A. In which geological period did the called universal flood take place?
B. When did man appear on Earth?
C. What are the main theories regarding the origin of the Earth?
Reading Text
414. During the Secondary period, which must have been very long, as evidenced by the number and exuberance of the geological layers, animal life strongly developed within the waters, in the same manner as what had happened with the plant period just ended. The air, becoming purer, was more adequate for breathing. Therefore, animals could live on land. The sea moved many times, but without oceanic quakes. During this period, the aquatic giant animal breeds disappeared and were replaced later by similar species less disproportionate and of smaller forms.
415. Man's pride makes him say that all animals were created for his sake and to satisfy his needs. However, how many of them are directly useful to him, how many was he capable of submitting, if compared to the uncounted number of those with which he never had contact and never will? How can one sustain such an argument in face of the multitude of species that exclusively populated the Earth for thousand, and thousands of centuries, before man appeared and which ultimately became extinct? Could man say that they were created for his benefit?
416. The Tertiary Period - With the Tertiary period a new order of things begins on Earth. The appearance of its surface changes completely. Vital conditions alter deeply. They are similar to the present ones. The early days of this period are marked by an interruption in the animal and plant production. Everything shows an almost total destruction of living beings. New species appear in succession and their organization being more perfect allow them to adapt themselves to the environment where they are supposed to live.
417. During the earlier periods, the solid crust of the globe, because of its small thickness, showed a very weak resistance to the action of its inner fire. It broke easily and thus allowed the molten material to run freely over the soil surface. This stopped when the crust became thicker. Then the red-hot material, pressed on all sides, in the same manner as boiling water, caused a kind of explosion. The granitic mass violently broke in a number of points, cracked in several places as a cracked vase. Along those cracks, the solid crust, raised and depressed, formed the peaks, and the mountain peaks.
418 Certain parts of this crust did not shatter. They were only uplifted, while elsewhere, displacements and excavations occurred. The soil surface then became very uneven. The waters, that had covered it until that moment, almost uniformly throughout most of its length, were driven to the lowest places, leaving dry vast continents, or mountain isolated ridges, forming islands.
419. This phenomenon occurred within the Tertiary period and altered the appearance of the globe. It did not happen instantaneous or simultaneously at all points, but in succession and during spaced periods. One of the first consequences of these uplifting, as we already mentioned, was the inclination of the sediment layers, originally horizontal and so preserved wherever the soil did not suffer alterations. Therefore, it was on the flanks and nearby mountains that these inclinations were more evident.
420. In the regions where the layers of sediment maintained their horizontality, to reach the primary formation layers, one has to go through all the others, to considerable depth, after which inevitably the granitic rock is found. However, when they arose and became mountains, those layers were taken above their normal level, sometimes reaching great height, in such a way that, if a vertical cut was made in the flank of the mountain, one could see the layers in all their thickness and they are overlapped as in the rows of a construction.
421 This is why on high mountains you can find banks of shells, originally formed at the bottom of the seas. Today, we have proof that the sea could have never reached such heights, since there was not enough water on Earth, even if one multiplied by a hundred its total volume.
422. In the places where the lifting of primitive rock completely tore the soil, either by the quickness of the phenomenon, or by the shape, height and mass lifted, the granite was left bare, like a tooth erupting from the gums. The layers raised, broken, and arranged were lined uncovered. This is why we have land belonging to the oldest formations, which originally were very deep, and today they are certain regions of the Earth.
423. Displaced by the effect of uplifting, the granitic mass left some cracks through which the inner fire escapes and the molten material is drained. The volcanoes, which are like giant furnace chimneys or, better, safety valves that allow the output of the excess of igneous materials, preserve the globe from much more terrible land commotions. Hence, we are able to tell that active volcanoes are a safety valve for all Earth's surface.
424. The uplifting of the solid mass caused the waters to move into the hollows, which had become deeper due to the rising of the land emerged and depression of others. The successive displacements of the liquid mass worked and damaged the soil surface. The draining waters dragged along a part of the land from previous formations, uncovered by the uplifting of the land, stripped some covered mountains covered and left them displaying the granite or limestone base. Deep valleys were dug, while others were grounded.
425. During the ground roll, which occurred at the beginning of this period, organic life, as it is easy to understand, was stationary for some time. This can be seen in wastelands of fossil. Since, however, a calmer stage took place, the plants and animals reappeared. As the vital conditions had been changed, and the atmosphere was more refined, new species were formed with a more developed organization. Plants, from the point of view of their structure, differ little from those of today.
426. During the two previous periods, the waters covered almost all land. The uncovered land was not extensive. Moreover, they were swampy and often submerged. That is why there were only aquatic animals or amphibians. The Tertiary period, in which several continents were formed, was marked by the appearance of land animals.
427. As the transition period saw the birth of colossal vegetation, and the Secondary period saw monstrous reptiles, so did the Tertiary period also witnessed giant mammals, including the elephant, rhino, hippo, paleoteric, the megatherium, the dinotherium, the mastodon, the mammoth, and so on. The two last ones, varieties of the elephant, were 5 to 6 meters tall and their prey measured approximately 4 meters.
428 This period also saw the birth of birds, as well as most animal species that exist today. Some survived the subsequent cataclysms. Others, qualified generically as antediluvian animals, completely disappeared or were replaced by similar species, less heavy and less massive, and the first types looked like sketches.
429. The Flood period - One of the greatest cataclysms suffered by Earth occurred during this period. Its surface changed once again, and destroyed a multitude of living species, of which only spoils were left. It left traces everywhere. The waters were thrown out of their beds with violence. They invaded continents, dragged land and rocks, uncovered mountains, and uprooted secular forests. They formed the new deposits called in Geology the flood land.
430. One of the most significant traces of this great disaster are the penedos called erratic blocks. This name is given to the granite rocks, which are isolated in the plains, resting on Tertiary land and in the middle of flood land, sometimes many hundreds of miles from the mountains were they were torn from. It is clear that only the violence of the water currents could carry them for such great distances.
431. Another fact, the cause of which has not yet been discovered, is that aerolites and meteorites are only found in the land after the flood. Since they only started to fall at that time, we may conclude that previously the cause that produces them did not exist.
432. It was also around this time that the ice began to cover the poles and formed the mountain glaciers, this indicating a considerable change in the Earth's temperature. This change must have been sudden. Had it been gradual, animals like the elephants, which only live today in warm climates and were found in large numbers in the fossil state in the polar lands, would have had time to leave gradually to the more warm regions. Everything indicates, on the contrary, that they were probably taken by surprise by the cold and were besieged by ice.
433. This was therefore the true universal flood. There are contrary opinions about what caused it. Whatever causes, what is certain is that it occurred.
Answers to the proposed questions
A. In which geological period did the called universal flood take place?
This period is called the Flood period, because one of the greatest cataclysms occurred at the time, upturning the Earth, and changing its surface once again, destroying a multitude of living species, of which only spoils were left. The flood left traces that attest it was everywhere. The waters were thrown out of their beds violently and invaded continents, dragged land and rocks, uncovered mountains and uprooted secular forests. (Genesis, Chapter VII, items 42, 43, 46 and 47).
B. When did man appear on Earth?
When man appeared, Earth had less ferocious animals. Plants were more succulent, therefore the food was less coarse and everything was thus prepared in the planet for the arrival of the new guest Did man exist on Earth only after the Flood period or prior to that time? This question is very controversial today, but its answer, whatever it is, will change nothing in the set of observed facts, nor will it make the appearance of the human species prior, in many thousands of years, to the date mentioned in the biblical Genesis. (Genesis, Chapter VII, items 48 and 49).
C. What are the main theories regarding the origin of the Earth?
The main theories about the origin of the Earth are the theories of projection, condensation, and encrustation. Out of the three, the theory of formation of the Earth by condensation of cosmic matter is now prevailing in Science, as being the one that observation best justifies, the one that solves a higher number of difficulties and which is based, more than all others, in the great principle of the universal unity. (Genesis, Chapter VIII items 1, 3, 4 and 7).
