BYU Studies<\/em>\u00a037\/3 (1997-1998)<\/a>:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr. Kowallis observes that, in addition to burial by falling ash and burial by hot flowing volcanic mud (called a lahar<\/em>), there is a third documented method of burial connected with exploding volcanoes. \u00a0The eruption of Mount Saint Helens in 1980 taught geologists a great deal about this phenomenon. \u00a0When the north side of the volcano collapsed, the resulting landslide, a debris avalanche, traveled as far as twenty-five miles from its source, at speeds that exceeded 150 miles per hour. \u00a0It swept across the valley at the base of Mount Saint Helens, buried Spirit Lake, then flowed up and over a three-hundred-foot-high ridge, surged across the next valley, and climbed halfway up the next mountain. \u00a0In some places, it left deposits that were as much as six hundred feet thick.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since 1980, geologists have realized that such massive landslides are common in connection with explosive volcanic eruptions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is there any relevance in this to the account given in the Book of Mormon? \u00a0Very possibly.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city there became a great mountain. \u00a0(3 Nephi 8:10)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professor Kowallis remarks that,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
From this description,\u00a0it seems possible that Moronihah might have been buried\u00a0by a debris avalanche similar to the one that occurred at Mount St. Helens \u2014 an effective way to carry earth up upon a city. \u00a0In any\u00a0case,\u00a0Moronihah and the other cities buried in the earth or the ash\u00a0would have to have been quite close to the eruption (probably\u00a0within fifty miles and perhaps much closer). \u00a0 Avalanches such as\u00a0these do indeed dramatically alter the local topography so that it is\u00a0not unreasonable to believe that, where there had been a city nestled\u00a0in a valley, there was, after the eruption, a hill or mountain\u00a0formed by the avalanche deposits. \u00a0(169)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
If a place like Moronihah has been buried for two thousand years under, say, six hundred feet of volcanic debris, no archaeological dig is ever going to find it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m still going, still posting notes principally drawn from an article that was written by my longtime friend Bart Kowallis about the natural cataclysm described in the Book of Mormon as having occurred in the New World at the death of Christ: \u00a0Bart J. Kowallis, \u201cIn the Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1341,8834,56,8841,8844,8529,8520,1356,1353,8526,8556,1350,4640,8838,1050,1369,8837,8831,1347,3838,8825,8828,3178,8531,8822],"class_list":["post-83373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-3-nephi","tag-bart","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-burial","tag-buried","tag-cataclysm","tag-catastrophe","tag-christ","tag-destruction","tag-devastation","tag-drought","tag-earthquake","tag-fire","tag-flood","tag-geology","tag-jesus","tag-kowallis","tag-lightning","tag-seismology","tag-storm","tag-tempest","tag-thunder","tag-volcanism","tag-volcano","tag-whirlwind"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Three](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/02\/Guatemalacityvolcanoes01.jpg\")
<\/a>