Genesis and Historical Geology: A Personal Perspective

Sedimentation experiments using heterogeneous mixtures of particles carried by flowing water have shown that the strata and sedimentary layers produced are generally distinct from one another, contrary to the stratigraphic principles of superposition and continuity. These principles overlook the hydraulic conditions necessary for sediment transport in transgressions. However, the relationships between observed contemporaneous hydraulic conditions and sedimentary structures can be used to determine the hydraulic conditions responsible for the sedimentary deposits of the geological record. Thus further flume experiments are now being undertaken in the hydraulics laboratory at the Colorado State University (Fort Collins) to produce a data set of 10,000 results from which the relationship between current speed and particle size can be determined. By these means it is already possible to show that the diluvial conditions of the year-long Biblical Flood were sufficient to deposit the sedimentary sequences of the geological record (for example, of the Grand Canyon region, USA).