From 500 A.D. to 1476, a large civilization lived in what is now northern Peru. Between 500 and 1200 A.D. they built the largest network of irrigation canals ever constructed in South America. This canal system was built using engineering methods that are considered impressive even by modern standards but because of geological changes, the canals do not work today.

Geologists studying the canal system discovered that portions of the South American continent shifted so rapidly that the Indians had to continually redesign their canal system to keep water in it. The plates on which South America rests deep within the Earth changed the slope of the ground so rapidly that the Indians could not keep up with the changing geology. Examples of such rapid change on Earth tell us that it does not take anywhere near millions of years to occur!