Peleg" means a dividing

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In the Hebrew language the name "Peleg" means a dividing by a "small channel of water" and is also root associated with the meaning of an earthquake. The Hebrew word translated as "divided" in the passage means to "split" something. According to the Bible genealogy, this man named Peleg was born 101 years after the flood. No doubt this Peleg was so named because of an event of great significance to the people living at the time he was born. The fact that this dividing event is mentioned by the Holy Spirit in TWO places in the Scriptures, and that the EXACT number of years between this event and the flood is also recorded, alludes to the importance of these passages in the interpretation of post-flood history.

Some Creationists have interpreted this event to be the division of the North and South American continents from the European and African continents by the Atlantic Ocean after the flood. But a division of such magnitude at that point in geologic time would invalidate our previously proposed flood model. It would also invalidate accepted paleomagnetic data which supports gradual sea floor spreading at the mid-Atlantic ridge. Besides, the Atlantic Ocean is no "small channel of water" between land masses. Obviously, that is not the answer we are looking for.

After examining the Hebrew meanings, a more plausible alternative interpretation would be that it describes an earth-splitting event such as a valley opening in the ground and filling with water. That could have happened anywhere along the Dead Sea Rift zone (discussed in detail later) and may have been associated with a delayed adjustment of the Earth's plates in response to the rapid subsidence of the sea floors by the flood.

In theory, when the weight of the waters of the flood forced the sea floors downward to fill the void left in the magma chambers beneath, strain would have developed between the oceanic and continental portions of the crustal plates. Consequently, tectonic pressures were redistributed. About 100 years later the strain and pressure redistribution may have caused the Earth's crust to rapidly rent in weaker places, much like a piece of ridged plastic which can be stretched and deformed. It will eventually snap if the strain remains constant. An abrupt further change in sea levels could possibly accompany such an event.

Looking at world relief and tectonic maps, one possible location of the effects of this Peleg event is found in Middle East. It is called the Afar Triangle.  

The Afar fracture is a three-way split, which some geologists believe is caused by an upwelling magma plume, for lack of a better engine. The area on the African continent running south-west from that fracture locus is the Great African Rift Valley which runs down into the middle of the African continent. The area going north runs along the bottom of the Red Sea, up into the Dead Sea Rift area of Israel, up the Jordon river valley, and continues northward. This Peleg event is most likely a local reference to a widening of that Rift somewhere near or north of Israel.

The next image is a view of the Afar Triangle's tectonic features. In all likelihood, this Rift system was already active before Noah's flood, but Noah's flood triggered renewed activity. I state that because the path of the Rift from Israel continues to run south for the entire length of Ethiopia. It seems to match the described path of the river Gihon, one of four that flowed from the 

"And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia."
(Genesis 2:13 KJV)

If that is true, then there has been considerable tectonic activity since the Garden of Eden, and Noah's flood may have been just a contributing driver of latter changes.

Now, as for how man and animals got to places like Australia and the Americas, it is possible that they migrated there on dry land during the 101-year interval between the flood and the subsequent plate settling. Possibly, sea levels may have risen quite a bit since the post-flood migrations began, and even more after the Days of Peleg. An examination of the geology of the region between Indochina and Australia shows that the sea between the two continental masses is relatively shallow.

The same is true of the Bearing Straits separating Alaska from Russia, where the waters are only about 50 feet deep between the tip of Asia and North America. It is theoretically possible that in the 101 years following the flood, and before the events of Peleg's days, narrow land bridges (which today are submerged) may have still existed between many places across the globe. The fact that the ruins of many ancient cities in the Mediterranean Sea area, which postdate the time of Noah's flood and are found underwater today, tells us that global sea levels have increased by several meters since those cities were built, or there has been wide-spread subsidence since then. Regardless, an appeal to present-day sea levels is not a valid argument against post-flood migrations to regions now inaccessible across dry land.

Assuming that some land bridges existed briefly after the flood by whatever mechanism, the question is: Did man and beast have sufficient time to migrate from the resting place of the Ark to other continents before the dividing? Well, let's do the math:

If you calculate the distance from eastern Mesopotamia to the tip of Australia and divide it by 100 years, you will find that both man and beast would only have to migrate less than 80 miles a year (0.21 miles a day) in order to reach Australia; less than 55 miles a year (0.15 miles a day) to reach North America via the Bearing Straits; and less than 48 miles a year (0.13 miles a day) if a land bridge (or possibly an ice bridge) existed across the northern polar regions. Those average daily distance requirements are much less than most people walk each day in their normal routines. The data support the Scriptures.

"These [are] the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread."
(Genesis 9:19 KJV)

 Shortly after the Ark landed on the mountains of Ararat, the families of mankind spread across the world. At that point in time mankind all spoke a common language and the bulk of them appear to have migrated westward, although it is safe to assume that some settled near the place where the Ark came to rest, and the oral tradition of Gilgamesh and the flood probably originated with the latter. Those people who did migrate westward are spoken of in Genesis 11:1-2:

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there."
(Genesis 11:1-2 KJV)

That land of Shinar is Babel (Babylon), and there the Bible says the Lord confounded their language and from there they scattered out across the face of the Earth.