Were there Really Earthquakes? – Part I

In an attempt to lessen the true meaning of the scriptures, and to justify their belief and models, many theorists have taken to covering the damage and its significance in the Land of Promise at the time of the crucifixion to merely cosmetic results with limited effect on the surface.

As an example, Mesoamerican theorist John L. Sorenson in his book An American Setting for the Book of Mormon, tries to limit the amount of destruction that was caused at the time of the 3-hour earthquake by saying about the Nephites that lived after the destructive quake that “Nothing about the pre-crucifixion geography seems to have puzzled them, the volume itself says that the changes at the Savior's death were mainly to the surface.” He adds: “It was the intensity of nature’s rampage that impressed the Nephite recorder, not the novelty of the phenomena. He also wrote: “All these kinds of destruction evidently had happened before in the land, but never with such terrifying effect.” 

Left: A minimal effect from an earthquake (cosmetic); Center: A more destructive effect of a quake (face of the land changed); Right: Effect above and below the earth

 

Others claim that there must not have been much damage by writing: “The catastrophe had changed the face of the land (3 Nephi 8:12), but a changed face apparently did not mean that most of the basic land forms and ecological conditions had been rendered unrecognizable.” Even Hugh Nibley weighed in on the idea, writing: “Highways were broken up, and the level roads spoiled, and many smooth places become rough, needs no commentary since such are the commonest of all earthquake phenomena. The remarkable thing about such statements is their moderation.”

Hugh Nibley made another interesting comment regarding the destruction mentioned in 3 Nephi in which he wrote: “The Book of Mormon mentions the rising and sinking of the land, forming new "hills and valleys" (3 Nephi 9:5-8)—with no mention of major mountain ranges.” 

One’s first response to such a statement is wonder; how could these atmospheric phenomena possibly ‘deform’ the surface of the earth?” Finally, he adds: “So we need to use restraint in the picture we allow our minds to construct of the totality of destruction—we should not go beyond what the text declares with measured care.

However, the scriptures do not suggest moderation of any kind. In fact, they tell us a far different story. The actual destruction in the Land of Promise is recorded in 3 Nephi, when the disciple Nephi tells us of the great destruction that took place. On the fourth day of the first month in the thirty-fourth year, Nephi writes, “there arose a great storm, such a one as never had been known in all the land” (3 Nephi 8:5).

According to James L. Baer, a professor of geology at Brigham Young University and involved in environmental geology for over sixteen years, has stated regarding the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi: “Every aspect of this dreadful occurrence, except for its selectivity, can be accommodated by modern earthquake models (James L. Baer, The Third Nephi Disaster: A Geological View, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol.19, no.1, Spring 1986, pp129-132). Hugh Nibley documents these events similar to those recounted (by) locales around the world (Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah, 2nd edition, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1988, pp231–238).

Baer adds: “It is possible, using modern models, to identify the west coasts of Central and South America as the geological setting where the events described in 3 Nephi could have occurred.”

It is important to note that Geological studies and eyewitness accounts of volcanic activity show the likelihood that the massive destruction reported in 3 Nephi was caused by an explosive volcanic eruption (Bart J. Kowallis, “In the Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist’s View of the Great Destruction in 3 Nephi,” BYU Studies Quarterly, vol. 37, no. 3, 1997-1998, pp. 136–190).

Baer also stated: Geologists know that earthquakes generally occur in well-defined belts or zones on the earth. “These belts mark the junctions of the earth's plates, or large segments—usually continent sized—of its brittle crust.” As these plates move slowly over the surface of the earth, they collide with one another, pull away from one another, and in some cases slide over and beneath each other. The most geologically dramatic junction, called a subduction zone, occurs when one plate slides beneath another. “A subduction zone is characterized by periodic, severe earthquakes, by volcanic activity, usually by a deep trench, and, where conditions permit, by large-scale change of ground elevation by means of faulting—a fracture in the earth's crust along which opposing sides of the crust have moved.” Movement along some faults has been measured in thousands of feet. “It is generally thought that such massive movement along a fault occurs in small increments over a long period of time; but under some conditions, a single earthquake can cause significant large-scale movement.” One of the more active subduction zones of the world “is located along the western coast of South America and the western edge of Central America” (James L. Baer, The Third Nephi Disaster: A Geological View, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol.19, no.1, Spring 1986, pp130).

The Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean

 

This area, known as the Ring of Fire, is a line of earthquake faults that ring the Pacific Ocean from southern Chile around to the Aleutian Islands, and down to Indonesia, then skirts around Australia and curves  back to pick up New Zealand. About 90% of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along this Ring of Fire.

So great were the earthquakes Nephi described that the entire land, wherever one looked, was broken up, huge shafts of earth shoved upward while other pieces fell into the earth and disappeared. There was hardly a smooth place left on the face of the earth. Huge rocks, large granite slabs, and sheer cliff faces were split apart and strewn over the ground. Large, sheer mountains were split, jagged cracks ran their entire length, and not a place could be seen where pieces of rock had not fallen across the earth.

This extremely violent storm and numerous earthquakes lasted for three hours. By today’s measurement standards, it might be safe to assume that in magnitude, this quake would have at least topped 9.0 on the Richter scale, maybe even into the 10s. There seemed to be no single hypocenter of the quake, and the epicenter spread over great distances. It would appear that the intensity of the quake was extremely high, with survivors feeling certain that it had lasted much longer than it did, and on the Mercalli scale, it would have been at least its highest measurement of XII. Had there been seismographs in existence at the time, likely the needles would have gone off the scale.

The Geological Record paints a similar picture of destruction and change in the Andean area, from northern Chile to Ecuador. According to Lowell Thomas in his 1964 “Book of High Mountains,” these earthquakes and volcanic action that built the Andes was beyond anything else recounted by the “record of the rocks.” The floor of the Pacific shook so violently, that it jarred both the South America and Asian continents, and the Andes spouted fire from 100 craters, and deluged their slopes with floods of molten rock that geologists identify as “Andean lava.”

(See the next post, “Were there Really Earthquakes? – Part II, for more on the unusual wordage of events that accompanied the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi)