Jack what happened to the Earth between Gen. 1 and Gen. 2? If like you say there was a great Gap in time, and I believe this, then what happened and why didn’t God the Father tell us what happened?
It seems that the Earth was hit by a asteroid or comet or what have you, evidence suggest this. Mars being pitted on one side most likely coming from what some claim that a planet exploded creating the belt. Most likely the Super Volcanoes that are being talked about lately had gone off before.
Did these apocalyptic events take place millions of years ago during the revolt of the Angels or did this happen during the time of the Great Flood?
For this question, the pertinent Hebrew phrase of Genesis 1:2 is tohuw wa bohuw, often translated formless and void. This phrase describes an uninhabitable ruin. It appears in full in only one other place in Scripture (Jeremiah 4:23) in a vision of the aftermath of a judgment. God had Isaiah use part of the phrase to say that He didn’t create the Earth formless (Isaiah 45:18). We’re not given any other details, but from the language of verse 2, it appears that what ever caused this happened after verse one and before verse three. (The Hebrew for Genesis 1:2 should probably be translated, “But the Earth became an uninhabitable ruin …”) God could have used any of the so-called natural disasters you describe to cause this or He could have done it in an instant.
I believe it was a result of Satan’s judgment and it could have left the planet in shambles for millions of years. But the Spirit of God never left and when God said “Let there be light!” the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:7) and the Creation Story began.