[Junior]

The fact that an olive branch was brought back proves the world was not completely covered by the waters; it takes years for an olive tree to grow.

[HeadOn]

40 days underwater wouldn't remove all vegetation. As a matter of fact, if you look at God's reason for the flood (to eliminate evil men), it's clear He did not intend to destroy the trees, etc.

[OldDominion]

The fact that an olive branch was brought back proves the world was not completely covered by the waters; it takes years for an olive tree to grow.

Gen 8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. (KJV)

Lets get our facts strait....big difference between a branch and a leaf...

Olive trees have a long life and are believed to live 300 to 600 years but perhaps even longer. Even when its trunk and branches may die (such as being killed by a flood), the olive tree sprouts once again bringing life into a new tree.

It would only take a very short time for a new leaf to be produced from a sprout once the flood water receded.

[Taiwan Bocks]

it takes years for an olive tree to grow

and more than forty days for it to die

[azhenfud]

Olive branches don't float either, which in this case, negates the evidence against a worldwide flood....
Peace,
Az

[Sci Fi Guy]

The fact that an olive branch was brought back proves the world was not completely covered by the waters; it takes years for an olive tree to grow

I don't think that the passage intends to imply that it was from a living tree, rather that the flood water had receeded in places enough to allow plants to begin growing again. (I checked with two different translations, both translated this verse as olive leaf. So it could be that a the bird brought back part of a new shoot that had just sprung up.)