How did the plants and fish survive inundation by brackish and salty water?
Very few land plants can survive in sea water for a very long time and all their seeds would be in jeopardy from the salt water bath. As noted above, the brackish water would kill both oceanic and freshwater fish. 7. How did the olive leaf grow? In Genesis 8, Noah released a dove from the ark, but it returned to the ark having no place else to go. Seven days later, Noah released a second dove, this time the dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf. This incident seems strange in that Noah apparently could still see no exposed land or trees from his vantage point; apparently the bird did not either during the first flight from the ark. In fact, Gen. 8:9 states that the water still covered the earth. One week later the bird brought back a freshly plucked leaf. It seems inconceivable that this could be a new shoot. Noah’s purpose in letting the birds go was to determine if there was any place for them to land, which implies that the water was still so deep that Noah could not see a
