefs began to develop on the high tips of the fault blocks.
Recently fossilized reef that was active in the Gulf about 6,000 years ago. Now it is being uplifted at a rate of about 1-2mm per year (photo by author).
This reef contains bryozoans, echinoids and marine algae and currently lies about 6m above sea level. According to current uplift rates this reef should be about 6,000 years old. One other interesting twist on the story of the Gulf is that just before the reef which is clearly of marine origin grew, lacustrine (lake) sediments and fossil assemblages are found. The Gulf of Corinth was a lake for a brief time before sea water came back in a flooded the area. There is evidence from coring that this lake and marine cycle was actually repeated several times. During glacial periods the sea level would have dropped below the rise at the west end of the Gulf, leaving it isolated from the Mediterranean. At those times, the Gulf would have transformed into a fresh water lake.
To summarize, Mesozoic carbonate platform sediments and surrounding clastics were deformed and metamorphosed during the Oligo-Miocene Hellenic Orogeny. Later in the Pliocene, the present-day Gulf of Corinth began to rift apart and subside. Large Gilbert Deltas formed from sediment and rivers derived from the highlands to the south. As these deltas formed, and fault activity moved north, the inactive fault blocks in the south were uplifted. During uplift, the rivers cannibalized their own deltas to form new deltas further north. During the ice ages, lower sea level transformed the Gulf into a lake, and this happened for several cycles. Presently the Gulf is in a marine environment and carbonate reefs are growing on some of the fault blocks, some of which have been steadily uplifted above sea level.
If the Mesozoic carbonates were a result of the Flood, the more recent rifting and sedimentation could not have been, because of the vast human history of the region. And we know that the recent geologic activity of the lake-marine cycles and reef formation and uplift could not have been the result of a worldwide Flood because the Flood would have been clearly a marine event and reefs cannot grow in turbulent sediment-laden waters. It stands to reason then that the Gulf of Corinth geologic history has no place for a worldwide Flood. If the Corinth area was locally Flooded during Noah’s time, it could have been during one of the lake-to-marine cycles, but this is a geologically insignificant event in the area’s history. The biblical Flood was a significant event in human history, but no mention of its effect on geology is given in Scripture.
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