Short Answers to Good Questions: What Did North America Look Like During the Ice Age?

What Did North America Look Like During the Ice Age?

 

 

Glaciated areas looked, well, glaciated—hard barren plains of packed ice and snow, bordered by tundra. The rest of North America was greener, wetter, a little cooler; probably more inviting looking than it is today, unless a mega storm was ripping through your neighborhood, or a nearby volcano saw fit to erupt. The abundant rainfall was caused by condensation contributed by a warm ocean paired with cooler landmasses. This went as the temperature of the ocean dropped, until it became cooler than it is today, and the rainfall ceased. For a few short years the earth must have seemed to have fallen asleep; little rain, only wind¹ which as the drought increased began piling up snow and dirt into giant shifting hills, like an apocalyptic Hollywood dust bowl. These deposits of “loess” can be found all over the world, and North America was no exception. Ancient “sand dunes” from this period cover most of the Great Plains.² To add to the environmental disaster, the ice caps began to melt, flooding rivers and creating immense bogs. Mass extinction of “mega fauna” became the order of the day. In America we lost 70% of all mammals that weighed over 100lbs³; horses, camels, any lingering dinosaurs, giant beavers and sloths, and, of course, the woolly mammoths. It was the worst of times. Some calculate that it took the earth about 200 years⁴ to find her balance, and become the lovable planet we know today.

 

 

Learn more about the Ice Age here.

 

 

 

1 Oard Ice Age Caused By the Genesis Flood, pp. 109-119

2Muhs, D.R. and V.T. Holliday, Evidence of active dune sand on the Great Plains in the 19th century from accounts of early explorers, Quaternary Research 43:198–208, 1995.

3Martin, P.S., and R.G. Klein (Eds.), Quaternary extinctions: A prehistoric revolution, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, AZ, 1984.

Stone, R., Mammoth: The resurrection of an Ice Age giant, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA, pp. 94–143, 2001.

Agenbroad, L.D. and L. Nelson, Mammoths: Ice Age giants, Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis, MN, pp. 87–99, 2002.

4Oard, Frozen in Time, Chapter 10 Catastrophic Melting

New Blog Series: Short Answers to Good Questions

Photo by Helga Weber

New Blog Series: Short Answers to Good Questions

In the course of writing my novel about prehistoric man, I've asked for feedback from people with a wide variety backgrounds, and every time someone who isn't familiar with Biblical Creation reads my manuscript, they come back with questions, lots of question. How could a warm sea cause an Ice Age? How did all the different races come to be? Why does the age of the earth matter to you?

Now these questions have been answered time and time again by folks with a lot more knowledge than I have, but I thought that it might be useful to write up “in a nutshell” answers to these questions, along with links to more in-depth explanations. So every Thursday I'll be answering a different question. It won't be an exhaustive discussion of the topic, but it will give you an idea of what I believe and why.

Do you have any questions you'd like answered? Contact me, and I'll make sure your question is on the list!

 

 

The Truth Chronicles: Book Review

I recently purchased the The Truth Chronicles, a youth fiction series by authors Tim Chaffey (of AiG), and Joe Westbrook. I've been curious about the books ever since they came out, but never quite curious enough to buy them, since I had the mistaken impression (derived from the books' covers), that they were Manga comic books. I'm more than happy that I finally took the plunge, for lo and behold, they were not only NOT comic books, but they were also enjoyable to read. For someone like me, a sci-fi fan as well as a lover of ancient history and science, these books were perfect for light Sunday afternoon reads, even as an adult.

Jaz, J.T., Izzy and Micky, (two of those names belong to girls. Can you guess which? It took me a few chapters,) are four brilliant teens living in Silicon Valley CA., who create a time machine. Not only a time machine, but a hovering time machine fueled by solar power. Their first trip through time takes them back 4500 years into the past in hopes of viewing the Pyramids, but instead they find themselves in the pre-flood world, chased by man-eating dinosaurs—something that everyone but J.T., a Biblical Creationist, finds confusing and even disconcerting.

Throughout the series the teens dodge dinosaurs, tigers, landslides, blizzards and mishaps of every description in an action-packed ride through time, all while working through classic apologetics. Why does evil exist? Where did the races come from? Why do the stars look old? Who makes right and wrong? Where does logic come from, and why does it work?

I've passed the books on to my son, who has been clamoring to read them ever since they came in the mail, and there are two people in line to read them once he's done.

I would love to see this series collected into a single book someday, and I hope the authors continue on with the series!