Large river canyons are assumed to have taken millions of years to form as stream beds were washed away a particle at a time. When Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, it provided a much better model–demonstrating how new river canyons can form rapidly.
During the Mount St. Helens eruption, there were numerous mudflows, because water backed up behind newly deposited sediment. When the water broke through in one area, a large mud flow resulted, cutting a new 140-foot deep canyon. The power of flowing water to create massive geologic features has astounded geologists. This “little Grand Canyon” is 40 times smaller than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. However, both now have a comparatively tiny stream meandering through a large river canyon. The walls of this new canyon even display the same horizontal bands of sediment commonly seen in road cuts or within the real Grand Canyon.
Mt. St. Helens' little Grand Canyon was not carved out over millions of years, but in one day by a large volume of water. This provides a model showing that other massive geologic features of our planet–like the Grand Canyon in Arizona–were not necessarily formed gradually over millions of years. Most of the earth's major geological features are a direct consequence of the worldwide Flood.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, December 3.
