Ice Age 4

​At some point during the period of the Golus Mitzraim, or roughly 40 years after the Exodus, the peak of the Ice Age occurred. As mentioned in the previous article, Baal HaTurim held a tradition that the rain of the Mabul ended when the Mishkan was erected, which occurred in the year 2449 from creation.
As volcanic eruptions slowed and fewer aerosols were released into the atmosphere, the sky began to clear. Rays of sunlight penetrated the clouds and met the dark surface of the ice. The ice appeared dark due to the mix of volcanic ash that had fallen alongside the snow, and as the snow compacted, it formed alternating layers of light and dark ice. Because of the ice's darkness, the melting process accelerated.

​Lakes formed along the edges of the ever-shrinking ice masses, reshaping the landscape. This was not just a creative process of remaking some parts of the Earth again, but also a destructive force. Water and mud washed away vast swaths of land, killing countless animals and perhaps even humans. Many of the flood legends preserved by various cultures may reflect these catastrophic floods rather than the one of Noah’s time

Information boards near Hagerman State Park in Idaho, where bones of horses and camels were found on the scarp of the Snake River

​In North America, the meltwater filled up basins, creating enormous lakes, some of which are comparable in size to today’s Great Lakes. These lakes themselves were covered with ice during the Ice Age. The Great Lakes, in fact, were likely either devoid of water or at a much lower level between the end of Noah’s Mabul and the onset of the Ice Age. Archaeological findings in the bottom of Lake Michigan (still debated) and below the present levels of the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Doggerland, and the western coast of India suggest that human settlements spread across vast areas of Earth during this period. I hope to revisit these fascinating topics in the future.

Huge lakes existed obviously also on the other continents.

Many pluvial lakes filled to the brim, eventually reaching the lowest surrounding edges. When rapid ice melt caused these lakes to overflow, catastrophic flooding occurred, carving out new canyons. These canyons, unlike those formed at the end of the Mabul when water receded toward the oceans, appear much fresher. The sharp, rugged edges of canyons such as the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Royal Gorge, Malad Gorge, Bruneau Canyon, and even Columbia Gorge do not show signs of the centuries of erosion that would have smoothed their contours after heavy precipitation following the Mabul. Certainly, the deep cracks and nearly vertical walls in these canyons do not appear to have been shaped by millions of years of erosion. 

Dramatic scarps of Snake River Canyon and map below.

​It’s worth noting that Columbia Gorge is a unique case. It was carved through basalt rocks around 10,000 years ago, according to evolutionists, meaning it is relatively recent in geological terms. The Columbia Gorge is also a prominent example of Bretz’s hypothesis, which, for over 50 years, was dismissed by the dogmatic views of his contemporaries. It wasn’t until the 1970s that Bretz's theory was acknowledged, but even then, the Missoula Flood was placed within the broader framework of evolutionary geology. Further research revealed that Willamette Valley and Columbia Gorge contain deposits from multiple floods. This led to the formation of a rather far-fetched hypothesis that Lake Missoula formed multiple times after a catastrophic breach of its ice dam each time.

Colombia Gorge with its side waterfall.

Multnomah. 

​Little attention has been paid to the fact that the enormous Bonneville Lake, whose remnants are now the Great Salt Lake in Utah, also drained through Hells Canyon and Columbia Gorge toward the ocean. Additionally, parts of Lake Lahontan, in present-day Nevada, likely used this same channel. There was also a vast lake filling the Idaho Valley, which drained through Hells Canyon and Columbia Gorge. In the Idaho Basin, several horse and camel skeletons have been found in Hagerman State Park on the edge of the Snake River. (See pictures above)
Interestingly, American geologists appear to have overlooked the northern regions. There are several large basins in Canada that may have filled temporarily with melting glacial water, only to overflow through Columbia Gorge. These catastrophic events could explain the varied deposits found in the basins along the Columbia River and within the Gorge itself.

Temporary lakes basins are clearly visible on the satellite vie of southern British Columbia.

These are just a few examples of the major bodies of water that once existed on the American continent as a result of the Mabul and later refilled due to the deglaciation of North America. There were also large lakes in southern Utah and Arizona responsible for the formation of the Grand Canyon. White Sands in New Mexico was once the bottom of a lake, and numerous basins across the western and even eastern parts of North America were filled with water. While vegetation and further erosion over the past 3,000 years have made these basins harder to observe, they were once prominent features of the landscape. The largest of these lakes was Lake Agassiz, which covered a large portion of Canada at the very end of the Glacial period. I hope to revisit the topic of pluvial lakes in the future, BeEzrat Hashem.

Map of Lake Otero at probably final stages. Human as well as Mammoth and Giant Sloth's footprints were discovered there recently.

Once up on the time in White Sand Dunes NM, New Mexico.

In Northern Africa, there were also many lakes, some of which were still present in Roman times and are depicted on ancient maps. Today, these areas are desert.
The Ice Age likely began to end sometime in the decades following the Exodus. As the ice caps melted, the cold water raised ocean levels by about 400 feet to the levels we recognize today. The Mediterranean basin was filled through the Zanclean flood, probably creating the largest waterfall in Earth's history. The features of this waterfall are still visible under the waters of Gibraltar. Unfortunately Google Earth blurred out this area recently for some reason.

African Lakes. Two of them - in Egypt and Tunisia are indicated on ancient Roman maps.

​As the ice on the continents melted, the temperature of the oceans began to cool, causing another drastic climate event, and the ice in the Arctic Ocean began to form.
This quandary cannot be explained by any evolutionary model, as they lack a coherent explanation for why the Arctic Ocean remained ice-free during the Ice Age. Our creationist model, however, offers a reasonable scenario.
It is impossible at this point to establish an exact timeline for the cooling of the Arctic Ocean, as most of the research in this area is conducted by evolutionary geologists and climatologists working within an Old Earth framework. All discovered data is interpreted within this context. I suspect that the cooling of the Arctic Ocean was a gradual process that took place over millennia following the deglaciation of the continents.

Contemporary Arctic ice cover over the Arctic Ocean. Maps below showing the ice area in winter and then end of summer. On my trip to the Arctic Ocean i was told by Innuits that ice comes back in September to their hamlet.

​We know that the Vikings were able to settle in Greenland only about a thousand years ago. Erik the Red and his settlers established a colony there, living for about 500 years. They raised cattle and cultivated crops, including trees that no longer grow in Greenland today. Perhaps the glaciation of the island occurred as the surrounding waters cooled and froze.
Oceanic currents, both warm and cold, developed and disappeared over centuries, influencing the climate of vast regions. The Gulf Stream, for example, warms much of Europe, while El Niño affects weather patterns in the Americas. These two currents are well known, but measurements of climatic changes have only been taken for the past 200 years. This is a relatively short period, especially in comparison to the 4,100 years since the Mabul.
There is still much to explore regarding the Ice Age, which is just a small part of the broader history of the Mabul and its aftermath.
Hashem should bless this work with health, time, and resources to continue.

Below bonus. Drone footage from the bottom of ancient lake Bonneville. Music Kitaro.