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But what if there were large geologic events,
which caused Yellowstone Lake to fill with sediments much faster than
the rates described above? Every once in a while there is a large
geologic disruption. The one historical event we know of was the
massive wildfires of 1988. However, they did not significantly impact
erosion and sediment fill. The one disruption I found on the seismic
data was the slump block shown in Figure 6.
This slump block is about 200 meters wide
and 20 ms (milliseconds) thick in two way seismic travel-time. There
was no seismic control to show how wide the slump block is along the
shore, and based on field experience, it is not likely more than twice
as wide as it is long. Using 3.28 feet per meter and 6,500 feet per
second velocity for water saturated shales and sands, these numbers
translate into 656 feet long x 1312 feet wide x 65 feet thick, or
over 55 million cubic feet of sediment in this one slump block. To
provide the 370 billion cubic feet of sediment fill in Yellowstone Lake
would require 6,600 slump block of this size. Although we only have a
hundred and fifty years of recorded history in this part of the world
the seismic data shows large disruptions are not common, and they
certainly do not happen annually or biannually, as would be required
to fill Yellowstone Lake with the amount of sediment which has been
measured in a small subset of 7,000 years. A small subset of 7,000
years because the caldera consists of and sits on top of much older
layers upon layers upon layers of sedimentary rock.
And if the recent sediments in Yellowstone Lake are 630,000 years old, how can a person of faith reconcile this fact with the Genesis scriptural account of seven days of creation, and the correlated scriptural references stating one day with God is as 1,000 years with man (Psalms 90:4 and II Peter 3:8)? Is it possible past sedimentation in Yellowstone Lake occurred much faster anciently? When the lack of sedimentation during ice ages is taken into account this is even more highly unlikely. Even during the ice ages the "V" shaped river valleys in the vicinity were not converted to "U" shaped glacial cuts. Alternatively, maybe God created these sand grains and shale particles in some other place or dimension and transported them into the caldera through some Star Trek like process we don't understand. Common sense says this type of "miracle" is even less likely. It certainly does not fit with the definition of truth I accept, which starts with a knowledge of how things currently are. Especially when correlated with scriptural statements such as "I am the Lord, I change not" (Malachi 3:6) or "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). In my mind, and in the minds of many others with scientific leanings, we are left with the options that: (1) God does not exist, since the deposition in Yellowstone Lake appears driven by natural processes which took more than 7,000 years to occur; or (2) we do not understand God's time, and have misinterpreted His description of the creation.
Of course, I've worded the options to point to my personal conclusion.
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paradoxes