Geology, the Fossil Record and Noah’s Flood. Geologic Column

Geology, theGeology, the Fossil Record Fossil Record

andandNoah’s FloodNoah’s Flood

Geologic Column

Geologic ColumnLayers in the earth

Geology is the study of the Earth

Paleontology is the study of fossils.

Law of superposition

Problems with Geologic Column

♦How could the plants and animals be progressing from “simple to complex” if the ones on the bottom were already complex?

♦Flood of Noah

♦Transition fossils

Monument Valley, Utah

♦ Geologists claim the fossil record was formed through the same natural processes occurring today, and interpret it as a history of life on earth over >600 million years.

♦ The Bible says there was a supernaturally-based global flood, and creation scientists interpret the fossil record as being the result of the flood of Noah.

Origin of the Fossil RecordOrigin of the Fossil Record

GeologicTimeScale

Era Period Time (mil)

Quarternary 1.8 – present

Teritary 6.5 – 1.8

Cretaceous 14.5 – 6.5

Jurassic 208 – 14.5

Triassic 245 – 208

Permian 290 – 245

Carboniferous 363 – 290

Devonian 410 – 363

Silurian 440 – 410

Ordovician 505 – 440

Cambrian 544 – 505

Precambrian 650 - 544

Long ages uniform

processes

Or Young earthcatastrophic

event

Cenozoic

Mesozoic

Paleozoic

Genesis 6 18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive.

The Flood of NoahThe Flood of Noah

Source of the Great Flood

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

Genesis 7 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; 20 the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; 22 everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died..

The Flood of NoahThe Flood of Noah

Genesis 8 2 the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated; 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were

seen.

The Flood of NoahThe Flood of Noah

The flood possibly began when the earth's crust was fractured releasing subterranean caverns of water and magma.

Source of the Great Flood

Mid Oceanic Ridge / Lithosphere PlatesMid Oceanic Ridge / Lithosphere Plates

Source of the Great Flood

♦ During the flood of Noah subterranean fountains persisted for 150 days. (Gen 7:11-24)

♦ Spring water such as the famous Artesian Wells originate from ancient underground aquifers like the Ogallala aquifer, which spans 8 states in the US.

♦ These buried waters are possibly a remnant of the fountains of the great deep that burst forth during the Biblical flood.

Fountains of the Deep

Source of Great Flood

♦ “Ring of Fire”

♦ Causes of Precipitation

Views on the Genesis Flood

Why the difference?

♦ Evolution Myth or local flood

Worldwide flood

♦ Biblical – young earth

♦ Day-age theory

♦ Progressive creationism

♦ Gap theoryLocal flood

World-wide Flood Evidences Creationists date the flood to about 5,000 years

ago Earth’s geologic features require a catastrophic

explanation Sedimentary rock formations (water deposited,

e.g. sandstone) cover continent-sized regions Large coal, oil, ore deposits (not forming today) Great fossil beds exist - require rapid burial Mountains made of “ocean-bottom” rocks, ocean

fossils on continent interior mountains, fossils of warm habitat plants/animals near the poles

Many exceptions to standard geologic column (e.g. out of order strata, different “age” fossils together)

Other Flood Evidences “Origin of civilization” is near ark landing Written history appears 5-6,000 years ago Pottery, agriculture, domestication,

metallurgy, cities date <11,000 years ago Tree ring studies of oldest living trees

(Bristle Cone pines) date to 5,000 years ago

Population statistics suggest a thousands of years (vs a million) population build up

Radiocarbon dating age distribution analysis shows large spike of death about 5,000 years ago

Geologic Evidence

1. The geologic column should exist as a standard feature throughout the earth

2. The fossil record must demonstrate a gradual progression of ‘simple’ to complex organisms over long ages

3. Evidence that long ages are required for what we observe

What physical evidence should we look for to support evolution?

Geologic Column

“The notion that the earth’s crust has an ‘onion skin’ structure with successive layers containing all strata systems distributed on a global scale is not according to the facts.

Data from continents and ocean basins show that the ten systems are poorly represented on a global scale:

Steven Austin (Ph.D. Geology), “Ten Misconceptions about the Geologic Column,” Impact 137, Nov. 1984.

Continued

♦ approximately 77% of the earth’s surface area on land and under the sea has seven or more (70% or more) of the strata systems missing beneath;

♦ 94% of the earth’s surface has three or more systems missing beneath;

♦ 99.6% has at least one missing.

♦ Only a few locations on earth (about 0.4% of its area) have been described with the succession of the ten systems beneath….

♦ The entire geologic column,… exists only in the diagrams drawn by geologists.”

Geologic Column

“The public generally believes that the Earth’s layers look much like the textbook geologic column, with strata neatly stacked upon each other. This is not the case.”

James Perloff, Tornado in a Junkyard,1999, p. 154.

The only place we find the full geologic column

♦ Catastrophism - Prior to the 19th century it was largely assumed by geologists that catastrophes such as the Biblical flood were responsible for the majority of the earth’s fossiliferous rock.

♦ Uniformitarianism - Around 1850 the non-catastrophic view of earth’s geology began to develop, which suggested that gradual processes and uniform intensities were instead responsible.

Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism

Is the Grand Canyon evidence of a catastrophe or millions of years of erosion?

Sedimentary rock typically exists as distinct layers or strata.

Strata

The Grand Canyon, ArizonaThe Grand Canyon, Arizona

Strata Formation

Layers form anytime particles are suspended in fluid then allowed to settle.

Large Particles

Small Particles

Bryce Canyon Bryce Canyon National ParkNational Park

Medium Particles

Bryce Canyon National Park

The order of layers in the geological column was deduced by examining and correlating strata from various location.

Exposed strata is examined for characteristics it contains, such

as index fossils, and compared with layers visible in other locations.

Layers similar to these in Bryce Canyon can be found elsewhere in Utah and other states such as Colorado.

Strata Correlation

♦ Rivers♦ Landslides♦ Mudflows♦ Turbidity

currents♦ Liquefaction

Mechanisms of Rapid Strata Deposition

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Widespread Turbidities

About 30% of all sedimentary rocks in the Grand Canyon are turbidities formed through deposition by turbidity currents.

Mount St. HelensThe eruptions at Mt. St. Helens were an important geological event for creation science.Rapid deposition and erosion occurred providing a model of the type of activity taking place during the great Biblical flood of Noah.

Stratified layers up to 400 feet thick formed as a result of landslides, air fall tephra, pyroclastic flow, and mudflows, during the Mt. St. Helens eruptions.

Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens

Rapid Strata Formation at Mt. St. Helens

May 18, 1980

June 12, 1980

March 19, 1982

Sulfur Springs ArkansasNov. 27 - 1948

“While I was working in the Municipal Electric Plant in Thomas, Okla. in 1912, I came upon a solid chuck of coal which was too large to use. I broke it with a sledge hammer. This iron pot fell from the center, leaving the impression, or mould of the pot in a piece of the coal.

Jim Stull (an employee of the company) witnessed the breaking of the coal, and saw the pot fall out.

I traced the source of the coal and found that it came from Wilburton, Oklahoma Mines.”

Frank J. Kennord

Human Artifacts in Coal

Creation Evidences Museum, Glen Rose, Texas.

Evidence of Rapid Burial

Polystrate Fossils

Petrified tree trunks are found that frequently cross several strata proving the layers were deposited at the same time instead of over millions of years.

Polystrate Tree inSandstone and Coal

Fossil RecordFossils - A trace or remnant of preexisting life embedded and preserved in the earth’s crust.

Fossil Record -– A “recording” of history. – A record of the relative

times of death of preexisting life.

The Fossil Record and Education

“Fossils offer the most direct evidence that evolution takes place….

Fossils, therefore, provide an actual record of Earth’s past life-forms. Change over time (evolution) can be seen in the fossil record.”

Is this true?Is this true?

Biology: Principles and Explorations, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 2001, p. 283.

FOSSILS

♦ Many fossils have been found—that is true

♦ No fossils of links between one kind and another kind have been found.

Geological Column

Assumptions:Assumptions:

1) Fossil sorting is believed to represent the history of life on earth.

2) Fossils in the lowest layers are believed to have lived before those in upper layers.

3) The first appearance of a fossil is believe to be the time when it evolved.

4) The last appearance of a fossil is believe to be the time it went extinct.

Fossil Sorting

Out of Place Fossils

Assumption:

The last appearance of a fossil is the time when it went extinct. ???

The Coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago until it was discovered off the coast of Madagascar.

CoelacanthLiving Fossil

Living Fossils♦ Crocodiles - dates back 230 million years

♦ Army Ants - dates back 100 million years

♦ Cockroaches - dates back 350 million years

♦ Coelacanth - dates back 400 million years

♦ Crinoid or Sea Lilly dates back 150 million years

♦ Cycads dates back 240 million years

♦ Dragonfly dates back 230 million years

♦ Ginkgo dates back 270 million years

♦ Horseshoe Crab - dates back 300 million years

♦ Nautilus - dates back 500 million years

♦ Neopilina mollusks - dates back 400 million years

♦ Salamanders dates back 150 million years

♦ Sturgeon dates back 250 million years

♦ Tuatara dates back 200 million years.

♦ Velvet Worm dates back 500 million years

♦ Wollemi Pine - dates back 150 million years

Marine fossils are found on almost every mountain range in the world (Alps, Andes, etc.), and provide clear evidence that the oceans covered the continents.

Marine Fossils Everywhere

Fossilizationaccording to uniformitarianism

After death, the ammonite slowly sinks to the sea floor. Scavengers feed on the fleshy body of the creature, and after only several weeks all that remains is the shell.

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/

Several months after death the shell gradually becomes covered with silt and sand. These layers continue to build, providing a shield around the shell and protecting it from damage. Time continues to pass and more and more layers are deposited. After a few hundred years the shell is several feet beneath the surface.

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/

Fossilizationaccording to uniformitarianism

Gradually the chemicals in the shell undergo a series of changes. As the shell slowly decays, water infused with minerals passes through it, replacing the chemicals in the shell with rock-like minerals (Calcite, Iron or Silica). Over millions of years the original shell is completely replaced by the minerals and what remains is a rock-like copy of the original shell. The fossil has the same shape as the

original object, but is actually rock.

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/

Fossilizationaccording to uniformitarianism

From the marrow cavity of a fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex thighbone, scientists have extracted soft tissue. The flexible tissue can be stretched (see arrow) and returns to its original form. March 2005.

Evidence of Rapid Burial

Geologists claim that fossilization requires millions of years to occur. However, many fossils have been found with fully articulated skeletons, hair, scales, feathers, and soft fleshy parts such as skin, cartilage, unborn fetuses and stomachs containing the animals' last meal.

Dinosaur Found in Stomach of Mammal Jan 2005

Fossil FishFossil FishFleshy parts fossilized. Did this fish survive decomposition for millions of years?

Fossilized Leaves

Carbonized plant Thinnfeldia feistmanteli, Australia. Source: Museum Victoria.

http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/image_html/mr007225.html

Fossilized Horse

Source: Messel Pit Fossil Sitehttp://www.unesco-welterbe.de/en/

Invertebrate to Vertebrate (Fish)

“Fishes are considered to be the most primitive living vertebrates……similarities in structure and embryological development show that fishes and modern invertebrate chordates probably did evolve from common invertebrate ancestors that lived many millions of years ago.”

Biology, Miller and Levine, 2000, p. 680.

There is not one single intermediate in the textbook to support this claim!

There is not one single intermediate in the textbook to support this claim!

Early fish according to the Early fish according to the BiologyBiology textbook textbookMiller and LevineMiller and Levine

InvertebrateInvertebrate(jellyfish)(jellyfish)

TrilobiteTrilobite

??

??Where are the thousands

of observable intermediates?

Where are the thousands of observable intermediates?

Invertebrate to Vertebrate (Fish)

What do the Facts Support?

“However, we have virtually no evidence in the fossil record or elsewhere for any of the changes proposed during this ‘immensity of time’; but the public hears nothing of this problem.”

Aerial Roth (Ph.D. Zoology), Origins, p. 189.

Fish to Amphibian

“Because of these similarities, scientists think the first amphibians were descendants of the lobe-finned fishes, a group whose modern members include the coelacanth and the lungfishes.”

Biology: Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1998, p. 461.

This is supposedly evolving into legsThis is supposedly evolving into legs

Coelacanth• Extinct for 70 million years• 1938 living coelacanths were found• It is still 100% fish

The front fins (lobes) are still finsThe front fins (lobes) are still fins

Alleged Intermediates

Horse

Whales

Life SciencesLife Sciences, Prentice , Prentice Hall, 2002, p. 164.Hall, 2002, p. 164.

Is there any observable evidence of these changes or is it all based on

artists drawings?

Deception

Evolutionists want to believe in evolution so badly they will resort to deceiving their followers and anybody else they can control in the education system, including professors, teachers, and students by making up data that does not exist.

FOSSILS—PROBLEM AREAS

♦ Hard to distinguish between imprints and rock formations

♦ Complexity of an organism cannot always be determined from its skeletal system

♦ Variations within a species can explain fossil life that was in a different form from life today

♦ Fossil records are incomplete

FOSSILS—PROBLEM AREAS

♦ In earliest fossils found, all parts are fully formed

♦ Fossils said to be the oldest have been recognized and classified

♦ Fossils once listed as “pre-historic” are not such at all

♦ Fossils of modern man found in all strata

FOSSILS—PROBLEM AREAS♦ Parts or entire organisms have been

distilled off leaving only a carbon residue instead of actual part (especially in plants)

♦ Disease or injury of the organism while it is alive alters the structure (Neanderthal man)

♦ Fossil remains appear suddenly in the crust of the earth which indicates that life began suddenly, as Gen. 1 says

Two Views – Which is Correct?

♦ The oldest rocks bearing evidence of earliest life forms

♦ Younger rocks containing more advanced life forms

♦ Gradual change in life forms from the simple to complex

♦ Large numbers of transitional forms

Evolution

Two Views – Which is Correct?

Bible (Creation)

♦A sudden and explosive appearance of A sudden and explosive appearance of diverse and highly complex forms of lifediverse and highly complex forms of life

♦No gradual change of life forms from the No gradual change of life forms from the simple to complexsimple to complex

♦A regular and systematic absence of A regular and systematic absence of transitional formstransitional forms

Summary: Fossil Record

“Given the fact of evolution, one would expect the fossils to document a gradual steady change from ancestral forms to the descendants. But this is not what the paleontologists finds. Instead, he or she finds gaps in just about every phyletic series.”

Ernst Mayr (Professor Emeritus in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Hailed as the Darwin of the 20th century), What Evolution Is, 2001, p. 14.

Evolution is a matter of faith

CONCLUSION

The Genesis flood explains the geologic column and the fossil record

TRUST GOD TRUST GOD NOT MAN!!NOT MAN!!