Were there Really Earthquakes? – Part X

 Continued from the previous post regarding the unusual and specific wordage of events that accompanied the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi and Helaman 14, and the earthquakes and volcanoes behind the destruction. The first fifteen were covered in the previous posts. Here we pick up with #16 below:

16. Highways and roads were broken up (3 Nephi 8:13), and rocks were divided and broken.

The huge solid blocks of rock beneath the ground over which the roads and highways were laid, were broken up, raising the roads and splitting them, sometimes leaving huge crevices in the earth

 

• The Nephites built many roads. As the Disciple Nephi described it: “There were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” (3 Nephi 6:8). The latter statement of location, “from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” pretty much covers all the area of the Land of Promise, suggesting the amount and length of the extensive Nephite road system.

All these roads were affected by the events in 3 Nephi: “And the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough” (3 Nephi 8:13) again suggests that the widespread damage at the time of the crucifixion was more than cosmetic as the turmoil beneath the earth was also substantial, causing mountains to suddenly rise, valleys appear, rivers diverted and other mountains to disappear.

As an earthquake is a sudden ground motion or trembling caused by an abrupt release of accumulated strains acting on the tectonic plates that comprise the Earth's crust, they trigger other devastating events such as landslides, fires, and lateral spreads (displacements of sloping ground, primarily due to soil liquefaction during earthquakes), and fault rupture. In addition to destroying buildings, earthquakes can damage bridges, tunnels, pavements, and other components of highway infrastructure. An earthquake can, without warning, wreak havoc on an enormous area in less than 2 minutes through nothing but ground shaking. This violent shaking of the earth produces the greatest losses in the destruction of roads and highways.

In an earthquake, scientists describe the earth shaking seismic waves that travel through the interior of the earth as either, “P” (primary) or propagating, compressed or longitudinal waves that push and pull the ground in the direction the wave is traveling, but usually cause very little damage—or “S” waves, or secondary waves, that move more slowly than “P” waves. These latter waves travel in the same direction, but they shake the ground back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling. “S” waves are more dangerous than “P” waves because they spread to a larger area of dissemination and shake the earth back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving. Also, because they have greater amplitude and produce vertical and horizontal motion of the ground surface at the maximum extent of the vibration or oscillation. 

Seismic Waves

 

The slowest waves, surface waves, arrive last. They travel only along the surface of the Earth. There are two types of surface waves: Love and Rayleigh waves.

Love waves move horizontally back and forth while Rayleigh waves cause both vertical and horizontal ground motion. These can be the most destructive waves as they roll along lifting and dropping the ground as they pass.

In addition to shaking and toppling buildings (3 Nephi 814), earthquakes disrupt the surface and breakup roads and highways (3 Nephi 8:13). So when Samuel the Lamanite said: “both above and beneath the earth (Helaman 14:21-22), he knew exactly what he was talking about. As the Disciple Nephi did when he said, “and many smooth places became rough” (3 Nephi 8:13).

17. Thick vapor of darkness covered all the land (3 Nephi 8:20)

• This was not only witnessed at the time of the crucifixion, it was seen in a vision 600 years earlier by Nephi, who said of it: “And it came to pass that I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise” (1 Nephi 12:4); it was also described by the Old Testament prophet, Zenos, “which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel” (1 Nephi 19:10). Samuel the Lamanite did as well (Helamans 14:27).

An exploding volcano shooting impenetrate leash, dust and rock into the air

Explosive volcanic eruptions typically emit large volumes of ash and gas high into the atmosphere, and when it reaches the stratosphere, it has the capacity to spread far and wide over the Earth, meaning the eruption will have much more than a local impact. Two or more such volcanoes would have catastrophic results, one of which would be impenetrable darkness.

The darkness associated with volcanic eruptions results in ashfall from the smoke plume that can partially or completely block out the sunlight. Depending on several factors, including the size and duration of an eruption, strength and direction of the wind, and distance from the volcano, an area may experience dark conditions for as little as a few minutes or as long as 1-3 days. If there are more than one volcano erupting in a close zone, the length of eruptions will be increased as will be thickness of the ashfall and the resulting darkness.

Individually, such an event can be strong, but not that strong. It was their combined force was what made their effect of the earth’s climate so significant. They occurred closely in time and were both casused their volcanic emissions to reflect light back into space. Consequently, less light and, importantly, less heat reaches the surface, causing the Earth to cool. Diminishing sunlight following the eruptions also results in a drop in temperature.

Such a case of two volcanoes in 536 AD shot so much ash and rock into the atmosphere that it blocked out the Sun over the continent, as this volcanic double event had two large eruptions in quick succession. Combined, they had a stronger impact on the Earth’s climate than any other volcanic event – or sequence of events – in the last 1200 years. Thousands of tons of ash and volcanic dust cast an unrelenting shadow over Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. One can only wonder what more volcanoes, reacting in union with one another resulting from the earthquakes that were the worst ever seen in the Land of Promise.

The Indonesian island archipelago of Krakatoa

 

In 1883, Krakatoa (Krakatua), a small volcanic island in Indonesia, located about 100 miles west of Jakarta, erupted. The explosion of Krakatoa on the main island of the Archipelago blew the main island apart, leaving only the tiny Krakatoa island and the Rakata island, sinking the janor portion of the island, killing more than 36,000 people, making it one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions in human history.

Nephi saw the complete event in his vision, as he reported, “And it came to pass that I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise; and I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof.”