Amphibians Support the Genesis Flood

Forensic science, such as crime scene investigation, origins, and so forth, uses observations in the present to propose models of what happened in the past. Creationists have Genesis Flood models, and the activities of amphibians after the Mt. St. Helens eruption seem to support them.

Terminology can be puzzling. A volcano erupting for nine hours, raining ash and pumice, spilling out lava and mudflows, and that sort of thing is a disturbance. When the crazy hermit on Creek Road screams at the Darwin Ranch, that is a disturbance, but I don't make the rules.

Pacific Tree Frog, Wikimedia Commons / The High Fin Sperm Whale (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Eruptions are big deals, and can last for more than a few hours. Volcanic activity is a major factor in Genesis Flood models. Creation geologists and others pay attention when volcanoes like the one in Tonga, plus Mt. Semeru, Mt. Pinatubo, and Icelandic volcanoes erupt. In addition, islands that have formed recently and were taking on life are also of interest. Plants are the most enthusiastic pioneers of newly-formed islands.

When someone proposes an idea about what happened in the past, obviously it needs evidence to make it plausible. The Flood was a literal event, and regular readers know that numerous posts here link to articles providing scientific evidence — provided one leaves off the deep-time naturalism spectacles.

A great deal of research was done on Mt. St. Helens immediately after those eruption events. Part of the attraction for geologists is that it is still active and dangerous, and could possibly have a lesser eruption at some point. The important part to this study is how the area is recovering after all that devastation. Mt. St. Helens was disturbed, but is getting better. Observing the actions of amphibians and knowledge of their biology helps support post-Flood recovery models. Any challenges must be given further research.

On May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens, a stratovolcano in Washington State, USA, erupted, producing a 570 km2 severely disturbed landscape. This ‘blast zone’ has, over the last 40 years, proven to be a world-class laboratory for the study of biological responses to catastrophic ecological disturbance. Researchers in the new discipline of Volcano Ecology have suggested that lessons learned at Mount St Helens are not only applicable to other volcanic settings, but also likely apply to various types of catastrophic disturbances. Such thinking encourages biblical creationists to use lessons learned at Mount St Helens as an aid in developing a model for post-Noahic Flood recovery.

This article considers the responses of amphibians to the eruption of Mount St Helens. Attention is given to pre-disturbance amphibian species and their habitats, the impact of the disturbance on amphibians, and amphibian responses to the disturbance. Implications for understanding biological recovery following Noah’s Flood are discussed.

To read the rest, visit "Amphibian responses to the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens—implications for Noahic Flood recovery." That's the kind of title I was avoiding; leave that to the technical writers. By the way, I learned a new word: vagility. It's about how critters can move about freely, migrate, and all that good stuff.