Detachment Faults in the Southwestern United States: Evidence for a Short and Catastrophic Tertiary Period

Low-angle mid-Tertiary detachment faults (gravity slides) within the southwestern United States are best understood as developing very rapidly (years) within a catastrophic framework. This is supported by the example of modern and ancient gravity slides which occur very rapidly (within seconds, minutes, or days) and are usually initiated by catastrophic events such as earthquakes. Evolutionists believe that detachment faulting and related geologic events occurred over a period of 10 to 20 million years. However, the basic principles of rock mechanics reveal that upper-plate movement is impossible under docile uniformitarian conditions. Movement was assisted by large and frequent earthquakes which provided both lateral and horizontal forces to overcome the restraining forces against movement due to friction and cohesion. Studies indicate that rapid basement warping, extensive dike emplacement, volcanism, and hydrothermal mineralization occurred contemporaneous with detachment faulting due to a high heat flow rate within the earth\u27s crust. Thick deposits of coarse grained sediments and megabreccias also indicate rapid uplift, erosion, and deposition. This reveals that an unparalleled amount of seismic energy was released at this time. The rapid development of detachment terrane indicates that the Tertiary period was similar to the latter stages of Noah\u27s Flood as the mountains rose and valleys sank down and was significantly shorter than the millions of years assigned under the uniformitarian model