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Figure 47. Gulf of Mexico Salt controlled Structures (Deep Water Bathymetric Map from Shell Oil3.142
Superimposed on the map of the Gulf of Mexico is a bathymetry map of the deep water Gulf of Mexico. The map nicely illustrates how salt is being pushed in front of sediments which are being deposited in the Gulf of Mexico from a number of major river systems. Again the salt acts like toothpaste, and is being pushed in front of the sediments as they are deposited. The geomorphology of the resulting structures is well understood by geologists and has been modeled with physical models and with numerical models, as described above. Even though these flows are by inanimate rocks, looking across geologic time these flows appear to be alive. Yet when looked at across the 6,000 years mankind has had written language, this salt movement is minimal.
There are numerous other geological processes which directly relate to the science-religion debates surrounding the Genesis account of creation. Most geological processes act across much larger time frames than salt flows; although some, like river depositional processes, act across much smaller time frames than salt flows. This book is not intended to provide an exhaustive discussion of geologic processes, nor of resulting geologic structures. The examples of salt diapirs were selected as a geological focus of things to be acted upon because of how salt is referenced in the Bible, and because of the impact of salt in Biblical areas.
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paradoxes