Where did the extra water to flood the entire Earth come from?

 

Gen. 7:17   And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

Gen. 7:18   And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

Gen. 7:19   And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

Gen. 7:20   Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 

The Flood reached a height of 15 cubits above the highest mountain on earth.  By Sir Isaac Newton's definition of a cubit, that is more than 30 feet.  Many geologists, who believe the literal account of the Genesis Flood, are convinced that much of the heaving up of the high mountains may have occurred after the waters stopped rising, so that the depth of the water could have been far less than it would have to be to do that same thing today.  Others feel that the elevating of the mountains was caused by the breaking up of the fountains of the deep when the gushing out of high pressure, juvenile waters were causing volcanic and earthquake activity.  Juvenile waters are the young waters or the waters just newly introduced to the atmosphere from their tomb in or under the earth’s crust.   In any event, even at the lower mountain levels, it took an incredible amount of water to cover the earth in that manner.  Where did the extra water come from?  Is it in any reasonable  way to believe that so much extra water could have been found to cause such a phenomenon?

Plenty of Water for the Flood

Notwithstanding notions to the contrary by opportunistic historic geologists and other atheistic scientists who believe that the Biblical account is vulnerable at this point, there were such water sources.  Not only that, but an understanding of where the water came from and where it went to after the Flood fits perfectly into the Biblical record and the geological record that we observe today. 

No Rain in the Antediluvian World

In the Antediluvian world there had been no rain.  A mist went up every morning and watered the whole face of the earth.  Every person who has studied the fossils is forced to agree that the whole earth was once much warmer than it is now.  The polar regions were once lush grass lands.  The coal deposits bear historic record that rich vegetation flourished on the earth in the early days.  One coal deposit, it is generally agreed, bears record of a layer of vegetation 400 feet thick.  This vegetation, we believe, was swept into place by the flood waters and buried by sediment, but, nonetheless the availability of such vegetation speaks of a time when the earth was covered much more deeply in richer soils, and the climate was such that it grew in much greater density.  When we talk, a little later, about the incredible Mammoth grave yards in the polar regions of Siberia and Alaska—a matter which historic geologists, historic paleontologists, and proponents of the evolutionary theory always understate and play down—we will see that abundant animal life was grazing in what were then tropical regions when the swift and catastrophic Flood came upon them.

The Great Moisture Canopy

These things tell us of a canopy of moisture that surrounded the earth, holding in the radiant heat and filtering out harmful radiation from the sun.  Some scientists have put forth the theory that such a filtering out of the harmful rays could account for the great longevity of the ancients.  Others have said it a little differently.  The falling of the canopy allowed harmful rays to reach the earth in greater quantity and concentration, and this started the gradual reduction of longevity.  Orthodox theologians are content, on this subject, to say that the shortening of the years was due to God's judgment and mercy.  We consider other, more apologetic explanations to be a weakening of that Biblical truth.  But in any case, most all agree that the water canopy was there.

The Waters above the Firmament

Some scientists believe that this is the meaning of Genesis 1:7.  This, they feel, is telling us that there was a canopy of water in the earth's atmosphere.  Some Orthodox Christian theologians, myself among them, do not believe that this can be the meaning of Genesis 1:7, or at least not the whole meaning.  Genesis 1:15 says that the waters are above the sun, the moon and the stars because the waters were above the firmament and the sun, the moon and the stars are in the firmament.  There may be no objection to the mist canopy having originally gotten into place as a part of the dividing of the waters; but it is too opportunistic for Christian apologetics to ignore the obvious and offer the water vapor canopy as the whole meaning of verse 7.

The Great River and the Four Rivers

The evident conclusion that one draws from Genesis 2:5, 6, and 10 is that a great river flowed out of the earth, watered the Garden, flowed out of the Garden, and divided into four large rivers that went forth into the whole earth, which was all one connected land mass in those days (and yes, there are geological and paleontological testimonies to support that too).  From these rivers a mist rose up every morning and watered all of the ground.  Granted it was not a very hard soaking, but then if it happened every day the ground did not need to be soaked.  The climate was tropical and the temperatures were very warm.  In this way a canopy of water vapor was lifted up and suspended in the atmosphere.

The Water-Bearing Capacity of the Thermosphere

It is universally recognized that air at about 80 miles up is very hot—from 100 to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit.  For this reason it is called the Thermosphere.  At such temperatures it can hold tremendous volumes of water vapor.  Since the water vapor does not displace air, the amount of water that can be suspended is not effected by the amount of air present in the same space.  Water vapor weighs only .622 as much as air.  Without nuclei of condensation (particles for rain drops to form on) the water vapor would stay suspended indefinitely.  The most common condensation nuclei is salt from the ocean and since there was no rain and evaporation cycle to lift the salt from the sea (if indeed there was any salt to speak of in the antediluvian sea, which was smaller and much less turbid than the post-diluvian ocean since there was not runoff from the land into the sea) there was nothing to cause it to rain.  Such water vapor is transparent and cannot be seen, but it does filter out harmful sun rays.  There was plenty of room in the atmosphere for the amount of water, needed to cause the flood, to be suspended as a canopy.  Morris -Whitcomb say, in The Genesis Flood, page 256:   

“There is no question that a vapor blanket of indefinitely great extent could be supported by the lower atmosphere . . . Furthermore, the amount of vapor that could be maintained in any given volume of space in the vapor blanket would not be significantly affected by the presence of air or other gases in the region.” 

Other Extra Water Sources

Another source of enormous quantities of water was the mammoth subterranean pools trapped under the non-fractured seal of the earth's crust.  When the fountains of the deep were broken up, probably by volcanic action and earthquakes cracking the crust, great volumes of high-pressure water rushed out.  According to Genesis 8, verse 2, this releasing of subterranean waters from the earth’s crust went on for forty days—or at least synonymous with the closing of the windows of heaven—before the fountains of the deep were stopped.  Again I quote from Morris-Whitcomb and the Genesis Flood, page 122:  

“Great volcanic explosions and eruptions are clearly implied in the statement, 'all the fountains of the deep were broken up.' This must mean that great quantities of liquids, perhaps liquid rocks of magmas, as well as water (probably steam), had been confined under great pressure below the surface rock structure of the earth since the time of its formation and that this mass now burst forth through great fountains,  probably both on lands and under the seas.”

  So the water necessary to flood the whole earth to a depth of 30 or more feet above the highest mountain came from the tremendous canopy of water vapor surrounding the earth and from the water described by the Bible as the fountains of the deep—in other words, waters stored beneath the earth's crust and released by upheavals, earthquakes, and volcanic activity.  This is indeed what the Bible says:  “The windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the deep were broken up.” 

What caused the canopy of water vapor to fall?  God caused it to fall as a judgment.  Are there any natural causes He might have used that we are aware of?  Anything that would have introduced particles into the vapors, such as a meteor shower, or pollution from the huge population of the earth finally reaching to those heights, could have been involved, or perhaps dust from a great volcano whose eruption was timed by God for this event.  But these things are not known to us and it is not necessary to know them or we would have been told.