Creation trumps Evolution: Uniformitarianism
A precept of evolutionary teaching has been Uniformitarianism. Basically, that the rock formations found layered around the globe are the result of the debris of long ages of the earth, millions of years. Three layers of rock could have taken 180 million years to be deposited. Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), at first a lawyer without a scientific degree, popularized the Uniformitarian concept proposed by George Cuvier.
Creationists agree with the Bible, that there was a world-wide catastrophic flood and that flood is responsible for the rock layering we see today. Genesis 7:4 (NIV) "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." Alan V. Jopling, Dept. of Geology, Harvard; "it is reasonable to postulate a very rapid rate of deposition; that is a single lamina would probably be deposited in a period of seconds or minutes rather than in a period of hours. ...There is factual evidence from both field observation and experiment that laminae composed of bed material are commonly deposited by current action within a period of seconds or minutes."
Careful studies of the sedimentary layers of the earth point to layering caused by flood. The fossil layers are generally distributed as one would expect in a flood, the bottom dwelling sea life at the bottom, the fish at another level, shore-dwellers at another layer and the largest land animals near the top. (Particularly the ones capable of recognizing danger and able to run to higher ground). Although Uniformitarianism calls for gradual layering, in the real world there are consistently sharp and obvious contrasts between layers. This would be the expected result with layering that would result from a worldwide flood.
One trouble with this Uniformitarianism concept is that the rock layers worldwide do not conform to the idea. Layers thought more ancient are consistently found above those expected to be more recent. Darwinists blithely explain that entire mountains were somehow turned upside down and/or transported 30-3,000 (!) miles or more in order to try to explain disorder in the rock layers. Also in nature you sometimes see mixed layers (like younger, older and then younger) or skipped layers (somehow going from 120 million years old to 280 million years old with no middle layers.)
Evolutionists have a great deal of trouble explaining bent and twisted rock formations such as these. It is obvious that this rock must have been convoluted while it was not yet entirely hardened. Now how do millions of years of nice, hard rock get folded like this without snapping? We aren't just talking small areas of rock, either!
Genesis 7:17-24 (NIV) "For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days."
Polystrate fossils are another overwhelming problem to evolutionists. These are fossils that extend through two or more sedimentary layers of rock. Fossilized trees extending through layers of coal were common discoveries for coal miners of the 19th and 20th centuries. N.A Rupke, the geologist who coined the polystrate term, collected descriptions and pictures of hundred of such fossils around the world. In one case, Rupke produced a photograph of "a lofty trunk, exposed in a sandstone quarry near Edinburgh [Scotland], which measured no less than 25 meters and, intersecting 10 or 12 different strata, leaned at an angle of about 40 [degrees]". Polystrate fossils, not limited to trees but also animal fossils, are found in abundance in the real world. Megabreccias, giant boulders surrounded by many layers of strata, are another common occurrence. Evolutionists suggest that in those particular cases the surrounding accumulation must have happened quickly. That is exactly what Creationists would say, however, crediting the Noahic flood described in the Bible as the source for the worldwide layers of fossil-bearing sediment.
Certainly the specific gravity of some of the remains comes into play in the deposits and there are fossils in which animals are “caught” in an onslaught while eating another animal or giving birth! The sedimentary layers often exhibit ripples or signs of “turbidity current deposits” or sediments resulting from flood conditions. The layers are usually quite defined, with no signs of wear between them.
In short, what is found in the real world does not agree with what is taught in the classroom. Uniformitarianism is a fantasy when less than 1% of the rock formations found world-wide agree with the geological column that is taught in school. Coming soon: a look at fossils
PS- If you have not seen this, Simon says "know your stuff!"
Creationists agree with the Bible, that there was a world-wide catastrophic flood and that flood is responsible for the rock layering we see today. Genesis 7:4 (NIV) "Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." Alan V. Jopling, Dept. of Geology, Harvard; "it is reasonable to postulate a very rapid rate of deposition; that is a single lamina would probably be deposited in a period of seconds or minutes rather than in a period of hours. ...There is factual evidence from both field observation and experiment that laminae composed of bed material are commonly deposited by current action within a period of seconds or minutes."
Careful studies of the sedimentary layers of the earth point to layering caused by flood. The fossil layers are generally distributed as one would expect in a flood, the bottom dwelling sea life at the bottom, the fish at another level, shore-dwellers at another layer and the largest land animals near the top. (Particularly the ones capable of recognizing danger and able to run to higher ground). Although Uniformitarianism calls for gradual layering, in the real world there are consistently sharp and obvious contrasts between layers. This would be the expected result with layering that would result from a worldwide flood.
One trouble with this Uniformitarianism concept is that the rock layers worldwide do not conform to the idea. Layers thought more ancient are consistently found above those expected to be more recent. Darwinists blithely explain that entire mountains were somehow turned upside down and/or transported 30-3,000 (!) miles or more in order to try to explain disorder in the rock layers. Also in nature you sometimes see mixed layers (like younger, older and then younger) or skipped layers (somehow going from 120 million years old to 280 million years old with no middle layers.)
Evolutionists have a great deal of trouble explaining bent and twisted rock formations such as these. It is obvious that this rock must have been convoluted while it was not yet entirely hardened. Now how do millions of years of nice, hard rock get folded like this without snapping? We aren't just talking small areas of rock, either!
Genesis 7:17-24 (NIV) "For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days."
Polystrate fossils are another overwhelming problem to evolutionists. These are fossils that extend through two or more sedimentary layers of rock. Fossilized trees extending through layers of coal were common discoveries for coal miners of the 19th and 20th centuries. N.A Rupke, the geologist who coined the polystrate term, collected descriptions and pictures of hundred of such fossils around the world. In one case, Rupke produced a photograph of "a lofty trunk, exposed in a sandstone quarry near Edinburgh [Scotland], which measured no less than 25 meters and, intersecting 10 or 12 different strata, leaned at an angle of about 40 [degrees]". Polystrate fossils, not limited to trees but also animal fossils, are found in abundance in the real world. Megabreccias, giant boulders surrounded by many layers of strata, are another common occurrence. Evolutionists suggest that in those particular cases the surrounding accumulation must have happened quickly. That is exactly what Creationists would say, however, crediting the Noahic flood described in the Bible as the source for the worldwide layers of fossil-bearing sediment.
Certainly the specific gravity of some of the remains comes into play in the deposits and there are fossils in which animals are “caught” in an onslaught while eating another animal or giving birth! The sedimentary layers often exhibit ripples or signs of “turbidity current deposits” or sediments resulting from flood conditions. The layers are usually quite defined, with no signs of wear between them.
In short, what is found in the real world does not agree with what is taught in the classroom. Uniformitarianism is a fantasy when less than 1% of the rock formations found world-wide agree with the geological column that is taught in school. Coming soon: a look at fossils
PS- If you have not seen this, Simon says "know your stuff!"