# 40 Days & 40 Nights: What would be the effects of a worldwide Biblical Flood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612 "2006-08-06T22:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/1 "2006-08-06T22:07:36Z")
How high would the water rise? What effects would it have on animal life? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/2 "2006-08-06T22:52:04Z")
Er… how much flooding are you talking about? A Biblical flood would involve drowning all land life under the sea, which would have the affect on animal life that it would die. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/3 "2006-08-06T23:00:57Z")
I was pondering this not long ago - if the north and south pole ice caps completely melted, would that even come close to flooding out major mountain ranges like the Rockies, Andes and Himalayas? I figure it can’t, so the upshot would be that animals who live or can hastily migrate to these areas (including humans) will replenish the Earth and millions of years from now, some future biologist will compare mountain-survival traits that persist even among animals living in the lowlands and conclude there was a mass-die off. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/4 "2006-08-06T23:05:12Z")
As I recall, the answer is that all life on Earth dies from the frictional heating of that much rain, worldwide, for that long. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/5 "2006-08-06T23:10:47Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] How high would the water rise? What effects would it have on animal life? [/QUOTE] According to this, [http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0469(1988)045\<3320:EOPITS\>2.0.CO%3B2](http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0469(1988)045%3C3320:EOPITS%3E2.0.CO%3B2), the greatest rainfal rate is about 60 mm/h. That’s 2.4 inchers per hour. (Excuse me if that’s wrong, but I didn’t read the paper just googled it. In any case 2 inches per hour is a very hard rain from personal experience and I’ve never seen it last too long. 6 cms per hour is 144 cms per day or 5760 cms in 40 days. So the earth would be covered in roughly 60 meters of water. Of course it would have to come from somewhere. Since water covers about 2/3 of the earths’ surface, the surface of oceans, etc, could have to drop 30 meters. this would primarily I’d think produce a huge current flattening everything. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/6 "2006-08-06T23:49:07Z")
The question doesn’t really make much sense. Th Biblical flood story specifies that the water came form the “springs of the deep” being opened not just from rain. So we really can’t speculate on how much water would flow from these supposed sub-marine geysers. They might have flow rates of million of gigalitres/second. If you’re just asking how much rain could fall in that period, not very much. The Earth has an absolute amount of energy available to it for the sun and radioactive heating. Evaporation and cloud formation relies on that heat. You simply can’t produce much more rain than we are getting right now because the planet has a fixed energy budget. Maybe you could clarify exactly what question you intend to ask? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/7 "2006-08-07T00:15:26Z")
If I understand the question I’ll add I seem to recall a discussion of this topic based on the Biblical story and one point that arose was that the influx of this much freash water would have change the saline content in the oceans to the point of killing all sea life with the possible exception of very deep dwelling marine life. Additionally, once the Ark had set down with the two-of-each-kind thing there would not have been anything left to eat and would not return to normal for a very long time. Assuming that things like grains were stored onboard, it would be a long time before there was a yeild and most or all fruit bearing trees would be dead. Is this kinda in line with your question? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/8 "2006-08-07T00:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I was pondering this not long ago - if the north and south pole ice caps completely melted, would that even come close to flooding out major mountain ranges like the Rockies, Andes and Himalayas? [/QUOTE] If all the ice caps melted, including Antarctica and Greenland, global sea level would rise by no more than about 100 m (300 ft). We would lose Florida, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and some low-lying island groups, but most of the continents would scarcely be affected. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/9 "2006-08-07T01:04:54Z")
[QUOTE=Blake] The question doesn’t really make much sense. Th Biblical flood story specifies that the water came form the “springs of the deep” being opened not just from rain. So we really can’t speculate on how much water would flow from these supposed sub-marine geysers. They might have flow rates of million of gigalitres/second. If you’re just asking how much rain could fall in that period, not very much. The Earth has an absolute amount of energy available to it for the sun and radioactive heating. Evaporation and cloud formation relies on that heat. You simply can’t produce much more rain than we are getting right now because the planet has a fixed energy budget. Maybe you could clarify exactly what question you intend to ask? [/QUOTE] Apoligies, my reading of the Bible was not that detailed. I just assumed that it was only rain that caused it. My question, to clarify, was what would happen if there was sustained rain for forty days and forty nights, which, apparently, the bible does not say. I’m clearly somewhat muddled here. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/10 "2006-08-07T01:54:39Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Apoligies, my reading of the Bible was not that detailed. I just assumed that it was only rain that caused it. My question, to clarify, was what would happen if there was sustained rain for forty days and forty nights, which, apparently, the bible does not say. I’m clearly somewhat muddled here. [/QUOTE] Problems with the biblical flood, from Talk Origins: > **[Problems with a Global Flood, 2nd edition — TalkOrigins Archive](https://talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html)** > > A list of questions which the story of Noah's Ark and a global flood leave unanswered and probably unanswerable, such as: How did all the fish survive? and, When did granite batholiths form? Since the Egyptians merrily ignored the last biblical flood, The Flood was more likely a local event rather than a worldwide one if it did occur. The big problem always remains where the water comes from, 40 days and 40 nights of rain one can expect flooding in the lowlands and erosion, but that is it. The water has to evaporate from the ocean and return to it, no chance for the water level to go over high ground. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/11 "2006-08-07T04:53:24Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Apoligies, my reading of the Bible was not that detailed. I just assumed that it was only rain that caused it. My question, to clarify, was what would happen if there was sustained rain for forty days and forty nights, which, apparently, the bible does not say. I’m clearly somewhat muddled here. [/QUOTE] From [this table](http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/has/notables.shtml#World_record_rainfall_table) the maximum recorded rainfall for one minute is 38 mm, which is roughly 1.5 inches. In 40 days of 24 hours there are 57,600 minutes, so if it rained for 40 days and 40 nights at the maximum recorded rate we would have 86,400 inches of rain, or 7,200 ft. A good portion of the continents would be flooded, but the higher mountain ranges, including the Rockies, Andes, Alps, and much of the Tibetan plateau would remain above the water. Of course, this ignores the fact that such an event would be physically impossible. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/12 "2006-08-07T06:09:16Z")
Remember, too, that rainfall does not always = runoff. The Antecedent Moisture Condition of the soils, crops, etc. which the rain falls upon dictates how much water is soaked up and how much runs off. There are ways to compute the peak runoff from certain rain events; “sustained rain for 40 days and 40 nights” does not give enough data to predict flooding. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/13 "2006-08-07T06:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Since the Egyptians merrily ignored the last biblical flood, The Flood was more likely a local event rather than a worldwide one if it did occur. [/QUOTE] The Chinese also. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY there is a great case of Chinese artifacts stretching back past 3,000 BCE. The evolution of the style is apparent. Though not meant as a refutation of the flood story, it serves quite well. As for the rainfall, it is fine to compute the amount based on recorded maximums, but this doesn’t answer where the water came from. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/14 "2006-08-07T12:12:40Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] If all the ice caps melted, including Antarctica and Greenland, global sea level would rise by no more than about 100 m (300 ft). We would lose Florida, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and some low-lying island groups, but most of the continents would scarcely be affected. [/QUOTE] Oooo, I’m not certain about that one, Colibri. I seem to recall that Washington, DC averages less than 100 feet above sea level. NYC: 0-410 feet above sea level Philly: 0-441 Houston: 0-83 Washington DC: 1-410 Memphis: 195-335 Boston: 0-330 New Orleans (hah!): -8 - 25 Jacksonville: 0-40 Seattle: 0-520 Miami: 0-30 And that’s only in the US. A global rise in sea level of ~300 feet would have some serious impact on human events. Mind you, I’m not saying Kevin Costner is going to grow gills here but I do believe the impact of such would be severe. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/15 "2006-08-07T15:09:05Z")
[QUOTE=Jonathan Chance] Oooo, I’m not certain about that one, Colibri. I seem to recall that Washington, DC averages less than 100 feet above sea level. [/QUOTE] I wasn’t attempting to detail every single coastal area that would be flooded. A 300 foot rise would wipe out many of the major cities of the world, and displace hundreds of millions of people. My point was mainly that it would not affect the bulk of the continents. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/16 "2006-08-07T15:30:58Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] Problems with the biblical flood, from Talk Origins: > **[Problems with a Global Flood, 2nd edition — TalkOrigins Archive](https://talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html)** > > A list of questions which the story of Noah's Ark and a global flood leave unanswered and probably unanswerable, such as: How did all the fish survive? and, When did granite batholiths form? Since the Egyptians merrily ignored the last biblical flood, The Flood was more likely a local event rather than a worldwide one if it did occur. The big problem always remains where the water comes from, 40 days and 40 nights of rain one can expect flooding in the lowlands and erosion, but that is it. The water has to evaporate from the ocean and return to it, no chance for the water level to go over high ground. [/QUOTE] Nice link. I haven’t had time to read all of it yet but it is well presented and well considered. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/17 "2006-08-07T16:00:39Z")
I was curious about the “springs of the Deep” phrase and found [Bible Online](http://http://www.carm.org/kjv/Gen/Gen_7.htm) were it says in similar words > [@](#): > > 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And it goes on to say the rain was upon the earth for 40 days and nights and the water was upon the ground for > [@](#): > > 24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. Interestingly though, it also says > [@](#): > > 19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. Don’t I recall that a cubit is about eighten inches? That’s only 270 inches or 22.5 feet. Seems a bit shallow to cover all the high hills. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/18 "2006-08-07T16:21:02Z")
[QUOTE=Nic2004] Don’t I recall that a cubit is about eighten inches? That’s only 270 inches or 22.5 feet. Seems a bit shallow to cover all the high hills. [/QUOTE] Maybe _Genesis_ was written in Saskatchewan. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/19 "2006-08-07T16:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Nic2004] Don’t I recall that a cubit is about eighten inches? That’s only 270 inches or 22.5 feet. Seems a bit shallow to cover all the high hills. [/QUOTE] The standard creationist answer to this is that there were no mountains when it started raining, and that they somehow grew during the flood, emerging so that Noah could land on Ararat. Along with this, they say the animals could get to their dispersed locations because the continents separated after they walked there. the number of absurdities in the flood story is nearly uncountable. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612/20 "2006-08-07T21:32:21Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] The standard creationist answer to this is that there were no mountains when it started raining… [/QUOTE] The standard response I’ve always heard is that “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered” means that the waters the waters covered the mountains to a depth of fiftenn cubits. IOW the water depth was 18 inches higher than the summit of Everest. That makes more sense… or something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-days-40-nights-what-would-be-the-effects-of-a-worldwide-biblical-flood/367612.md?page=2)