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  • Part II: Fountains of the Great Deep
    • The Hydroplate Theory: An Overview
    • The Origin of Ocean Trenches, Earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire
    • Liquefaction: The Origin of Strata and Layered Fossils
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Below is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, by Dr. Walt Brown. Copyright © Center for Scientific Creation. All rights reserved.

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[ The Fountains of the Great Deep > The Origin of Ocean Trenches, Earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire > Evaluation of Evidence vs. Theories  ]

Evaluation of Evidence vs. Theories 

  

The preceding discussions raise many issues concerning trenches, earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire. Each issue, summarized below in italics and given a blue title, is examined from the perspective of the hydroplate theory (HP) and the plate tectonic theory (PT). My subjective judgments, coded in green, yellow, and red circles (reminiscent of a traffic light’s go, caution, and stop) provide a starting point for your own evaluations. Numbers in Table 3 refer to explanations that follow. Any satisfactory explanation for the origin of trenches, earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire should resolve or credibly address the italicized issues below.

    

Table 3 will help us compare the evidence with two completely different explanations for ocean trenches. Too often, alternative theories are never known or sought, or a theory is justified based on only some of the relevant evidence, while all other evidence is ignored. When this happens, doctrine reigns and critical thinking ceases. Please alter Table 3 by adding or removing evidence or theories (rows or columns) as you weigh the choices.

      

Table 3. Evidence vs. Theories: Origin of Ocean Trenches, Earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire

 

Theories

Hydroplate Theory

Trenches, earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire are a result of shifts inside the earth during the flood, including the rising of the Atlantic floor and the subsidence of the Pacific floor.

Driven by Gravity

Plate Tectonic Theory

Trenches, earthquakes, and the Ring of Fire are produced by subducting plates that have been diving into the mantle for hundreds of millions of years.

Driven by Heat

Evidence to be Explained

The Ring of Fire

Image of Green Circle

  1

Image of Red Circle

  2

Gravity Anomalies

Image of Green Circle

  3

Image of Red Circle

  4

Core-Mantle Boundary

Image of Green Circle

  5

Image of Red Circle

  6

Flood Basalts

Image of Green Circle

  7

Image of Red Circle

  8

How Are Plates Made?

Image of Green Circle

  9

Image of Red Circle

10

Water in the Upper Mantle

Image of Yellow Circle

11

Image of Red Circle

12

Seamounts and Tablemounts

Image of Green Circle

13

Image of Red Circle

14

Stretched Oceanic Ridges

Image of Green Circle

15

Image of Red Circle

16

Scattered Volcanoes

Image of Green Circle

17

Image of Red Circle

18

Continental Material under Ocean Floor

Image of Yellow Circle

19

Image of Red Circle

20

Images of Earth’s Interior

Image of Green Circle

21

Image of Yellow Circle

22

Fast Seismic Waves

Image of Green Circle

23

Image of Red Circle

24

Fossils in Trenches

Image of Green Circle

25

Image of Red Circle

26

Deep Earthquakes

Image of Green Circle

27

Image of Red Circle

28

Earthquakes Far from Plate Boundaries

Image of Green Circle

29

Image of Red Circle

30

Earthquakes Correlate with Low Tides

Image of Green Circle

31

Image of Yellow Circle

32

Earthquake Driving Force

Image of Green Circle

33

Image of Red Circle

34

Plate Reversals

Image of Green Circle

35

Image of Red Circle

36

Earthquakes Drop Local Gravity

Image of Green Circle

37

Image of Red Circle

38

Tension Failures

Image of Green Circle

39

Image of Red Circle

40

Wide Earthquakes

Image of Green Circle

41

Image of Red Circle

42

Reasonable Driving Mechanism

Image of Green Circle

43

Image of Red Circle

44

Displaced Material

Image of Green Circle

45

Image of Red Circle

46

Frictional Resistance

Image of Green Circle

47

Image of Red Circle

48

Arcs and Cusps

Image of Green Circle

49

Image of Red Circle

50

Concentrated Trenches

Image of Green Circle

51

Image of Red Circle

52

Undistorted Layers in Trenches

Image of Green Circle

53

Image of Red Circle

54

Initiation

Image of Green Circle

55

Image of Red Circle

56

“Fossil” (Ancient) Trenches

Image of Green Circle

57

Image of Red Circle

58

Other

Image of Green Circle

59–61

 

Image of Red Circle

62–65

  

Key:

Image of Green Circle

Explained by theory.

 

Image of Yellow Circle

Theory has moderate problems with this item.

 

Image of Red Circle

Theory has serious problems with this item.

   Numbers in this table refer to amplifying explanations on pages 166–178.

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