Fountains of the Great Deep: Steam Jet Computer Modeling (Phase 2)

Modeling the Fountains of the Great Deep

$5,000 (Phase 2)

Phase 1 has been accomplished and results were presented at the 2025 CRS conference. View the modeling videos: simulation overview, velocity animation, volume fraction animation, and temperature animation.

Genesis 7:11 tells us that "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth" at the onset of the global flood. But what would that have actually looked like? What physical mechanisms could produce such an event?

This project utilizes advanced computer models to simulate superheated water and steam eruptions — exploring the physics of how superheated water and steam could have erupted from the earth's crust to trigger the catastrophic flood described in Scripture.

The Science

Steam jet modeling involves complex fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and geophysics. The computational models simulate:

• Steam plume eruption from a molten ocean floor
• Steam jet propagation through a water depth of 2,200 meters
• Energy transfer and heat dynamics during eruption
• The cascading effects of entrained sea water, rain, and atmospheric conditions

What Your Support Funds

• Computational resources and software licensing
• Technical expertise from modeling specialists
• Data analysis and visualization
• Publication and presentation of findings

Preliminary Results of Phase I Modeling

The initial exploratory case assumes heating of sea water at a circular patch of exposed molten magma at the ocean floor 100 meters in diameter. We assumed this heating produces a plume of steam at 1,500 Kelvin rising at 1,700 meters/second from the hot seafloor at a water depth of 2,200 meters. Supersonic steam rising from the ocean floor becomes highly turbulent dragging the surrounding ocean water through the water column to the ocean surface and carrying considerable liquid water high into the atmosphere. This amount of lofted water is sufficient to yield a significant rainfall rate across a broad circular region 200 kilometers in diameter.

While these Phase 1 preliminary results are encouraging, we believe it crucial to run several more cases in Phase 2 with differing parameter values and grid resolutions to gain a better understanding of the jet dynamics and gain more confidence in the repeatability of the numerical results.

Why This Matters

Understanding the physical mechanisms of the flood is essential for building a comprehensive creation science model. This project transforms the biblical text from a narrative into quantitative, testable science — exploring the mechanics of superheated water and steam eruptions from the earth's crust.