Undeniable proof of Creationism

[Copperknickers II]

..... or rather, a question about geography: we are all taught in geography class that rivers start by flowing as trickles from mountains which merge and form streams, then rivers, then meander across plains until they finally reach the sea. They do this by cutting a bigger and bigger channel into the ground over hundreds of years. What I do not understand however is how rivers manage to get to the sea in the first place. I can understand how any water in a drainage basin will eventually get to the body of water at the bottom, but surely it takes a lot of time for a load of streams in the mountains to cut something resembling the lower course of a river from a flat plain where the water would otherwise just spread out over the whole thing. Are there any examples of rivers that have not yet reached the sea?

Obviously if God created the world in 6 days then they always reached the sea.

[Irish Warrior]

I believe the downward force of the water hitting the ground at the bottom of the slope translates to erosion, and then the river will just cut the easiest path through the softest rock.

[Copperknickers II]

I believe the downward force of the water hitting the ground at the bottom of the slope translates to erosion, and then the river will just cut the easiest path through the softest rock.

Exactly. But there are no examples, to my knowledge, of a river that has not eroded some sort of channel all the way to a lake or the sea. Erosion is a very slow process, so at some time in history even the Amazon and the Congo and the Nile must have been rivers (or more likely tiny streams) that just ended in the middle of the land somewhere. If you look at this picture for example, the river in the top right spews out all its water onto a plain creating a massive marsh:



This river is still eroding a path at the bottom of this valley and has not yet reached its end further down beyond the picture, where the sea is.

In fact this is not the case in this particular pitcure, because the river is the outflow of the marsh, I was just using it to demonstrate what it would look like. But is there anywhere that an ocurrence like the one I just described actually happens?

[MathiasOfAthens]

....Are there any examples of rivers that have not yet reached the sea?

Obviously if God created the world in 6 days then they always reached the sea.

I believe that would be a Lake.

For example Trout Creek flows into Lake Tahoe.

[Copperknickers II]

I believe that would be a Lake.

For example Trout Creek flows into Lake Tahoe.

It would be when the stream flows into a basin surrounded by mountains. What about if it flowed from a mountain range onto a flat plain though? It couldn't form a lake, the water would spread too far.

[PointOfViewGun]

It would be when the stream flows into a basin surrounded by mountains. What about if it flowed from a mountain range onto a flat plain though? It couldn't form a lake, the water would spread too far.

Maybe that's how marshes and swamps are formed? If a stream reaches a completely flat plain than it would start to make the first contacted soil to sink down due to weight of the water. You would start getting a shallow lake slowly becoming larger and larger. Maybe it would get down to an underground crack or tunnel creating an underground stream or reservoir. There are many variables.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Perhaps it would keep carving its way down until it reached a basin?

If I had more time I would follow this stream or look for a better example but I think you might get the point here.

Follow this link. You can use the google car to zoom in on the location on the bridge and see the river go beneath the bridge.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...h&z=17&vpsrc=6

The path of the river or stream is apparently visible from google maps for several miles so you can follow it. I think it flows into Angostura reservoir.

[Voodo chile]

i think i can see what you mean.
So a river in the middle of the process of heading towards the sea?
I suppose an extremely heavy rain and then a path would appear

[Aetius]

Behold...the Okavango River

[saglam2000]

There are a lot of rivers that don't reach the sea, nobody really cares about it because i don't think anyone has thought rivers as proof of creationism yet. Also you raised the question of the amount of time needed for big rivers to form, since you're coming from a creationist standpoint the amount of time you have to play with is little, where as the evolutionary standpoint allocates a massive amount of time for these to come to.

[Condottiere 40K]

Wind and rain cause erosion as well; earthquakes and other land upheavals crack terrain.

[Vizsla]

Few examples of endorheic basins here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorheic_basin

[John Doe]

Water will follow gravity, if it reach a bassin, either it will overflow it and carry on, or it will evaporate and be absorbed by the ground as fast as it arrives (more or less, some kind of equilibrium takes place) as in the dead sea and caspian sea.

[LSJ]

There are many examples of small rivers in dry regions of Africa that don't end at a water body. Instead of flowing into a lake or sea, they empty into a flat plain where the water is absorbed into the ground again, eventually reaching the oceans through underground diffusion. I bet many rivers started out that way.

Think of it like pouring water down a sandy hill. When you pour a little, the water flows down a short distance, and then filters through the sand. The flow of the water may form a bit of a channel on the hill, but the water flow is too little, so it is absorbed into the ground before it reaches the bottom. If you have a hose, the flow of water will be enough that there will be more water flowing over the surface than can be absorbed into the sand. So the channel goes farther down the hill, reaching the bottom. A river has to have a high enough flow that it can overcome the rate of absorption.

Rivers probably don't grow that way any more in most places due to the presence of existing channels. Since rivers have been present for billions of years the landscape has been carved up a lot, and paths that a new river would take are already carved by previous rivers and flow into existing rivers/lakes.

I think the only places you see entirely new rivers in the making are regions where precipitation is very inconsistent and rivers dry up or start to form in new spots all the time, such as the Kalahari Desert.

[neoptolemos]

I can't see something not explainable by Hydrology and Geology here....

[Col. Tartleton]

The Nile River for example is old enough that it disproves a biblical young earth.

[Mortality]

The Nile River for example is old enough that it disproves a biblical young earth.

Aye. It also made me go "WTF" when I was a lad.

"But...rivers are suppose to go South...."

"Well no, Liam, the Nile goes North."

[Col. Tartleton]

Aye. It also made me go "WTF" when I was a lad.

"But...rivers are suppose to go South...."

"Well no, Pike, the Nile goes North."

It's amazing how unintelligent we people are. I thought the same thing. Then I realized that it made no sense.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

When I'm walking in the mountains I regularly see water flowing across large flat areas, without having cut a river basin.

And it wouldn't start cutting miles inland but not at the same time be cutting closer the sea. The entire river is cut at once, from the upper to the lower.

[The Fishman]

Not all valleys form from river action, others are simply created by random folds and faults in the rock, which are especially common in mountains. Rivers (or sometimes lakes) inevitably form in these troughs, which they then gradually deepen through erosion.

Rivers don't 'form' at the top of their slope and then progress downwards like glaciers, they are the end result of the effects of gravity on rainwater and other precipitation.