Therefore, they must have come from some place east of the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, and the only place where such a flood as the Bible describes could have occurred, eastward from the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, is this mountain basin in Sinkjang which we have been talking about. Still more evidence is found in the high-water mark found in many places along the mountains which rim this ba sin, showing that at one time this basin was a lake, extending to this wellmarked shoreline. The mountains which rim this valley were not fully covered, for many of them range today from 16,000 to 25,000 feet in height, and one even rises over 28,000 feet. But within the basin are several smaller mountains, which could be fully covered by a flood held within the higher rim of the valley. In short, this basin, through which flows the Tarim River, and which is sometimes known as the Tarim Basin, in southern Sinkiang, is where we have identified as the site of Noah's Flood.
More careful translation makes clear what really happened.
That is, a great earthquake broke up this water proof layer of rock over the immense water-filled abyss or cavern beneath this Tarim Basin, causing the floor of the valley to settle, and allowed the enormous underground reservoir to overflow and submerge the valley floor. The great earthquake in the Hymalayan Mountains about 40 years ago produced similar effects in some places. Of course, the 40 days of torrential rains added to the flood. Since this Tarim Basin is somewhat more than 350 miles wide by more than 650 miles long, all the sky visible from any- where near the centre of this valley would cover only this valley, and therefore only those lower mountains which were within the valley itself. Sometimes failure to translate can be as misleading as mistranslation.