Where do land and water come from?

People, animals and plants live on earth, the surface of which is 71% water and 29% land. Earth is the only planet in the solar system with enormous accessible amounts of liquid water on the surface. But where did this water and land come from?

Water and land are inanimate. They can be transported but not created or destroyed. In the hydrological cycle, water is circulated from clouds to land, to the ocean, and back to the clouds. And water can occur as a solid (ice), liquid (water) or gas (water vapor). Erosion causes rocks and soils to be transported downstream and deposited in another location.

Where did land and water come from?

When God made the earth, it was covered with water (Gen. 1:2). The earth was originally created with large amounts of water so it could support life (Isa. 45:18).

Then God caused dry land to appear (Gen. 1:9-10). This may have been caused by the elevation of some parts of the seabed and/or the sinking of some other parts of the seabed resulting in the erosion of the previous seabed, and the transportation and the deposition of these sediments in new areas. Thus, some sedimentary rock layers may have been formed during this creation of the land and seas. These rock layers would have no fossils present within them. And they would be in the Hadean eon of the geologic time scale.

The Bible does not tell us how many continents there were at first. There might have been only one (like Pangea; see Clarey and Werner, 2020), with today’s continents forming later, at the time of Noah’s flood.

The Bible doesn’t give much information about the pre-flood earth. The garden of Eden was at an elevated location as its water separated into four rivers. And there were “high mountains” (Gen.7:18), but these were probably not at high as Mount Everest which was uplifted during the global flood. Remnants of antediluvian animals and plants living when the flood came were preserved as fossils in flood sediments. The huge volume of fossilized vegetation in the coal beds in the geologic record, which was destroyed and buried by the flood, indicates lush vegetation on the pre-flood earth.

The fossil-bearing sedimentary rock layers in the geologic record resulted from the flood waters rising up over the continents and progressively burying different pre-flood ecosystems and biological communities. For example, dinosaur fossils are primarily found only in association with “naked seed” plants (gymnosperms) that do not have flowers, such as cycads and gingkoes. Flowering plants (angiosperms) are mainly found higher in the fossil record buried with mammal fossils. This suggests that in the pre-flood world there was a mammal-angiosperm biological community at higher elevations than the dinosaur-gymnosperm biological community at lower elevations. This approach can be used to infer the elevation of other pre-flood ecosystems and biological communities.

Fossils do not reflect evolution. Instead, they record the progressive destruction of different ecological zones across the globe. The higher the ecologic zone, the higher it is in the geologic column. It’s no wonder that the same fossils are found in the same approximate order on all continents.

What have been the main events since the beginning?

Significant events in the history of land and water

Adam and Eve’s disobedience destroyed the harmony between God and people. Although it also had an impact on plants and animals, we are not told of any impact on the land and water.

God’s judgment of the global flood (at about 2350BC) had a great impact on the earth’s land and water. God’s intention was to destroy mankind and the earth (Gen. 6:13). This was a unique miraculous event. “All the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened” to bring devasting rainfall that caused the earth to be inundated for about 6 months (Gen. 7:11NIV). Jesus said that the flood destroyed everyone who was not on the ark (Lk. 17:26-27). And Peter wrote, “By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed” (2 Pt. 3:6).

The Hebrew verb “baqa” (Strongs #1234) means to “break open” or “split” “the springs of the great deep” (Gen. 7:11). It is used in this sense elsewhere in the Pentateuch (Gen. 22:3; Ex. 14:16, 21; Num. 16:31). This seems to imply deep fracturing of the earth’s crust which would have been accompanied by dramatic earth movements, volcanic eruptions, and devastating earthquakes.

The global flood was probably associated with the impact of meteorites (Appendix A), catastrophic plate tectonics (Appendix B), and volcanic activity (Appendix C). Maybe God caused meteorites to hit the earth and trigger catastrophic plate tectonics that separated Pangea into separate continents and resulted in volcanic activity. The likely processes involved are described in this video. And this video explains why this is the best explanation of the extinction of dinosaurs across the earth. But some say that there is no evidence of a global flood (Appendix D).

The flood caused most of the geomorphology we see today. New continents, seas, and mountain ranges were established. Sedimentary rock layers were formed and transported horizontally by plate tectonics and raised vertically to mountain tops. The subsiding waters eroded the wet sediments to form plateaus, canyons and gorges and deltas. The sea-level was higher than today as there was no ice or snow on the surface of the earth.

The global flood was followed by the ice age, which was caused by increased evaporation due to the warm oceans and atmospheric cooling over the continents associated with the aerosols emitted by volcanoes. Ionization within volcanic plumes also increased precipitation. This resulted in permanent ice and snow at high latitudes and lower sea-level than today. Since then, the earth has warmed, which has reduced the extent of ice and snow and increased the sea-level.

Conclusion

The land and sea was originally created by God. But their shape and distribution across the earth has changed significantly since then. The global flood formed continents and seas. It also caused the topography of the land and the sea.

The same Creator who brought judgment by water also provided a means of rescue (Gen. 7:16-23) and ultimately offers redemption to humanity through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Appendix A: Meteorites

Rock layers deposited by the Genesis flood extend from the Precambrian to the late Cenozoic in the geologic column. There are many meteorite impacts in these layers and the initial ones may have triggered catastrophic plate tectonics that resulted in the global flood.

The meteorites associated with large impacts (about 1,000 km diameter) on the near side of the moon affected the earth and moon in a few days at the beginning of the flood, since there is an asymmetric distribution of the large craters on only one side of the moon (Oard, 2025). Otherwise, if the impacts took more than several days, they would be more randomly distributed.

Secular scientists claim that the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous was caused when a massive asteroid or comet—roughly 10 kilometers wide—struck Earth, leaving behind the Chicxulub crater (over 150 km in diameter) in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. This is called the K-Pg boundary which is identified by concentrations of iridium that are up to 130 times higher than normal. Because iridium is extremely rare on Earth’s surface but common in asteroids, this layer provides key evidence of an extraterrestrial impact. The K–Pg boundary, is a thin geological layer of rock—usually clay—marking the end of the Cretaceous Period and the start of the Paleogene Period. Several other craters also appear to have been formed about the time of the K–Pg boundary.

It’s unlikely that the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a single meteorite, but it may have been caused by a global flood that was triggered by meteorites.

Appendix B: Catastrophic plate tectonics

Earth is unique in our solar system because it is the only planet with tectonic plates. The bathymetric map of the seafloor shows clearly defined ocean ridges in every ocean. The ridges circle the globe twice and are the source of new ocean crust.

The majority of the plates are well defined by maps of current earthquake activity. Further support for these plate boundaries is shown by the linear chains of volcanoes found along the edge of the Pacific plate, associated with the Pacific Ocean’s ‘ring of fire’. In addition, many of the major mountain ranges of the world also follow the edges of active plate boundaries, such as the Andes and Himalayas. These long linear chains of mountains run parallel, and in close proximity, to many of the convergent-style plate boundaries.

Plate tectonics has provided explanations of why earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in very specific areas around the world, and how and why great mountain ranges like the Alps and Himalayas formed. But most scientists don’t know the nature and origin of the forces propelling the plates.

The “springs of the great deep” may be a description of the rifting that took place at the ocean ridges and even within continents. “Most creation geologists believe that the opening of ‘the springs of the great deep’ refers to the breakup of the earth’s crust into plates. The subsequent rapid, catastrophic movement of these plates would have released huge quantities of hot subterranean waters and molten rock into the ocean. As the hot water gushed through the fractured seafloor, the water flashed into superheated steam and shot high into the atmosphere as supersonic steam jets, carrying sea water that eventually fell as rain.” (Snelling, 2012). This shows one way how rapid plate movement could affect global hydrology.

Movement of these newly formed plates destroyed the original ocean crust through subduction and created an entirely new seafloor. This new, hot and lower-density ocean crust pushed the water of the ocean higher and higher until the entire earth was covered with water. This shows another way how rapid plate movement could affect global hydrology.

Appendix C: Volcanoes

There is evidence of massive volcanic activity throughout the Precambrian geologic record (Hunter, 2025). Much of that volcanic activity was explosive, as evidenced by accumulations of volcanic fragmental pyroclastic rocks. Such explosive volcanic eruptions would not have occurred in the creation week because, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). This means that the Precambrian volcanism must have occurred during the early stages of the Genesis flood cataclysm.

Volcanoes primarily occur along the boundaries of continental plates. Those that formed during Noah’s Flood would have been planed flat by the rising waters. Those that erupted late in the flood would have been severely eroded, with the exception of their solid neck, by the receding floodwaters. For instance, the Glass House Mountains north of Brisbane, Australia, are the remnant necks of volcanoes that erupted late in the flood. So, if we see volcanoes today with cones intact, such as Mount Fuji, Japan, we know that they formed in the post-Flood era.

Appendix D: No evidence of a worldwide flood?

Many say that there is no geological evidence for a worldwide flood during the time of Noah. But this depends on the worldview (or lens) through which the evidence is interpreted (Bible Hub).

Modern geology adheres to uniformitarian assumptions: the idea that processes observed today have always operated at the same gradual rate. And geological dating often relies on rates of radioactive decay or assumptions on stratigraphic layering

People willingly overlook the role of a cataclysmic flood (2 Pt. 3:5-7). Recognition of flood-related geological traces can be obscured by philosophical and scientific commitments that exclude the possibility of a single, worldwide deluge.

Another possible objection is that a ship of people and animals couldn’t survive such a catastrophe. The ark was remarkably stable in fierce seas (Walker, 2019) and the ancients probably had the technology to build wooden vessels (Chaffey, 2018; Lovett, 2024a; Lovett, 2024b). The ark only floated for about 110 days –  from about 40 days (Gen. 7:17) until it came to rest on the Mountains of Ararat after 150 days (Gen. 8:3–4). Also, the flood was a designed catastrophe and not a random event (Doyle, 2015). The flood was engineered to allow the survival of the ark. The uniqueness of the flood event, and the fact that God was behind it, shows that there is likely some supernatural activity embedded in the cause-effect narrative of the flood (Doyle, 2020).

References

Bible Hub, Why is there no geological evidence for a worldwide flood during the time of Noah?
Chaffey T, 2018, How could Noah’s ark survive the storm?
Clarey TL and Werner DJ, 2020, The pre-flood world resembled Pangaea, J Creation, 34(2), 8-11.
Doyle S, 2013, The flood – a designed catastrophe?, J Creation, 27(3), 12.
Doyle S, 2020, Too much heat in Noah’s flood?
Hunter M, 2025, Was explosive in the Precambrian record happening during Creation Week?, J Creation, 39(1), 78-87.
Lovett T, 2024a, How could the ark have survived the stresses of the flood?
Lovett T, 2024b, How could a wooden ark survive the flood?
Oard MJ, 2025, Impacts cannot be ignored for flood modelling, J Creation, 39(3), 95-102.
Snelling, 2012, Did meteors trigger Noah’s flood?
Walker T, 2013, Volcanoes shaped our planet.
Walker T, 2019, How could Noah’s ark have survived the flood?

Written, October 2026