This deluge had it really happened would have left behind unmistakable evidence of its occurrence. While geological records show that there had been epochs when some of the earth’s surface now covered by land was covered by water and vice versa. This flooding and drying happened repeatedly in many places at different times. However there is no evidence whatsoever of a worldwide flood as recorded in the book of Genesis. [1]
In fact some of the evidence against the actual occurrence of a worldwide flood was already known more than a hundred years ago. The man who bought forward one such evidence was the one considered to be the father of modern geology, Charles Lyell (1797-1897). In his 1863 book, The Geological Evidences for the Antiquity of Man, he noted that the extinct volcanoes of France in the Auvergne district were composed of loose ashes. The volcanoes had been extinct for a long time, certainly longer than the purported time of the biblical flood. Thus he continued:
“Had the waters once risen, even for a day, so high as to reach the level of the base of one of these cones-had there been a single flood fifty or sixty feet in height since the last eruption occurred- a great part of the volcanoes must have inevitably been swept away”[2]
Today the geological (and historical) evidence for the non-occurrence of a worldwide flood is simply overwhelming. Ian Plimer, Professor of Geology at the University of Melbourne, gave a thorough listing of these in his book Telling Lies for God: Reason versus Creationism. We will give two of the evidence cited by Professor Plimer: [3]
The first concerns the sequence of the sedimentary deposits. There are two kinds of sediments: high energy and low energy sediment. Based on simple laboratory tests and field observations of actual floods, it can be shown that high energy sediments, such as gravel, are deposited during the height of floods. Low energy sediments, such as siltstone, mudstone and claystone, are deposited during the waning of the floods. Thus if there is a worldwide flood we would expect that there would be a uniform worldwide sedimentary formation with the high energy sediments (ancient gravel, sands) at the bottom and the low energy sediments at the top. Yet this is not seen on anything close to a global scale. As Professor Plimer pointed out, if this is to be seen on a global scale, oilfield geologists would have an easy job since all sedimentary formation would invariably have sandstone at the bottom and siltstones, mudstones and claystones at the top!
The second concerns the evidence of the environment of the sediments during its time of deposition. Chemical and fossil evidence shows that some sedimentary rocks were formed in freshwater environments while others were formed in a saline (salty-seawater) environment.
At that age you are dealing with soils, not rock; archaeology and sedimentology, not geology.
And the evidence should be widespread (worldwide, in fact). It is not there.
If it was there I would run into it almost daily doing archaeology. I don't. It is simply not there.