The Glacial Epoch
Thus far we have calculated that the world before the flood was 10º to 15º F. warmer than today. We have also seen that the flood caused a worldwide temperature reduction of 20º to 30º F. so that the average temperature became a 10º to 15º F. colder than today. Now the intriguing question must be asked: Is secular evidence available that shows that the world was this much colder in the past? The answer to this question is affirmative if we examine the evidence relating to the glacial epoch or ice age.
Scientists today have noted that the continents are covered by glacial ice to an extent of 10.4% of the earth’s surface. In the past the ice cover was much more extensive inasmuch as evidence shows that some 28% of the continents were covered. At the height of the ice age the more extensive glaciation must have existed in a world that was substantially colder than today. Estimates of the lowering of the world’s temperatures during the ice age have been made by a number of scientists. Some studies describe the making of one such estimate and indicates that a temperature drop of 7-8º C (12.4-14.4º F) was characteristic of the ice age. There we read:
At the height of the glacial ages at least 28% of the land area of the world was covered by glacier ice. At present more than 10% is so covered. But during the inter-glacial ages and in pre-glacial time, apparently very little if any glacier ice existed. Thus, the present day has somewhat less the aspects of non-glacial climate than the inter-glacial ages. It is therefore desirable to compare the climates of the glacial ages with non-glacial climates as well as with present-day climates.
Glacial cirques (theatre-like valley heads fashioned by the action of snow fields at the heads of individual glaciers in mountainous terrain), bear a rough general relation to the snow line or lower limit of perennial snow. Through measurements of the altitudes of cirques in many parts of the world the approximate position of the snow line at the height of the latest glacial age has been determined. Wherever measured, the former snow line is lower than the snow line of today, at the equator as well as in polar latitudes.
In order to determine the glacial-age climate of a coastal point A, point B on the same coast is located by finding the place where the present snow line has the same altitude as the glacial-age snow line of A. The present climate of B is then taken as representative of the former climate of A. The method is rough, but over a wide region it gives consistent results. Coastal points such as A are seen to have received much greater respiration than now, and to have had mean annual temperatures of the order of 7º C. to 8º C. lower than now, whereas in interior regions the increase in precipitation and decrease in temperature, compared with present conditions were less pronounced. In other words, the sub-polar climate belts were shifted
toward the equator during the glacial ages. This shift may have amounted to as much as 15º of latitude.
The pluvial conditions of the dry regions of middle and low latitudes support this conclusion in that they appear to show equator-ward shifting of the middle-latitude belts of rain-bringing cyclonic storms. The evidence of fossil animals in the northern hemisphere likewise indicates southward shifting of the cold northern climatic zone through many degrees of latitude.
On the other hand, the evidence of fossil plants and animals indicates that during the inter-glacial ages the climatic zones were shifted toward the poles, and that more than once these zones, in the northern hemisphere at least, have been pushed north of the positions they occupy at present. It is generally believed, though it has not been conclusively proved, that these climatic shifts were synchronous throughout the world. In summary, the climatic changes were world- wide and apparently contemporaneous; the climatic belts were shifted alternately, equator-ward and pole-ward; and changes in mean annual temperatures amounted to several degrees centigrade.
Others have worked on this question and they too have given quantitative determinations of temperature lowering during the ice age. Some examples are set forth by Nairn.[SIZE=-1]16[/SIZE]
The significant fact to note is that the
Encyclopaedia Britannica suggests a temperature drop at the height of the ice age of 7-8º C which equals 12.4-14.4º F. Furthermore, the temperature drops estimated by other scientists range from 5.5º C to 11º C. This equals 9.9º F -19.8º F. Note that these temperature differentials agree precisely with a post-flood temperature that was 10º F -15º F colder than today, which we concluded must be the situation based on the carbon inventories. Thus, we are greatly encouraged that the calculations of this chapter have merit.
Secular scientists talk about an ice age that continued on and off for one million years. They speak too, of inter-glacial periods when there were warm spells. When we realize, however, that one million years is recent compared with the four and a half billion years they believe the earth has existed, we see that they, too, are acknowledging that, relatively speaking, the ice age is very recent. Moreover, since the Bible establishes the earth’s age as some 13,000 years, any other time periods suggested by secular scientists must be recognized to be erroneous. All evidence must be evaluated within the much narrower compass of 13,000 years rather than millions or billions of years.
To put it another way, once we realize that the ice age could have been induced only by the flood about 7000 years ago, then we know that the ebb and flow of the ice sheets would have been of tens or at most hundreds of years in duration. Thus, so-called inter-glacial periods become insignificant in the whole phenomenon. In fact, some of the phenomena commonly associated with warmer inter-glacial periods probably are to be associated instead with the warmer pre-flood world.
We might note, too, that our calculation of the world-wide average temperature before the flood agrees with the ice-age phenomena. At the ice age maximum, 28% of the continents were covered by ice. Since the ice age maximum, the world has warmed 10- 20º F., and today over 10.4% of the continents are ice covered. Thus, we conclude, as an approximate generalization, that the world without an ice cap would possibly be warmer in proportion to the size of the ice cover. This proportion would point to a pre-flood, pre-ice age temperature that was 6-12º F. warmer than today. This obviously is a comparatively unreliable basis for making a temperature estimate, but it does offer a guideline. We are encouraged that the conclusion of the study set forth in this chapter, that the pre-flood world was 10- 15º warmer than today, is entirely in agreement with this guideline.
Summary
In this chapter we have stepped forth boldly to attempt a reconstruction of the climates of the past going all the way back to the beginning. Because certain facts are available to us which are denied others who do not accept the Bible as absolutely trustworthy, we hopefully have been able to make this reconstruction in a much more accurate fashion than any heretofore attempted. With the certain knowledge of such Biblical facts as the date of creation, the existence of deep space waters, the date and certainty of the flood of Noah’s day, the fact that much water was added to the earth during the flood, the scope and severity of the flood, and as a result of the flood the mountains were thrust up and the ocean basins were deepened we were able to make computations that otherwise would have been impossible. The secular evidence of deep space water, deep space C14, ocean floor rifts past temperature differentials as demonstrated by the ice age, and the lack of equilibrium in the C14 inventory all have served to further support the inerrant Biblical statement.
In any study of the past all facts are not known and some estimates must be made. By carefully making estimates which are in agreement with the known facts as far as quality is concerned and which are not sensitive in regards to precise quantities, we believers have remained on solid ground in this study. Such estimates as the height of the pre-flood mountains, the selection of C14 date which points to sufficient worldwide catastrophe that we can relate it to the flood, and the relationship of CO[SIZE=-2]2[/SIZE] content to climate are some of the estimates which were integrated into known facts to obtain our conclusions.
Our conclusions that the pre-flood world was 15º to 20º F. warmer than the world today, and that the world temperature plunged downward 20-30º F. as a result of the flood, are supported by the secular evidence of great ice sheets that covered the earth in the past. The secular conclusion that at the height of the ice age the worldwide temperature was 10-20º F. colder than today gave further support to the conclusions resulting from this study.
We are quite aware that the conclusions of this chapter are somewhat speculative compared with information discussed in our earlier chapters. But we do believe this study will help to see the possibility of obtaining the most satisfactory reconstruction of the past only if the Bible data is considered.
In the next chapter, we want to look at the phenomena of ocean floor spreading and continental drift.
