Dr. Bob Visits White Sands National Monument
- Dr Bob
- May 19, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Application
The pure white gypsum dunes of White Sands stand as a clear witness to the mineral-rich waters released from the fountains of the deep during the global Flood and to the rapid weathering and recovery processes that followed.
Supplemental Information
White Sands National Monument (now National Park) near Alamogordo, New Mexico, is unlike any ordinary desert or beach. The sand is so brilliantly white that Dr. Bob wears sunglasses because it can blind you. Unlike typical beach sand made of quartz, these dunes are composed almost entirely of gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate). The sand sparkles, feels soft, and stays cool to the touch.
The origin of this gypsum traces directly to the Flood. When the fountains of the great deep broke open, they released not only vast quantities of water but also mineral-laden solutions. Laboratory studies confirm that when aqueous solutions containing calcium chloride and sodium sulfate are brought together under the right conditions, they rapidly begin to form gypsum crystals. These same chemical reactions would have occurred on a massive scale as mineral-rich waters from the fountains mixed during the Flood. The result was the precipitation of pure gypsum beds that often formed sheets or crystalline structures (the same material used in ordinary wallboard). These deposits were then capped by additional sediments carried by the Flood waters.
After the Flood waters receded, erosion exposed the gypsum. Weathering broke the crystalline gypsum into the fine white sand we see today. The process continues in ways that can still be observed. When the dunes become wet, the gypsum begins to form almost like concrete. Plants that grow among the dunes collect moisture around their roots; that moisture causes the surrounding gypsum to cement, effectively anchoring the plants in place so they can withstand the strong desert winds. After occasional rains the surface of the dunes hardens, only to be loosened again by wind, continually renewing the soft white sand.
This same gypsum also answers a related geological question from nearby Carlsbad Caverns. Those caverns formed through hydrothermal processes in which water and natural gas rising through fractures mixed with sulfur to produce sulfuric acid that dissolved the limestone. Gypsum is rich in sulfur (formed from the combination of calcium and sulfate ions). The extensive gypsum deposits in the White Sands region therefore supply a ready source of the sulfur needed for those post-Flood hydrothermal reactions. Blocks of gypsum can still be seen at the base of Carlsbad Caverns, confirming the connection.
Taken together, the laboratory-confirmed chemistry of gypsum formation, the pure deposits capped by Flood sediments, the ongoing weathering into sand, the cementing behavior with plants, and the link to hydrothermal caverns all align with the biblical record of a global Flood that released mineral-rich waters from the deep, followed by rapid post-Flood erosion, exposure, and recovery. These are not slow processes requiring deep time. They are the observable results of the catastrophic year described in Genesis and the orderly processes God set in motion afterward. White Sands is one more place where the rocks and the chemistry declare the truth of Scripture.
Scripture References
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 7:11
“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.” Genesis 8:1-3
“Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.” Psalm 104:6-9
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