Under the Gap reading, Genesis 1:1 describes an original, complete creation of unknown duration. The geological ages, ice ages, and the fossil record belong to this era — a world that existed before Genesis 1:2's catastrophe.
Isaiah 45:18 says God "created it not in vain [tohu]" — the same word as Genesis 1:2. If God didn't create it tohu, it must have become so. Jeremiah 4:23 uses the exact phrase "without form, and void" to describe land under divine judgment — the only other pairing in Scripture.
Genesis 1:3 onward describes God restoring the ruined earth in six literal days — installing modern man, the present animal kingdom, and the current order. Under MT chronology this begins ~4004 BC; under LXX, ~5508 BC.
Sea levels rose ~120m from glacial lows, with the most dramatic surge between 12,000–6,000 BC. By the time of either restoration date, seas had essentially reached modern levels — "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together" (Gen 1:9). The dashed blue line (right axis) tracks this rise.
From ~9,000–5,500 BC, the Sahara was grassland with rivers and lakes. This "African Humid Period" overlaps the Holocene Optimum. The drying begins near ~5,500 BC (close to the LXX restoration) and accelerates sharply around ~4,000 BC (the MT restoration) — "Let the dry land appear" (Gen 1:9).
Vertical orange lines mark major eruptions (VEI 5+) and catastrophic events. The Younger Dryas onset ~10,900 BC may involve a cosmic impact. Thera ~1628 BC devastated the Mediterranean. Tambora 1815 AD caused the "Year Without a Summer." These punctuate the gradual warming with sudden disruptions — "darkness upon the face of the deep."
The sudden cold reversal ~10,900–9,700 BC plunged near-glacial temperatures in decades — a dramatic disruption consistent with a cataclysmic event. Some Gap proponents identify this or similar upheavals with the "darkness upon the face of the deep."
Isa 14:12–15 — Lucifer's fall, possibly the cause of the original destruction. Ezek 28:13–17 — Satan "in Eden the garden of God" before his corruption. 2 Pet 3:5–6 — A world "standing out of the water" that perished — potentially distinct from Noah's Flood.
Whether restoration is placed at 4004 BC (Holocene Optimum tail) or 5508 BC (Optimum plateau), both fall in the warmest, most climatically stable period since the Ice Age — a world prepared for habitation.