Not so simple map research project
And then my kids sat down to easily work on a map project. The assignment looked simple: trace the footsteps of the Hebrews through the Red Sea to Mount Sinai.
The curriculum didn’t supply us with an answer key, assigning us the research to do ourselves.
That research took us HOURS. Heavily debated, no one knows exactly where the Red Sea was located during Moses’ life.
The more we researched, the more I had a memory of rift valleys from my geology class in college.
The Sinai Peninsula is part of the Great Rift Valley that stretches from East Africa, through the Red Sea, to the Sea of Galilee.
A rift valley is where two tectonic plates spread apart…creating earthquakes resulting in quick change.
It’s impossible to map the exact location of the Hebrews’ path through the Red Sea to Mt Sinai, because all the original markers from when Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible no longer exist because of the very nature of rift valleys.
Any maps we find of the route are estimates, and that’s okay, because that is the best we can know.
So, we put aside our map research to study the geology of the Great Rift Valley of the Sinai Peninsula, which was really fascinating!
San Antonio Zoo’s Great Rift Valley Exhibit
Ever notice how zoos often group their animal collections around ecological zones?
This makes a lot of sense. It’s a wonderful opportunity to explore how geology, geography, weather, flora, and fauna all come together in unique and fun areas.
It’s like how I plan our family vacations…sometimes we want the beach immersion experience and other times we want the mountains.
Actually, we really want it all, but it doesn’t work that way, because the plants and animals in the Rockies wouldn’t do very well on the beach and vice versa.
Studying geology helps us to understand the geography of a location, which drives history.
Because of water supply, cities are built. Because of terrain, wars are fought either effectively, or not, for one side or the other.
Geography, essential to understanding history and science, is best understood by understanding geology.
Great Rift Valley
I found this archived article from NASA (bold-facing is mine):
Though the region has been relatively quiet in recent years, the same forces that shook eastern Africa in December 2005 also carved out Lake Tanganyika and the surrounding landscape. The lake lies along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley, a 5,000-kilometer-long geologic feature that runs north-south from Lebanon to Mozambique. The Great Rift is being created as the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian tectonic plates move apart, stretching and thinning the Earth’s crust as they do. The result is a long chain of depressions, valleys, and deep lakes alongside towering volcanoes like Mount Kilimanjaro and steep mountains. The volcanoes form as magma pushes its way through the thinned crust. Volcanic tremors and the forces that are pulling the plates apart combine to break the weakened and thinned crust into earthquake-generating faults. When the faults slip, one side rises while the other falls. Over time, steep mountains form along one side of the fault. As a result, Africa’s tallest mountains line the Great Rift.
Plate Tectonics
To better understand rift valleys, let’s quickly explore plate tectonics.
Ever notice on a globe how the continents look like puzzle pieces that fit together?
This was a great activity that we did. Just explore this to see what combinations emerge.
The header photo at this link from Answers in Genesis shows real-life imagery of that puzzle piece concept.
The Great Flood and Plate Tectonics
In a previous post I explained how the Great Flood was a tectonic activity. Following are more details from Answers in Genesis:
Plate tectonics refers to the slow movement of the earth’s crustal plates. These plates were formed when earth’s crust broke apart at the beginning of the global Flood. Due to unique geological conditions, these plates moved rapidly, reshaping earth’s surface. –Answers in Genesis
We have a reasonable picture of what happened at the catastrophic initiation of the Flood. Huge plumes of molten rock blasted the underside of the earth’s crust like massive blow-torches. Eventually the crust was ripped apart, and steam and molten rock burst forth. The supercontinent collapsed. –Answers in Genesis
Day 3 of Creation
Plate tectonics is not directly mentioned in the Bible, but Genesis 1:9–10 suggests that all of the land was once connected, whereas the continents are now separated. The catastrophic plate tectonics model and continental sprint during the Flood can explain this. –Answers in Genesis
Genesis 1:9 and 10: And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and gathered waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Great Rift Valley’s 2005 Earthquake Created Quick Change
Let’s make a connection to the NASA article quoted above:
In the middle of the Ethiopian desert, a 35-mile-long gash cuts through the earth, the product of tectonic activity in 2005. The speed with which the Ethiopian rift appeared is a suggestion of just how rapidly tectonic events may occur on earth now. –Answers in Genesis
Field Trip
The next trip to the Rift Valley at the zoo was more exciting now that we understood the geological processes that define a rift valley, and how it fit into the Great Flood and Creation.
Quick change, a variety of flora and fauna, all makes exiting study for students.
