Does the Bible Explain the Ice Age?

The Earth’s history is filled with numerous enigmas, and the prevailing belief in millions of years of evolution among secular scientists limits their ability to uncover compelling explanations for these mysteries. Meanwhile, the Bible provides explanations for various issues, such as the 6,000-year biblical timeline and the account of the global flood, which is key to understanding the Ice Age.¹

Secular Theories of the Ice Age

Secular science is unable to determine the exact causes of ice ages. Scientists frequently propose new explanations,² indicating that none of the previous ones are particularly convincing.

The most popular explanation is the astronomical theory of the Ice Age (Milankovitch theory), which suggests that slow changes in Earth’s orbital and rotational movements affect the distribution of sunlight on the Earth’s surface. These variations are thought to drive ice ages. However, the changes in sunlight are so small that it is hard to understand how they alone could cause an Ice Age. The renowned evolutionary astronomer Fred Hoyle stated:

‘If I were to claim that glacial conditions could be triggered in a room full of electric heaters in winter simply by introducing a block of ice, the proposal would be no more improbable than the Milankovitch theory.’³

The Milankovitch theory gained wide acceptance following a 1976 study titled Pacemaker of the Ice Ages.⁴ In this article, it was claimed—based on uniformitarian assumptions—that data from two deep-sea sediment cores supported climate changes consistent with the predictions of the astronomical theory. However, this supposed confirmation of the theory relied on an age attribution that is no longer regarded as valid, even by secular scientists.⁵ Additionally, other changes in the data have significantly weakened the theory’s credibility.⁶

The Biblical Model

Creationist scientist and meteorologist Michael Oard has made strong arguments that the Ice Age was caused by the Flood described in Genesis.^7,8 Most creationists believe that during the Flood, the original ocean floor rapidly subducted into the Earth’s mantle and was replaced by a new sea floor formed at mid-ocean ridges. The world’s oceans were significantly heated by the heat from the newly formed ocean floor, which caused a substantial increase in evaporation from the sea surface.⁹ This, in turn, led to higher humidity in the atmosphere, resulting in heavier precipitation, including more snowfall at high latitudes and mountain peaks.

After the Flood, volcanic eruptions continued for centuries in the subduction zone, but over time, both their frequency and intensity declined. Tiny particles and droplets were ejected into the atmosphere, reflecting large amounts of sunlight and causing cooler summers. This prevented the melting of snow and ice, and as they accumulated year after year, thick ice sheets formed. This is the model developed by Oard.

Additionally, Dr. Larry Vardiman, an atmospheric scientist, used standard meteorological computer models to simulate the impact of warm oceans on precipitation levels. His results showed that very warm waters would drastically increase snowfall in Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks, which were covered with thick ice layers during the Ice Age.^10,11

Recent volcanic eruptions have also shown that powerful, sulfur-rich eruptions can cause noticeable global cooling, especially in the summer and fall months.¹²

How Many Ice Ages Were There?

Secular scientists claim that as many as 50 Pleistocene ice ages occurred in the past 2.6 million years.¹³ However, there is strong geological evidence for only the last one, which creationist scientists consider the sole Ice Age. Even secular scientists have acknowledged that a single Ice Age can account for the geological evidence found in western Canada.¹⁴

Woolly Mammoths in Siberia

Michael Oard’s biblical model also provides a solution to another significant mystery in Earth’s history: how millions of woolly mammoths could have lived in Siberia during the Ice Age. Strong evidence indicates that a large number of these animals lived there at that time.

Today, Siberian winters are extremely cold, with temperatures dropping below -50°C or even -60°C. Secular scientists also believe the Earth is currently in a warm interglacial period, meaning temperatures during the Siberian Ice Age would likely have been even colder. How, then, could woolly mammoths survive such extreme conditions? Even if they could endure the severe cold, how could such large animals find enough food and water in such a harsh climate? Several factors, such as the long gestation period, make it difficult, if not impossible, for mammoths to migrate to warmer areas during Siberian winters.

Oard’s model offers a simple answer to these questions: the oceans remained warm for hundreds of years after the Flood, which made Siberia’s climate during the Ice Age milder than it is today, with no Arctic sea ice. Warm, moist oceanic air moderated the climate, and although Siberian winters were cold, they were still suitable for the survival of woolly mammoths.¹

Secular scientists have no answers to the dilemmas surrounding mammoths because, according to their evolutionary timeline, Arctic sea ice has been present for at least the last 100,000 years,¹⁵ well before mammoths are thought to have gone extinct around 10,000 years ago. According to this model, Arctic sea ice existed while mammoths lived in Siberia, and without warm oceans, Siberia would have been as cold as it is today, if not colder. Therefore, secular science offers no solution to the puzzle.

Oard’s model also explains the extinction of mammoths. At the end of the Ice Age, vast amounts of freshwater from the melting ice flowed into the Arctic Ocean. Since freshwater is less dense than saltwater, it stayed on the surface and froze, forming a layer of sea ice. This disrupted the climate-moderating conditions, causing temperatures to drop rapidly, which led to the extinction of the mammoths. According to basic meteorological principles, Oard suggests that the combination of cooler temperatures at high latitudes and a drier climate at the end of the Ice Age resulted in massive sandstorms that buried some mammoths. After their burial, dust froze around their bodies, which is why many mammoth remains are found in Siberia’s frozen hills of wind-blown silt known as loess.¹

Conclusion

Therefore, secular scientific theories consistently fail to offer satisfactory explanations. In contrast, biblical history provides a crucial framework for understanding the history of the Earth.

By the way, we recommend reading the articles:

• Why Are There Seven Days in a Week?
• The Potential Impact of Extraterrestrial Beings on Religious Systems
• Viking Bones and Radiocarbon Dating
• The Concept of the Supreme God in Ancient Religions
• The Whale Pelvis: More Than Just a Vestige

Footnotes

1. Oard, M.J., 2006. Frozen in Time. Green Forest, AR: Master Books.
2. University of Royal Holloway London, 2014. New theory on cause of ice age 2.6 million years ago. ScienceDaily, 27 June.
3. Hoyle, F., 1981. Ice: The Ultimate Human Catastrophe. New York: Continuum, p. 77.
4. Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J. & Shackleton, N.J., 1976. Variations in the Earth’s Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages. Science, 194(4270), pp. 1121–1132.
5. Hebert, J., 2016. ‘Big Science’ Celebrates Invalid Milankovitch Paper. Creation Science Update, 26 December.
6. Hebert, J., 2018. More Problems with Iconic Milankovitch Paper. Creation Science Update, 13 July.
7. Oard, M.J., 1990. An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood. Santee, CA: Institute for Creation Research.
8. Oard, M.J., 2005. The Frozen Record. Santee, CA: Institute for Creation Research.
9. Clarey, T., 2016. Embracing Catastrophic Plate Tectonics. Acts & Facts, 45(5), pp. 8–11.
10. Vardiman, L., 2010. An Ice Age in Yosemite National Park. Acts & Facts, 39(3), pp. 12–13.
11. Vardiman, L., 2010. An Ice Age in Yellowstone National Park. Acts & Facts, 39(12), pp. 12–14.
12. Bradley, R.S., 1988. The Explosive Volcanic Eruption Signal in Northern Hemisphere Continental Temperature Records. Climatic Change, 12(3), pp. 221–243.
13. Lisiecki, L.E. & Raymo, M.E., 2005. A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records. Paleoceanography, 20, PA1003.
14. Oard, M.J., 2015. Only one glaciation observed in western Alberta, Canada—the ice-age reinforcement syndrome. Journal of Creation, 29(2), pp. 12–13.
15. Johnston, I., 2016. Arctic could become ice-free for first time in more than 100,000 years, claims leading scientist. The Independent, 4 June.

Based on: J. Hebert, The Bible best explains the Ice Age, Acts & Facts, Institute for Creation Research, November 2018, pp. 10-13.

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