“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day, all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” – Genesis 7:11
To explain the Hydroplate theory, it becomes necessary to delve into religion because it is a creationist idea that Earth had chambers of water between the crust and the mantle. This theory is used to support the idea that there was a worldwide flood at one point in history, which would then support the story of Noah that is found in the book of Genesis.
Then an extension of this thinking would support the idea that if the worldwide flood happened as described, then the story of creation found in Genesis 1 would also be plausible, if not factual.
The Foundations of Hydroplate Theory
The Hydroplate theory was first proposed by Dr. Walter Brown in 1980. According to Dr. Brown, the crust of the Earth was floating on a thick layer of water that existed above the mantle. To stay connected to the mantle, the crust of the planet would have needed walls, or “tendrils,” which have created pockets of water while also allowing the planet to continue rotating much as it does today.
In order to support the idea of a floating crust, Dr. Brown also adds the idea of Pangaea, or one super-continent, into the Hydroplate theory. Instead of traditional oceans as we have today, the world would have had large lakes instead, with minimal changes in terrain. Mountains would rarely reach more than 5,000 feet above sea level.
Then, either by an act of God or through an unknown natural process, the walls or tendrils cracked open one day. This split the crust and caused 40 days and nights of rainfall to occur.
Is There Evidence of a Worldwide Flood?
There is non-Biblical evidence that a worldwide flood may have occurred. In 2000, Smithsonian reported sediment layer findings that Mediterranean waters once “roared into the Black Sea.” In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a flood may or may not have been incorporated onto the ninth tablet. Some would point to the Sauk Sequence of strata in North American and Europe and the Tippecanoe Sequence in North America, Europe, and possibly Africa as evidence of a worldwide flood at some point in history.
There are also research studies that have been completed which have found that there are vast underwater reservoirs that are on Earth right now. A large ocean more than 600 miles below the surface, about one-third of the way to the core of the planet, has been discovered. It is believed this water is essential to life as we know it. Underwater reservoirs like these have been discussed since at least 2009, with confirmation first coming in 2014.
The Problem with Hydroplate Theory
Although the ideas behind the Hydroplate theory are plausible, the issue is that Dr. Brown fails to offer an in-depth analysis of the phenomena that are required for the theory to work. There are several mechanisms that must be assumed, such as tidal movements within underwater pockets of water, that must have built-up pressure in order to explode upward like a water volcano to create an environmental impact. Assumptions about the makeup of the crust and status of the core must also be made.
One key assumption that Dr. Brown makes is that a Hopi legend of a mid-ocean ridge in the Pacific Ocean being seen actually occurred. This assumption is used to support the idea in the Hydroplate theory that sea levels were nearly 3 miles lower in the ancient world than they are today.
Another source of information from Dr. Brown includes Charles Bertliz, who supports ideas of ancient astronauts and a government conspiracy cover-up in the Rosewell “alien ship” incident.
This means that the models offered by Dr. Brown appear to be made in order to fit the data instead of the other way around. And if there is no data to support the conclusion, assumptions are made based on myths or legends instead of data that can be supported in some way.
Is the Hydroplate Theory Wrong?
The fact is that we will probably always question how our planet came about and how humanity arose as a species. It is one of the greatest unknowns, so we seek out possible answers. Whether it is creationism, evolution, or another theory, it is important to remember this one fact: theories have yet to be proven.