Introduction
The reciprocal effect of the Jaredite Land Northward shaking, splitting (along the Niagara Escarpment), and lifting was a splitting of the Land Southward (along the Onondaga Escarpment) and a sinking of it inside the crack. This event created a tsunami-like wave effect causing much of the Sea South / Sea that Divides the Land (ancient Lake Tonawanda) to empty into the Land Southward, creating a great deluge.
The Prophecies
Here are the pertinent prophecies:
12 And all these things must surely come saith the prophet Zenos and the rocks of the earth must rend; (1 Nephi 19:12)
21 Yea at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours and the earth shall shake and tremble and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth which are both above the earth and beneath which ye know at this time are solid or the more part of it is one solid mass shall be broken up
22 Yea they shall be rent in twain and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth yea both above the earth and beneath. (Helaman 14:21-22)11 And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward.
12 But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for behold, the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth;
18 And behold the rocks were rent in twain yea they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth insomuch that they were found in broken fragments and in seams and in cracks upon all the face of the land. (3 Nephi 8:11-13, 18)
The “great and terrible” destruction in the Land Northward that caused the “whole face of the land to change” was, in part, the result of a massive earthquake. The quake was so powerful it cause the rocks (both above and below the earth) to split, separate, and lift the land significantly as a result. In other words, the Niagara Falls are proof of Jesus Christ!
While geological changes were occurring in the north along the Niagara Escarpment, a “great and terrible destruction” was triggered in the Land Southward. We now understand what that great and terrible destruction was. For the most part, it was a tsunami-type wave coming from the Sea South / Sea That Divides the Land (ancient Lake Tonawanda), which sent a deluge of water throughout parts of the land. The flooding confirms how some cities were destroyed—especially those along waterways and the Sea East.
Cities Destroyed
The City of Moroni, which at that time was wicked, was located along the Sea East at its furthest point south (i.e., where the Lamanite Line of Possession met) and it says it was “buried” without saying how. Now we recognize the How: by the prophecies, how they were fulfilled in the north, its reciprocal effect in the south, and the land changes which we can still see today.
9 And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned.
10 And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city there became a great mountain. (3 Nephi 8:9 – 10)
Moronihah was the son of Moroni and very well may have established his city adjacent to his father’s. The result was—as the down-flowing deluge of water and debris swept the City of Moroni away (being closest to the East Sea), Moronihah, being further away, was buried under sizable rubble and debris. This event happened perhaps at a curve where the wreckage continued to build into a large hill.
13 And it came to pass that the Nephites began the foundation of a city, and they called the name of the city Moroni; and it was by the east sea; and it was on the south by the line of the possessions of the Lamanites. (Alma 50)
Great Earthquake
“The features indicate that the Great Lakes region experienced a LARGE EARTHQUAKE AT SOME TIME IN THE PAST” (Robert Gray, UW News Bureau, 888-4444 Release no. 113, July 28, 1994, www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infonews/release/1994/113:%20Researchers%20warn%20of%20earthquake,%20July%2028,%201994)
Before the land was lifted up at the coming of Jesus, the water flowed freely from Lake Erie into ancient Lake Tonawanda via Tonawanda Creek. Even today, Tonawanda Creek is still being used to circulate water inland from Lake Erie into the Erie Canal; otherwise, it currently flows into Lake Erie. But before the land was lifted up, it flowed the other way around. [The amount the ground was lifted up is the amount they had to dig down in Lockport to get level with Lake Ontario (see Lockport lock system for the Erie Canal http://www.lowbridgeproductions.com/erie-canal-images-southern-route.html).]
At that time, Lake Tonawanda (Sea South/Sea that Divides the Land) was draining south on its east side by Batavia, and it was that southward flow which was the Sea East. This backwards flow was noted by Frank Leverett:
It is a matter of much significance that these pitted gravel plains appear at levels far below the level of Lake Warren and in positions where it would seem probable that the lake had free access to the ice margin. Those near Oakfield are fully 100 feet below the level of the neighboring part of the beach of Lake Warren, while those along the border of Aliens Creek are 150 to 250 feet or more below the beach. There is a gravel plain just west of Scottsville on the north side of Allens Creek which stands between the 580 and 600 foot contours, or about 275 feet below the beach of Lake Warren. This has been extensively opened for gravel in a direction favorable for showing the mode of formation, there being a pit about one-fourth of a mile long extending from north to south across the gravel plain. The bedding shows that it was built by a stream moving SOUTHWARD away from the ice sheet but up the Genesee Valley. The beds were built out from NORTH TO SOUTH in the form of a DELTA, the topset and foreset beds being well exposed. The dip of the foreset beds is most abrupt in the middle part of the pit, being 25° to 30° below the horizontal. With the advance of the delta southward the angle of dip decreases to 10° or less. The material is a sandy gravel with many stones 2 or 3 inches in diameter. It is, on the whole, finer and less distinctly assorted than in the outwash gravels formed in situations where the water had free escape. If Lake Warren still persisted the material contained in this delta and other gravelly deposits along the southern border of the drumlin belt seems likely to have been forced out by hydrostatic pressure from the edge of the ice sheet into the bordering lake (Frank Leverett, Glacial Formations and Drainage Features of the Erie and Ohio Basins, 1920, p. 694).
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