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The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the land, and the ark moved about on the surface of the wa-
ters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the land, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were
covered [doused]. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits from above, and the MOUNTAINS were covered
[doused].

It is a known fact that portions of most of the earth's mountain ranges are composed of sedi-
mentary strata or metamorphosed sediments which contain fossils. Two examples are the Appala-
chian mountain range of the eastern United States (one of the older ones) and the Alps of Europe.
The sediment layers that were uplifted to form these great mountain ranges are many thousands of
feet thick in places -- and well above sea level today.

Now, if these mountains existed before Noah's flood -- which the Bible clearly says they
did -- and these mountains were formed from uplifted sediments containing fossils, then the crea-
tures that these fossils came from all died sometime BEFORE the great Flood.

In the Appalachian mountain range you will see deep road cuts exposing repeated se-
quences of coal, sandstone, limestone, shale, coal again, shale, etc. The presence of neat, multiple
seams of coal in the sequence indicates periods of time when the surface of the land was above sea
level, allowing vegetation to flourish, die and accumulate (coal is formed from the remains of trees
and ferns). The sequences of sandstone, shale, limestone and alike indicate periods when the same
land was covered by the sea. Because it takes vegetation time to grow, die and accumulate, you
can be sure that these alternating coal/rock sequences, which contain coal seams that range from
inches to several feet thick, required many, many years to form. Noah's flood only lasted one year
according to the book of Genesis. Therefore, it is impossible for these seams to have been formed
by the flood of Noah's day. These formations are orderly and well differentiated -- which is un-
characteristic of deposits left by rapid flooding. Furthermore, in many locations these sequences,
which originally formed in a horizontal position, are now tilted at various angles -- some are now
vertical and some have even been found to be turned upside down. The Tectonic processes re-
quired to accomplish this need long periods of time. You can be sure it occurred long before
Noah's day, not during a one-year flood.

It takes tremendous pressures and long periods of time for sediments to compact and ce-
ment into rock. There was simply not enough time in a one-year flood period to produce the mas-
sive sedimentary layers of the Appalachian mountains. Whatever materials and debris may have
been left on the land after the Flood waters receded would have been quickly eroded away by
rains in a few brief years following the Flood. That is why there is little remaining, widespread
physical evidence of worldwide regional flooding today.

Let's look at petroleum (oil). Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons which occur
in many areas in the upper strata (sedimentary rock layers) of the earth. In some cases petroleum
seeps up to the surface -- the tar pits of southern California being a case in point. Think about this:
If the sedimentary rocks which contain the petroleum were formed by Noah's flood, then WHERE
did Noah get the bitumen to seal the joints of the ark to make it waterproof -- BEFORE the Flood?

Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with PITCH"
(Genesis 6: 14).

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