"Still further, the creationist suspects that the fossil record
and the sedimentary rocks, instead of speaking of a long
succession of geologic ages, may tell rather of just one former
age, destroyed bin a single great worldwide aqueous
cataclysm."~Henry M. Morris, The Troubled Waters of Evolution,
(San Diego: Creation-Life Publishers, 1974), p. 21.
Morris clearly holds that the vast majority of the fossil record
is to be explained by the global flood. He writes:
"Therefore, it is now becoming a cause for concern that a
growing number of young-earth creationists are seemingly about to
repeat the mistakes and compromises of the past, arguing that the
Biblical Flood cannot really explain the geological record after
all. "~Henry M. Morris, "The Geologic Column and the Flood of
Genesis", Creation Research Society Quarterly 33:1(June, 1996),
p. 50
Since the flood lasted only one year, certain observable
predictions follow from this model.
1. There was no time for the animals to change during the year
long flood. This means that the animals which got on the ark
should be the same forms that got off the ark. Because of this,
we should find modern fossil forms in the deposits of the flood.
2. Fossilization is caused by rapid burial in the global flood.
We should not see fossilization going on today. Wysong asserts:
"Finally, today, and for the past few thousand years, no
fossilization to speak of is taking place."~Randy L. Wysong, The
Creation-Evolution Controversy, (Midland Mich.: Inquiry Press,
1976), p. 364
Huse states:
"There are numerous spectacular examples of fossilization that
corroborates the Genesis account of cataclysmic destruction.
Animals are commonly found buried in an attitude of terror with
heads arched back, mouths open, etc." ~Scott M. Huse, The
Collapse of Evolution, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), p.
47
3. The quantity of fossil animal life can not exceed that which
can be supported by a single biosphere. In other words if there
are too many fossils in the geologic record, it means that more
than one biosphere was needed to support them. Today's biosphere
is defined as the sum total of all living organisms living at the
same time. Since the vast majority of animals live no longer than
30 years, there is a new biosphere every 30-50 years. Even if
you include the long-lived humans, one can say that 99% of all
living forms on earth today were not alive 100 years ago. Using
100 years as the biosphere turn over, there would have been 60
different biospheres on earth during the time young-earth
creationsists say the earth has existed.
4. The sorting of the fossils are due to hydrodymanic sorting.
Morris writes:
"The hydrodynamic sorting action of moving water is quite
efficient, so that each stratum would tend to contain an
assemblage of fossils of similar shapes and sizes."~Henry M.
Morris, Evolution and the Modern Christian, (Phillipsburg:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1967), p. 40
5. There should be evidence of global erosion just prior to the
advent of fossils.
Let us look in detail at these predictions.
1. There was no time for the animals to change during the year
long flood. This means that the animals which got on the ark
should be the same forms that got off the ark. Because of this,
we should find modern fossil forms in the deposits of the flood.
This is probably the most interesting problem for Flood
geologists. In order to explain this, one must know that the
place of rock layers in the geologic column is determined NOT by
fossils but by the vertical order of the rock layers. I must deal
with this because of the widespread belief among young earth
creationists that only the fossils are used to construct the
fossil record. Scott Huse writes:
"Nevertheless, based upon the assumption that uniformitarianism
and organic evolution were established scientific facts,
geologists during the 19th century, began to compile the geologic
column (Figure 1). They arranged the earth's strata according to
the various types of fossils they contained especially their
index fossils. . . . Strata with simpler fossils (presumed to
have evolved first) were put on the bottom of the column while
strata containing more complex forms (presumed to have evolved
later) were placed towards the top of the column."~Scott M. Huse,
The Collapse of Evolution, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,
1983), p. 9
The oldest rock layer and the fossils it contains is the rock
layer which is covered by the greatest number of other rock
layers. The rock layer can be on the earth's surface (called an
outcrop) and still be the oldest IF it dips into the earth and
horizontally the rock is covered by similarly dipping bed.
youngest bed
|
v..surface..........
////////////////////<---this bed is the oldest, yet it outcrops
///////////////////
//////////////////<---dipping rock layers
/////////////////
////////////////
///////////////
//////////////
/////////////
////////////
///////////
//////////
/////////
////////
///////
//////
/////
////
///
//
/
With this out of the way, the fact is, that if you examine rocks
vertically below the top 6% of the fossil record, you will not
find a single living species of living mammal. All other land
mammal found in lower rocks are of extinct forms. I have spent
some time collecting the occurrence of living species in ancient
rocks. Today there are 4630 species of living mammals The top 6%
of the fossil record contains the following species of mammalian
forms:
Epoch/date........................# living species
top
Holocene (0-10,000 years)...............4630
Pleistocene(10 kyr-1.6 myr).............2543
Pliocene(1.6-5.5 myr).....................30
Miocene(5.5-23 myr)........................4
Oligocene (23-35 myr)......................0
there are NO fossils of CURRENTLY LIVING mammalian species. Where
were they?
Creationists say that they were able to survive longer in the
world flood than other land animals. But how can this be? A 30-
foot tall dinosaur, would be able to breath much longer than a
small mammalian mouse who would drown long before the dinosaur.
The flood model would lead one to expect that small mammals
should be drowned and buried prior to the death and burial of
dinosaurs, yet this is not observed.
2. Fossilization is caused by rapid burial in the global flood.
We should not see fossilization going on today. Wysong asserts:
"Finally, today, and for the past few thousand years, no
fossilization to speak of is taking place."~Randy L. Wysong, The
Creation-Evolution Controversy, (Midland Mich.: Inquiry Press,
1976), p. 364
This is absolutely wrong. Modern iron ooids (small round
particles made up of concentrically deposited carbonate) contain
diatom fossils. These are ooids that are forming today.
(See Jeffrey M. Heikoop et al., "Modern Iron ooids from a
shallow-marine Volcanic Setting" Geolgoy August 1996, 24:8, pp
759-762, figure 6)
A whale skeleton was found in the Santa Catalina basin. It is
estimated to have been there only 34 years (C14). Already, the
minerals of the whale's bones are being replaced by iron
sulfides. This is fossilization. (See Peter Allison et al, "Deep-
water Taphonomy of vertebrate carcasses: a whale skeleton in the
bathyal Santa Catalina Basin", Paleobiology 17(1991):1, pp 78-89
esp. p. 83
And in just 10,000 years, wood has been totally encased and
preserved by calcareous concretions in from the Champlain Sea
which was emptied at the end of the last glaciation. ( N. R.
Gadd, "Maximum Age for a concretion at Green Creek, Ontario",
Geogr. phys. Quat., 1980 xxxiv No. 2, pp 229-238
Concerning Huse's statement,
"There are numerous spectacular examples of fossilization that
corroborates the Genesis account of cataclysmic destruction.
Animals are commonly found buried in an attitude of terror with
heads arched back, mouths open, etc." ~Scott M. Huse, The
Collapse of Evolution, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), p.
47
These contorted positions of 'terror' are due to tendon
contraction after death, nothing more.
3. The quantity of fossil animal life can not exceed that which
can be supported by a single biosphere. In other words if there
are too many fossils in the geologic record, it means that more
than one biosphere was needed to support them. Today's biosphere
is defined as the sum total of all living organisms living at the
same time. Since the vast majority of animals live no longer than
30 years, there is a new biosphere every 30-50 years. Even if
you include the long-lived humans, one can say that 99% of all
living forms on earth today were not alive 100 years ago. Using
100 years as the biosphere turn over, there would have been 60
different biospheres on earth during the time young-earth
creationsists say the earth has existed.
Henry Morris in the Genesis Flood, p. 160, marvels and the 800
billion vertebrate fossils in the Karoo formation of southern
Africa. The average size is that of a fox. Since there are only
38 billion acres of dry land, this means that there would have
been 21 animals per acre in the preflood world from JUST this one
deposit. This would not include all the dinosaurs and mammals
none of which are found in the Karoo formation. The average
American home lot is about 1/3 acre meaning that there would be
far more than 7 hungry animals per homesite in the preflood
world. (See G.R. Morton, Foundation Fall and Flood, p. 61)
One can account for the observed quantity of coal on earth only
by postulating a tropical rain forest over the entire earth
leaving no place for ruminants like buffalo, cattle, horses,
antelope etc, to live.
There are 201 x 10^18 grams of carbon in all the world's
hydrocarbons. Today's biosphere only contains .3 x 10^18 grams of
carbon. The petroleum deposits of the world require about 670
biospheres. (See G.R. Morton, Foundation Fall and Flood, p. 62)
This does not take into account the fact that nearly the entire
northern hemisphere's land area is covered by many feet of dead
crinoids, leaving no place for the tropical forest, Karoo animals
or ruminants. (Morton, G. R. (1984). The Carbon Problem. Creation
Research Society Quarterly. 20:212-219.)
Obviously a single biosphere destroyed in the Flood can not
explain the vast quantities of fossils found in the fossil
record.
4. The sorting of the fossils are due to hydrodymanic sorting.
Morris writes:
"The hydrodynamic sorting action of moving water is quite
efficient, so that each stratum would tend to contain an
assemblage of fossils of similar shapes and sizes."~Henry M.
Morris, Evolution and the Modern Christian, (Phillipsburg:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1967), p. 40
Morris as a hydrologist should know that hydrodynamic sorting
does not apply only to fossils. It also applies to rock
fragments ranging in size from boulders, gravels pebbles, sand
and shale. If the geologic column is due to hydrodynamic sorting
then fossils of similar size should be found in deposits with
rocks of similar size! Morris never mentions this. Fossils like
Productus giganteus, (having a diameter of a foot) should be
found with boulders of similar size. Microscopic fossils should
be found only with shale and sand-sized rock particles. This is
not the case. Each bed contains fossils of all sizes.
Fossils are not sorted according to size but morphology. This is
what index fossils are all about.
There are two Precambrian index fossils. These are the Ediacaran
fauna which is found on all continents, and Chuaria circularis
which is found in Western North America, Central Australia,
India, Iran, and Siberia. (Vinod C. Tewari, "Discovery of Pre-
Ediacaran Acritarch Chuaria circularis *Walcott, 1899; Vidal and
Ford, 1985) from the Deoban Mountains, Lesser Himalaya, India,"
Geoscience Journal, XVII:1, January, 1996, p.25-35, p. 29)
The Cambrian is marked by the appearance of Olenellus trilobites.
None of them are found above the Cambrian, but they are found
from Eurasia to North America to Argentina.(A.V. Borrello, "The
Cambrian of South America," in C. H. Holland, Cambrian of the New
World, (New York: Wiley-Interscience,1971), pp.385-428, p. 405
see the rest of this book for occurrences in the Americas)
Other fossils serve as index fossils for other ages. An example,
the Devonian rocks.
index fossil Devonian
top
Monograptus yukonensis
M. thomasi
M. fanicus
M. falcarius
M. hercynicus
M. praehercynicus
M. uniformus
M. transgrediens.
bottom
"In all, som 30 Devonian graptoloid species and subspecies are
known, divided among four genera. By far the commonest are
species of Mongraptus. They are relatively easily recognised as
Monograptus, being small to medium sized with commonly between
twenty and forty tecae to each rhabdosome. Most are robust and
straight. By contrast, the rhabdosomes of lino graptus and
Abiesgraptus are multibranched and may be giants with several
thousand thecae.
"Six graptolite zones have been recognised in all the
continents where these fossils occur. The lower three zones
(Lochkovian) are well established in many European sections and
elsewhere. The upper three are less well substantiated. In
several regions the yukonensis zone is clearly the latest and in
some areas there are problematic unfossiliferous sequences below
this zone. At the moment it seems that the correlation of
graptolite ranges with those of other pelagic fossils is
proceeding well, conodonts and ammonoids occurring locally with
them. The evidence indicates that the last graptolites became
extinct within the Zlichovian stage of the Bohemian (Hercynian)
facies and within the Emsian of the Rhenish."~D. L. Dineley,
Aspects of a Stratigraphic System: the Devonian, (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1984), p. 76-77
No graptolites are found above the Lower Mississippian rocks.
Most are extinct by the end of the Silurian.
The other day I posted the Jurassic ammonite index fossils.
Creationists who continue to deny the existence of index fossils
need to visit a library and do some research. The fossils are not
sorted as would be expected by a global flood.
5. There should be evidence of global erosion just prior to the
advent of fossils.
A global flood should start with a period of erosion. Nowhere is
there a world wide erosional interval (an unconformity). Not
even at the base of the Cambrian is there a world wide
unconformity. (see E. Landing, "Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary
Global Stratotype Ratified and a New perspective of Cambrian
Time," Geology 22(1994):179-182)
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm