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Flood of Noah
By Chris Ashcraft
Could a naturalist
correctly interpret a world
with a supernatural
history?
Geology and the Flood of Noah
• Biblical Testimony
• Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism
– Bias Against Catastrophism
• Fossil Record
– Fossiliferous Rock
– Geological Column
– Fossil Sorting
• Mechanisms / Examples
– Strata Formation
– Widespread Deposits
– Canyons
– Fossilization
– Fossils
– Biblical Flood
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.
Channeled Scablands
The Missoula Flood
Fossil Record -
– A “recording” of history.
– A record of the relative
times of death of
preexisting life.
Sedimentary Rock
Sedimentary rock
typically forms when
eroded particles
settle out of fluid and
solidify into a rock.
– Sandstone (mostly
quartz)
– Shale (fine silt and
clay)
– Limestone (calcite
from shells)
Limestone Monuments
Strata Correlation
The order of layers in the
geological column was deduced
by examining and correlating
strata from various location.
Geological Column
Out of Place Fossils
Assumption:
The last appearance of a
fossil is the time when it
went extinct. ???
Coelacanth
Living 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 molluscs - 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 Everywhere
Marine fossils
are found in
every layer of
the geological
column, and
are so
common, they
are used as
index fossils.
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 Ar'arat. 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
Flooding continued
for 150 days mountains were seen.
Fossil Sorting
Sorting Order of Fossils:
•Man
•Warm blooded terrestrials
•Cold blooded terrestrials
•Free swimming
•Bottom dwelling
•Habitat Elevation
•Mobility vs. Sessile
•Environmental Tolerance
•Intelligence
They deliberately ignore this fact
Law of Superposition - is a
fundamental interpretation
of Earth’s history, which
states the oldest strata lies
on the bottom with
successively younger
layers above.
Relative Age Dating
"A is older than B”. Most rock
strata were named and
assigned old ages before the
first use of radioisotope
dating methods.
Bryce Canyon
National Park
Small Particles
Medium Particles
Layers form anytime Large Particles
particles are suspended in
fluid then allowed to settle.
Mechanisms of Rapid
Strata Deposition
• Rivers
• Landslides
• Mudflows
• Turbidity currents
• Liquefaction
Several layers form simultaneously
where sediments are flowing.
Simultaneous Strata Formation
Turbidity Currents
Turbidity currents
in a laboratory flume
• Turbidite Characteristics
– Graded Bedding -
coarse particles on
the bottom and finer
particles on top
– Many thin layers
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.
Rapid Erosion at Mt. St. Helens
In 1926 the
Burlingame Canyon
was observed to
have formed in less
than six days.
It measures 1500
feet long, up to 120
feet deep, and 120
feet wide.
Burlingame Canyon
“Spilling from the crater, Loowit Falls
reshapes the north slope of the volcano.
‘You’d expect a hardrock canyon to be
thousands, even hundreds of thousands
of years old,’ says Peter Frenzen,
monument scientist, ‘but this was cut in
Secular geologists have taught that the Colorado river eroded the Grand
Canyon over 3-5 million years based on uniformitarianism assumptions.
Grand Canyon Catastrophe
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/
Fossilization
according to uniformitarianism
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/
Fossilization
according to uniformitarianism
http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/
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.
Yellowstone’s
Petrified Forest
Across the valley rise the slopes of Specimen Ridge, but the forest you see
there today is only the latest chapter in a remarkable story. Buried within the
volcanic rocks that compose the mountain are twenty-seven distinct layers of
fossil forests that flourished 50 million years ago.
Vertical Trees in Spirit Lake
It was found that these floating trees would sink to the bottom
in an upright position and become rapidly buried in sediment.
Source of the Great Flood
The flood possibly began when the earth's crust was fractured
releasing subterranean caverns of water and magma.
Source of the Great Flood
• During the flood of Noah
subterranean fountains persisted for
150 days. (Gen 7:11-24)
Assumptions
– Original amount of parent isotope?
– Original amount of daughter?
– Constant rates?
– Closed system?
Igneous Dike
Basaltic rocks of Uinkaret Plateau Inconsistent
six K-Ar model ages
five Rb-Sr model ages
0.01 to 17 million
1270 to 1390 million
Age Dating
one Rb-Sr isochron age 1340 million
one Pb-Pb isochron age 2600 million
Paleozoic
Precambrian
Geological Column
Rainbow Bridge
Lake Powell, Utah