590                        The Bible According to Einstein

And the mantle hot spot which had forged the Faeroe Islands forged another island at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. And it was Iceland. And Iceland was full of mountains, volcanos and hot steamy springs, for the land of Iceland was not cold – deep down the earth was hot.
     And it was about sixteen-million years BC. And magma from a mantle hot spot broke through the lithosphere in the northwestern part of the United States. And this was the first of many lava bursts. And during the next one-million years, one-thousand eruptions of gigantic lava flows occurred. Each flow produced a thousand cubic kilometers of lava and basaltic rock. And each gave off three-trillion kilograms of sulfur gases and sixteen-trillion kilograms of CO₂. And these toxic fumes seeped into the atmosphere and disrupted the global climate and environment, causing some destruction of Earth’s life. And in all, a million cubic kilometers of magma poured out and onto land, thereby making a plateau the size of New York State. And these lava flows created the Columbia River flood basalts.
     And in the coming years, North America would drift toward the west. And the position of the hot spot over land would thus move to the east. And in modern times, the hot spot would diminish in its strength and be centered under Yellowstone National Park, at the junction of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. And its heat would make Old Faithful give off steam.