Modern geology has been largely founded upon the need by naturalists to explain our world independent of supernatural Biblical references such as the global flood. Even a suggestion that massive floods were involved with the formation of geologic features can subject a person to scorn and cause them to become ostracized by their fellow peers. An example of this attitude is illustrated by the story of Harlen Bretz, who proposed in the 1920s that the topography of eastern Washington State was the result of a massive catastrophic flood.

Harlen Bretz's named this area of eastern Washington the Channeled Scablands. The idea that sites such as the Palouse Falls Gorge pictured at left were the results of floods was thought to be outrageous, and described by some as near lunacy since the area receives very little rainfall today. It took many decades for Harlen Bretz to finally receive the credit he deserved. In fact, it was not until the area was observed from the air that many of the Scabland features were accepted as flood deposits, such as the giant ripples pictured at right, which are up to 30 feet high and 250 feet apart.

Almost fifty years following his original proposal, Bretz was hailed as a hero, and in 1979, at the age of 96, he was given geology's highest honor — the Penrose Medal, which rewards one researcher each year for exceptional contributions to geology. The Channeled Scablands have now been dedicated to Harlen Bretz, and it is commonly known that this area was destroyed by a massive flood catastrophe. The flood was caused when a large glacial lake, called lake Missoula, broke through its natural dam and destroyed the majority of eastern Washington. During the Missoula flood stratified layers and canyons were formed rapidly. These features are common to our world and geologists are quick to interpret them as the result of slow and gradual processes because they cannot accept that the Biblical global flood was responsible.