A good exposition of this thesis:
To be honest, I don't have any idea. I've heard this (Gap Theory, I think it's commonly called) before. I don't look at these chapters as attempt of God to explain the sequence of natural history, but rather as divinely inspired poetry that conveys a message of the strength of God's creative power. I don't really think we do a favor to either God or science when we try to get scientific information to line up with the order of the words in these chapters.
He didn't give us a description of quantum physics, genetics and plate tectonics (which wouldn't have gone over too smoothly in an age of tribal nomads who thought the earth was flat, the stars were angels in the dome of the sky and usually never left more than 50 miles from their birthplace). He only chose to give us a bold clue that there's a lot of wonder to be found in God's gift of Creation, and gave us the gift of a mind capable of beginning to unravel these wonders.
A good exposition of this thesis: