How were the continents shaped in the beginning of time?

In the beginning, the earth was without form, void, and there was nothing but water (Gen. 1:2).

Then on the third day of creation, God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear” (Gen. 1:9).

Since all the water under the heavens was gathered together in one place, it logically follows that all the land was also in one place.  There is geological evidence that this was once so.

Looking at the way the continents are now gives one the impression that they all could have at one time fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  South America and Africa in particular look like they were at one time joined together.  This giant singular land mass is commonly called “Pangea” by scientists and geologists.

When the global flood during Noah’s day occurred, the Bible says “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth” (Gen. 7:11).  What would that cause?

Scientists surmise that a huge flow of magma and volcanic activity began the process that “drove the land mass [Pangea] apart to create the Atlantic Ocean, at the same time dispersing evidence of the eruption widely on the margins of four continents” (Science, 4/23/99).  In other words, the split of Pangea began to take place in one huge, cataclysmic volcanic eruption.

This heavy volcanic and magmatic activity is precisely what would occur when “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth” (Gen. 7:11).  The force and magnitude of the global flood, coupled with the ensuing volcanic and geologically cataclysmic activity, would be more than enough cause for accelerated rates of continental drift, resulting in how the continents look today.

For more information, see  “Pangea and the Flood,” by Kyle Butt.  I owe much to his article in my research of this question.