Flood geology

Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is the attempt to interpret and reconcile geological features of the Earth in accordance with a literal belief in the global flood described in Genesis . In the early 19th century, diluvial geologists hypothesized that specific surface features were evidence of a worldwide flood which had followed earlier geological eras; after further investigation they agreed that these features resulted from local floods or glaciers. In the 20th century, young Earth creationists revived flood geology as an overarching concept in their opposition to evolution, assuming a recent six-day Creation and cataclysmic geological changes during the Biblical Deluge, and incorporating creationist explanations of the sequence of rock strata.

In the early stages of development of the science of geology, fossils were interpreted as evidence of past flooding. The "theories of the Earth" of the 17th century proposed mechanisms based on natural laws, within a timescale set by the biblical chronology. As modern geology developed, geologists found evidence of an ancient Earth, and evidence inconsistent with the notion that the Earth had developed in a series of cataclysms, the most recent of which could be attributed to the Genesis flood. In early 19th-century Britain, "Diluvialism" attributed landforms and surface features such as beds of gravel and erratic boulders to the destructive effects of this supposed global Deluge, but by 1830 geologists increasingly found that the evidence only showed relatively local floods. Attempts were made by so-called scriptural geologists to give primacy to literal Biblical explanations, but they lacked background in geology and were marginalised by the scientific community, as well as having little influence on the church.

...
Wikipedia