1. Geology, the Fossil Record and Noah’s Flood

2. 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

4. 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

5. 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 >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.
Monument Valley, Utah

6. Geologic Time Scale Cenozoic Mesozoic Long ages uniform processes Or
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
Geologic
Time
Scale
Cenozoic
Mesozoic
Long ages
uniform processes Or
Young earth
catastrophic event
Paleozoic

7. The Flood of Noah
Genesis 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.

8. 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.

9. The Flood of Noah
Genesis 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..

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

13. Source of Great Flood
“Ring of Fire”
Causes of Precipitation

14. Views on the Genesis Flood
Evolution
Myth or local flood
Day-age theory
Progressive creationism
Gap theory
Local flood
Worldwide flood
Biblical – young earth
Why the difference?

15. 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)

16. 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

17. What physical evidence should we look for to support evolution?
Geologic Evidence
What physical evidence should we look for to support evolution?
The geologic column should exist as a standard feature throughout the earth
The fossil record must demonstrate a gradual progression of ‘simple’ to complex organisms over long ages
Evidence that long ages are required for what we observe

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

19. 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.”

20. Geologic Column
James Perloff, Tornado in a Junkyard,1999, p. 154.
“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.”
The only place we find the full geologic column

21. 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 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.
Is the Grand Canyon evidence of a catastrophe or millions of years of erosion?

22. The Grand Canyon, Arizona
Strata
Sedimentary rock typically exists as distinct layers or strata.
The Grand Canyon, Arizona

23. Bryce Canyon National Park
Strata Formation
Bryce Canyon National Park
Small Particles
Medium Particles
Layers form anytime particles are suspended in fluid then allowed to settle.
Large Particles

24. Bryce Canyon National Park
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

25. Mechanisms of Rapid Strata Deposition
Rivers
Landslides
Mudflows
Turbidity currents
Liquefaction

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

27. 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.

28. Rapid Strata Formation at Mt. St. Helens
March 19, 1982
Rapid Strata Formation at Mt. St. Helens
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.

29. Human Artifacts in Coal
Sulfur Springs Arkansas Nov
“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.

30. Evidence of Rapid Burial
Polystrate Tree in Sandstone and Coal
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.

31. Fossil Record
Fossils - 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.

32. 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 Earth’s past life-forms. Change over time (evolution) can be seen in the fossil record.”
Is this true?

33. FOSSILS Many fossils have been found—that is true
No fossils of links between one kind and another kind have been found.

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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.

38. Fossilization according 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.

39. Fossilization according 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.

40. Fossilization according 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.

41. 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.

42. Dinosaur Found in Stomach of Mammal Jan 2005

43. Fossil Fish
Fleshy parts fossilized. Did this fish survive decomposition for millions of years?

44. Fossilized Leaves
Carbonized plant Thinnfeldia feistmanteli, Australia. Source: Museum Victoria.

45. Source: Messel Pit Fossil Site http://www.unesco-welterbe.de/en/
Fossilized Horse
Source: Messel Pit Fossil Site

46. 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!

47. Invertebrate to Vertebrate (Fish)
(jellyfish)
Early fish according to the Biology textbook
Miller and Levine ? ?
Trilobite
Where are the thousands of observable intermediates?

48. 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.”

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

50. Coelacanth Extinct for 70 million years
1938 living coelacanths were found
It is still 100% fish
The front fins (lobes) are still fins

51. Alleged Intermediates
Horse
Whales
Life Sciences, Prentice Hall, 2002, p. 164.

52. Critical Thinking
Is there any observable evidence of these changes or is it all based on artists drawings?

53. 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.

54. 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

55. 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

56. 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

57. 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

58. 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

59. 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

60. TRUST GOD NOT MAN!! CONCLUSION
The Genesis flood explains the geologic column and the fossil record
TRUST GOD NOT MAN!!