Geology, the Fossil Record and Noah

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Geology, the Fossil Record andNoahs Flood
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Geologic Column
3
Geologic Column

• Layers in the earth
• Geology is the study of the Earth
• Paleontology is the study of fossils.
• Law of superposition

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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

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Origin of the Fossil Record

• 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 gt600 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.

Monument Valley, Utah
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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
Geologic Time Scale
Cenozoic
Mesozoic
Paleozoic
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The Flood of Noah

• 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.

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Source of the Great Flood

• Genesis 711 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.

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The Flood of Noah

• 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..

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The 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.

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Source of the Great Flood
Mid Oceanic Ridge / Lithosphere Plates

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

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Source of the Great Flood

• During the flood of Noah subterranean fountains
  persisted for 150 days. (Gen 711-24)
• 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
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Source of Great Flood

• Ring of Fire
• Causes of Precipitation

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Views on the Genesis Flood
Why the difference?
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World-wide Flood Evidences

• Creationists date the flood to about 5,000 years
  ago
• Earths 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)

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Other Flood Evidences

• Origin of civilization is near ark landing
• Written history appears 5-6,000 years ago
• Pottery, agriculture, domestication, metallurgy,
  cities date lt11,000 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

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Geologic Evidence
What physical evidence should we look for to
support evolution?

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

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

• The notion that the earths 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

Continued
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• approximately 77 of the earths surface area on
  land and under the sea has seven or more (70 or
  more) of the strata systems missing beneath

• 94 of the earths 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.

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

• The public generally believes that the Earths
  layers look much like the textbook geologic
  column, with strata neatly stacked upon each
  other. This is not the case.

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Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism

• 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 earths fossiliferous rock.
• Uniformitarianism - Around 1850 the
  non-catastrophic view of earths geology began to
  develop, which suggested that gradual processes
  and uniform intensities were instead responsible.

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

• Sedimentary rock typically exists as distinct
  layers or strata.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Strata Formation
Bryce Canyon National Park
Small Particles
Medium Particles

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

Large Particles
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Strata Correlation

• 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.

Bryce Canyon National Park
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Mechanisms of Rapid Strata Deposition

• Rivers
• Landslides
• Mudflows
• Turbidity currents
• Liquefaction

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Widespread Turbidities

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

Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Mount St. Helens

• The 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.

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Rapid Strata Formation at Mt. St. Helens
March 19, 1982
June 12, 1980
May 18, 1980
Toutle River, Mt. St. Helens

• 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.

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Human Artifacts in Coal

• 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

Creation Evidences Museum, Glen Rose, Texas.
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Evidence of Rapid Burial
Polystrate Tree inSandstone and Coal

• 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.

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Fossil Record

• Fossils - A trace or remnant of preexisting life
  embedded and preserved in the earths crust.
• Fossil Record -
• A recording of history.
• A record of the relative times of death of
  preexisting life.

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The Fossil Record and Education
Biology Principles and Explorations, Holt,
Rinehart, Winston, 2001, p. 283.

• Fossils offer the most direct evidence that
  evolution takes place.
• Fossils, therefore, provide an actual record of
  Earths past life-forms. Change over time
  (evolution) can be seen in the fossil record.

Is this true?
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FOSSILS

• Many fossils have been foundthat is true
• No fossils of links between one kind and another
  kind have been found.

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Fossil Sorting

• 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.

Geological Column
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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.

Coelacanth Living Fossil
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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

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Marine Fossils Everywhere

• 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.

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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/
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Fossilizationaccording to uniformitarianism
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/
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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/
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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.

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.
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Dinosaur Found in Stomach of Mammal Jan 2005
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Fossil Fish
Fleshy parts fossilized. Did this fish survive
decomposition for millions of years?

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Fossilized Leaves
Carbonized plant Thinnfeldia feistmanteli,
Australia. Source Museum Victoria.http//www.mu
seum.vic.gov.au/prehistoric/image_html/mr007225.ht
ml

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Fossilized Horse

Source Messel Pit Fossil Sitehttp//www.unesco-w
elterbe.de/en/
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Invertebrate to Vertebrate (Fish)
Biology, Miller and Levine, 2000, p. 680.

• 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.

There is not one single intermediate in the
textbook to support this claim!
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Invertebrate to Vertebrate (Fish)
Where are the thousands of observable
intermediates?
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What do the Facts Support?
Aerial Roth (Ph.D. Zoology), Origins, p. 189.

• 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.

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Fish to Amphibian
Biology Visualizing Life, Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, 1998, p. 461.

• 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.

This is supposedly evolving into legs
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Coelacanth

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

The front fins (lobes) are still fins
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Alleged Intermediates

• Horse
• Whales

Life Sciences, Prentice Hall, 2002, p. 164.
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Critical Thinking
Is there any observable evidence of these changes
or is it all based on artists drawings?
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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.

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FOSSILSPROBLEM 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

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FOSSILSPROBLEM 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

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FOSSILSPROBLEM 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

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Two Views Which is Correct?
Evolution

• 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

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Two Views Which is Correct?

• Bible (Creation)

• A sudden and explosive appearance of diverse and
  highly complex forms of life
• No gradual change of life forms from the simple
  to complex
• A regular and systematic absence of transitional
  forms

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Summary Fossil Record
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.

• 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.

Evolution is a matter of faith
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CONCLUSION

• The Genesis flood explains the geologic column
  and the fossil record

TRUST GOD NOT MAN!!