Table of Contents

Copyright

Part I: Geology Reveals Two Creations, Two Worldwide Floods

Part II: Modern Geology Compelled to Recognize Catastrophism

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All Scriptures quoted are from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order—A Faithful Version unless otherwise noted.

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Part I: Geology Reveals Two Creations, Two Worldwide Floods

Dr. Lynn E. Torrance

Here is startling proof—from the Bible and geology—demonstrating not only two widely separated creations, but two worldwide catastrophic destructions! Few have understood this astonishing truth! Now it stands revealed for all to see!

Now, for the first time, one of history’s most fascinating stories can be told. The key to understanding the amazing history of the earth has been discovered.

Contrary to what millions have been led to believe, the facts of science and the truth of your Bible agree! Theologians have long kept hidden this surprising truth. It conflicts with their theology. Atheistic professors have suppressed it. Science has refused to believe it.

Only a few understand the key that unlocks the amazing geologic history of the earth. This key is found in the first two verses of your Bible—and you probably never noticed it!

The Foundation of Knowledge

The very first truth revealed in your Bible is: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). This earth was created so perfect, so beautiful, that “the morning stars [angels, Rev. 1:20] sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).

Yet the very next inspired verse of your Bible reveals that this perfect earth was destroyed by a terrible catastrophe! Genesis 1:2 reveals, “And the earth was without form and void….”

The original Hebrew word, which the King James translators translated was in verse two, ought to be translated became. It is so translated in Genesis 2:7—“and man became a living being”—and in many other verses of the Bible. For example, turn to Genesis 19:26. In this verse, the same Hebrew word incorrectly translated was in Genesis 1:2 is here correctly translated became. Notice: God warned Lot and his wife not to look behind as they escaped from the burning city of Sodom. Lot’s wife disobeyed this command and looked back longingly at the wicked city of Sodom—thus, “she became a pillar of salt” (verse 26).

Obviously, Lot’s wife had not always been a pillar of salt! But when she sinned, she became a pillar of salt.

In like manner, the earth wasn’t originally created a waste and in confusion! The correct translation of Genesis 1:2 from the original inspired Hebrew is clear: “The earth became without form and void.”

This truth is further brought out when we note in Genesis 1:2 that the English “without form” was translated from the original Hebrew word tohu, which means “desolation” or “confusion.” Is God the author of confusion? The apostle Paul was inspired to write: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” (I Cor. 14:33).

Isaiah wrote, “He [God] created it [the earth] not in vain [tohu]”—that is, not in chaos and confusion! (Isa. 45:18). It became that way!

“The Scriptures cannot be broken” (John 10:35). The allwise Creator, then, did not first create the earth as a waste and in confusion. The only logical conclusion is that God’s perfect creation later became a desolate ruin!

This truth is again made clear when we note that the English word “void” was translated from the original Hebrew word bohu, which means an “indistinguishable ruin.”

The correct translation of the first two verses of Genesis should read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth became without form [a desolation, in confusion] and void [an indistinguishable ruin], and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1-2).

Why Pre-Adamic Earth Created

It is a surprise to many to learn that before this earth was ever created God created millions of angels to carry out His rule (Job 38:4-7; Heb. 1:7-14). God placed the great cherub Lucifer in charge of the angels on earth. God revealed to him His great purpose—to add new members to the God Family.

God told Lucifer about His purpose to place man on the earth and to create in him holy, righteous character by teaching man to obey His holy, righteous laws. But Lucifer decided God was all wrong. Lucifer rebelled. Lucifer was not content to remain a servant of God. He did not want mere flesh-and-blood man to eventually rise over him in authority and power as a member of the family of God. Notice: “How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God; I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’” (Isa. 14:12-14; see also Ezek. 28:13-18).

Lucifer allowed his mind to become filled with bitterness and hatred. He persuaded one third of the angels to join him in an open attempt to seize God’s throne. Lucifer attacked the Kingdom of God and attempted to take God’s place as supreme Ruler of the whole universe.

But Lucifer and his army of demons were totally defeated. Christ said, “I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The all-wise Creator cast Lucifer and his rebellious angels down to earth. Lucifer became Satan, the devil. His angels became demented spirit beings, called demons.

Notice carefully! During that great battle between God’s army and Satan and his demons, the beautiful earth became a cosmic wreck! A perfect creation became a desolation!

Why Geologists Don’t Understand Geology

Geologists can never understand the facts of geology. They refuse to acknowledge that during the rebellion of Satan and his demons against God, the pre-Adamic earth was destroyed! This knowledge explains why the strange world of dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and all the other strange plants and animals of that age were first suddenly buried in sedimentary rocks and in the older coal seams.

Neither can geologists understand the facts of geology until they realize that Noah’s Flood buried the remains of man, warm-blooded mammals, and many other creatures as fossils in overlying sedimentary rocks. These post-Adamic deposits, in most cases, were laid down on top of the sedimentary rocks formed by the pre-Adamic catastrophe. But sometimes the deposits from Noah’s Flood were laid down on the original rock surface of the earth, and earlier deposits were later washed in by the flood and covered in an inverted order.

Once we know what the Bible reveals—that a pre-Adamic creation was destroyed by a worldwide catastrophe because of the sin of Satan and his angelic followers—we can understand the geological history of the earth.

Proof of a Pre-Adamic Flood

Notice the facts of geology. The pre-Adamic catastrophe involved water. Laid down first by the swirling waters were the smaller sea creatures. They appear in the deepest sedimentary layers. The larger creatures of the land, by comparison, were able to flee to the higher hills. They were not drowned until the rising floodwaters spread over, then covered, the entire earth.

Evolutionary geologists have discerned proof of this pre- Adamic flood. They know that rising floodwaters first swept up the ocean-bottom dwellers, the trilobites and the brachiopods, and other shell creatures of the sea. These ocean-bottom dwellers were scattered over wide areas. Later, other sedimentary rocks with land life were laid down on top of them.

That is exactly why fossils of sea creatures such as the trilobite appear in the deepest sedimentary rocks.

Not knowing that the Bible reveals a pre-Adamic catastrophe that destroyed all life, an amazed evolutionary geologist exclaimed, “[The] sudden appearance of abundant fossils in the Cambrian [the lowest geological layer in which fossils are found] is remarkable” (Dunbar, Historical Geology, p. 125; emphasis added throughout).

Why were these geologists astounded to discover that complex fossils appear suddenly in the deepest sedimentary rocks? The theory of evolution has led geologists to assume that the older and deeper rocks were laid down over many millions of years. They assumed that in the deepest rocks they would find very simple fossil remains of evolving life forms. They expected to find simple fossil forms that clearly showed the steps of evolution taking place. But because evolution has never taken place, they failed to find even simple pre-trilobite forms!

As the well-known evolutionary geologists Stokes said, “[We] do not understand why fossils of marine invertebrates [without backbones] suddenly became plentiful…” (Stokes, Essentials of Earth History, p. 186).

Why Can’t They Understand?

These geologists have been taught to believe that fossils were laid down gradually over incomprehensibly long periods of time. They have also been taught to believe that these fossils evolved from simpler life forms. They are astounded that these simple forms can’t be found. Yet they will not give up their cherished theory—though proven wrong!

It is evident that fossils appearing on a worldwide scale can only be laid down by a worldwide flood. It is obvious, therefore, that the fossil forms appearing suddenly in the lower and deeper rocks are proof of a pre-Adamic destructive event—an event that buried them first!

There is no possible way to explain this sudden death of many complex creatures in the bottom layer of the earth’s sedimentary rocks except by a pre-Adamic event wherein water suddenly buried these life forms.

Proof of Rising Floodwaters

The first sedimentary deposits geologists have found are composed of fine particles with few signs of buried life. This is the natural accumulation of erosion from the pre-Adamic world before the first “catastrophe” occurred.

But suddenly the deposits become coarser and contain many fossils. The bottom-dwellers of the ocean were usually buried first in the deepest layers of sediment. Then the rising floodwaters of that first destructive event buried the plants along the shoreline. Dunbar reports that geologists have found, in the next higher sedimentary layer, “fragments of land plants” and also fossil forms of “scorpions and millipedes” (Historical Geology, p. 171).

Did these land plants and scorpions and millipedes evolve over long eons of time from the trilobites? No! All the fossil record proves is that they suddenly died!

If life evolved, why do feathered wings (and many other features) appear in fossil remains fully developed? Why haven’t we found fossil remains of transitional stages between the leather wings of the flying reptiles and the feathered wings of birds?

Why have evolutionists and geologists failed to discover the fossil remains of one single intermediate species, yet they have discovered millions of fossils that are strictly classified as “well-defined” life forms? If life did evolve slowly from the simple to the complex, then there should be a far greater number of intermediate states or varieties than of the fixed species!

As the rising floodwaters began to sweep upward, small shoreline plants and animals were buried next and became fossils. The geologic record demonstrates that as the pre-Adamic floodwaters continued to rise, vast numbers of scale-less fish were soon buried in the mud and silt which settled down to make the next higher sedimentary layers. So many fossilized fish are found in the rocks laid down by this stage of the pre-Adamic destruction that geologists claim these so-called Devonian rocks were laid down in “the Age of Fishes” (Essentials, p. 227). But there was no “Age of Fishes”—only a time when fish died in vast numbers in the sea.

Rising Flood Devastates Jungles

The raging floodwaters, which were but a part of this pre- Adamic destruction, rose higher and higher, engulfing the jungles and lowlands. This catastrophe engulfed and uprooted whole forests. Plant remains often were washed into huge piles, covering them with deep layers of mud and silt. These masses of vegetable remains later were crushed by the weight of the mud and silt.

Today we know them as the coal beds of the so-called Paleozoic rocks.

Coal Formed by Pre-Adamic Flood!

Do geologists know that coal was formed by this pre- Adamic flood? The evolutionary geologist, Stokes, makes this surprising statement: “Even though all the biological, geographic, and climatic factors were favorable, coal still could not form unless plant debris was submerged and buried by sediments” (Essentials, p. 216).

In other words, this geologist admitted that coal can be formed only when huge masses of trees and plants have been swept up by onrushing floodwaters and covered up with layers of mud and silt. He adds, “Nor could the land have alternately risen and sunk, because a bed of coal to be preserved must remain permanently buried and, of course, could not survive exposure to erosion” (p. 216). Thus, Stokes explained why coal beds could not have been formed by the swamp forests and jungles alternately rising above and sinking below the seas over a long period of time—an erroneous idea long taught in schools!

Stokes also admitted, “Obviously, more than a heavy growth of vegetation is required for coal formation. The plant debris must be buried, compressed, and protected from erosion and from intensive metamorphism” (p. 215).

In other words, the only possible way coal beds can be formed is for great quantities of plant matter to be washed together, deposited in one spot, and then quickly covered over with heavy layers of mud and sand, which over time compress the huge piles of plant remains into coal.

World travelers know that coal is not being formed in the jungles of the earth today. Plant life dies, decays, and rots into humus. It is obvious that coal is not now being formed!

Before coal can be formed, plant remains must not only be covered quickly to prevent decay, they must be covered deep enough so that the massive weight of millions of tons of sediment will transform the carbon of these plants into coal.

A pre-Adamic catastrophic event is the only possible means by which the hard coals found on earth today could have been formed. What greater proof of a worldwide pre-Adamic flood do evolutionary geologists need before they will admit that the facts of science agree with the simple truth of God’s Word?

Rising Floodwaters Wash Away the Plains

What would you naturally expect to find preserved as fossils as the waters rose over the hills and plains? The fastestrunning animals would flee to the tops of the highest hills before being drowned. And larger animals would float longer than small, but comparatively heavier, animals—such as trilobites. Plus, wouldn’t you expect flying reptiles to be able to escape the rising floodwaters longer than the hard-shelled sea forms?

That is just what happened!

Stokes states that in the so-called Jurassic stage (a later phase of that same destruction), “leathery-winged reptiles called ‘pterodactyls’ took to the air” (p. 278). But these flying reptiles were not evolving into birds, as evolutionists assume—they were beginning to fall into the floodwaters and be buried to become fossils!

Dinosaurs Exterminated

Dunbar wrote, “Dinosaurs were now in their heyday…” (Historical Geology, p. 306). What he should have said was that—in the later stages of the pre-Adamic flood, as the floodwaters reached the higher hills—the dinosaurs were rapidly exterminated and buried and became fossils. Dunbar unwittingly referred to this pre-Adamic destruction when he wrote, “Throughout the long Mesozoic Era … reptiles completely dominated life on the earth; but at its close, their dynasty suddenly collapsed” (p. 404). According to Dunbar, the geologist Walther called this sudden destruction of the dinosaurs “the time of the great dying” (p. 348).

The evolutionary geologist G. G. Simpson made it clear that geologists don’t understand what happened. He said, “[The] most puzzling event in the history of life on the earth … is the change from the Mesozoic Age of Reptiles to the … Age of Mammals” (from “Mammals and Land Bridges,” Washington Academic Science Journal, Vol. 30, pp. 137-163).

Geologists recognize that something drastic occurred during the time the upper rocks of the pre-Adamic age (the so-called Mesozoic Era) were laid down. They fail to realize that these rocks were laid down suddenly—instead of over an assumed 500 million years. Not having the foundation of all knowledge—the truth of the Bible—they utterly fail to grasp the fact that a worldwide pre-Adamic flood suddenly exterminated all plants and animals. They guessed wrong by nearly 500 million years!

Puzzled Geologists

When Dunbar wrote that “the reptilian hordes gave way to a spectacular rise of warm-blooded vertebrates” (p. 336), he failed to realize that he had discovered evidence that a worldwide catastrophe had exterminated these reptilian hordes and that God later recreated the world of man and the mammals.

Evolutionary geologists recognize that something drastic occurred during the time the upper rocks of the pre-Adamic age were being laid down. But because they won’t look in their Bibles, they cannot understand what happened!

Properly understood, both the Bible and geology clearly prove that a worldwide catastrophe destroyed the pre-Adamic creation. Evolutionary geologists today find fossil remains of that age in the deeper and older sedimentary rocks. The fossil record makes it clear that the smaller animals were buried before the larger, faster-running animals—which fled the onrushing water to higher ground.

Age of Pre-Adamic World Not Revealed

Because the Bible doesn’t tell us, we do not know how long the earth remained a paradise—or how long the watercovered ruin lasted. The world is certainly old, but God would not have allowed the desolation to long remain. The Bible, however, does reveal that almost 6,000 years ago God recreated and refashioned the earth in a literal week of seven days. He placed Adam and Eve and the plants and animals of today on this earth and commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth…” (Gen. 1:28).

Only 1656 years after Adam and Eve were created, their descendants became so wicked that God again destroyed the world with the flood of Noah’s day. All living breathing creatures of this second creation, of the time of Adam and Eve, were destroyed—except for Noah and his family and the animals that were protected in the ark.

Noah’s Flood, which occurred in 2370-2369 BC, left an entirely different set of sedimentary layers and fossils than did the pre-Adamic destruction described in Genesis 1:2. These two distinct sets of sedimentary layers and their fossils came from two entirely different periods of time in the earth’s history.

You can readily tell the difference between the rocks of the pre-Adamic world and the sedimentary rocks laid down by Noah’s Flood. The pre-Adamic rocks are usually so hard they can be dug into only with cutting tools and dynamite. But the sedimentary rocks laid down by Noah’s Flood can, in general, still be dug into with a pick and shovel.

Geologists have found fossils of cold-blooded reptiles in the older and deeper rocks, but in the newer rocks geologists find fossils primarily of warm-blooded mammals associated with man’s world. Of course, certain cold-blooded reptiles were recreated. Even a few dinosaur-like reptiles may have reappeared in the second creation (see The Genesis Flood, by Whitcomb and Morris).

Just as in the pre-Adamic flood, Noah’s Flood also buried the heavy-shelled sea life first, then the smaller animals that could not flee fast enough to escape the rising floodwaters. Finally, just as in the pre-Adamic catastrophe, the raging floodwaters of Noah’s day engulfed the very biggest and fastest animals that had fled to the top of the highest hills.

Noah’s Flood Buries Shell Creatures First

Evolutionary geologists again unwittingly tell the story. Stirton wrote, “In sheltered areas on the fine silty bottom of the oceans, where wave action was greatly reduced, species of the gastropod Turritella (small sea-shell forms) occurred in abundance” (Time, Life and Man, p. 307). The truth is not that they were evolving in abundance, but they were being buried by the millions—suddenly—by Noah’s Flood.

As the waters of the flood rose, slightly larger types of animals were caught up in the swirling waters and deposited in the next highest sedimentary layers. Dunbar said that among these animals were “diminutive horses, small hornless rhinoceroses, equally small titanotheres, tiny cameloids, the first oreodons, squirrel-like rodents, bats, and small primates. None of these attained a considerable size, and the largest would hardly have stood waist-high to a man” (Historical Geology, p. 428).

Evolutionists misinterpret this evidence and claim the fossil remains of these small mammals are proof that they were evolving from the smaller to the larger.

These slightly larger animals were still too small to flee the rapidly rising waters of Noah’s Flood for long. They too were caught up in the rising floodwaters and covered with mud and silt, at most a few days after the heavy-shelled forms were buried. Yet geologists theorize that millions of years elapsed between the two deeper layers laid down by Noah’s Flood.

Rather than prove evolution took place, the fossils prove evolution did not take place!

As the waters of the flood continued to rise over higher and higher ground, larger and larger mammals were caught up in the swirling waters and buried in the mud and silt. In the rocks laid down in the middle of the sediments deposited by Noah’s Flood, geologists have found “[the] true carnivores (flesh eaters), among which were dogs, small foxlike animals, true cats, sabertoothed cats … wild turkeys, and … peccaries” (Stirton, p. 324).

Mistaken Ages

Geologists falsely assume that the larger mammals evolved slowly over eons of time from the smaller mammals. But what the fossil record really proves is that the larger mammals died later!

In the upper sedimentary layers of Noah’s Flood (the socalled Miocene rocks), Dunbar states that “cattle, sheep, and goats [that] belong to the family Bovidae, which also includes the bison, the musk ox, and the antelopes” are found (Historical Geology, p. 415).

The cattle, sheep, and goats were buried in the upper sedimentary rocks laid down by Noah’s Flood—because they grazed on the high plains and in the mountain valleys. They were therefore buried in the mud and silt in the later stages of Noah’s Flood. They were not evolving as geologists assume—they were fleeing!

One final puzzle can easily be understood in the light of Bible truth. Geologists do not realize why the fossil record in the highest rock layers laid down by Noah’s Flood is often difficult, if not impossible, to interpret. Your Bible again makes clear the answer: “And the waters receded from off the earth continually…” (Gen. 8:3). In other words, for 150 days great tides rolled back and forth—mixing and remixing the mud of the sedimentary layers as the floodwaters receded.

Yes, the Bible stands proved! The key to understanding the geology of the ancient rocks is at last revealed! And this knowledge has been in the Bible all these years!

The Bible Also Reveals the Future

Not only does the Bible reveal the past, it also reveals the future. The inspired Word of God clearly reveals a final destruction—this time by fire (Rev. 20:15).

But this third and final destruction by fire is not the end of this earth! No! Jesus Christ showed the apostle John in a vision a New Heaven and a New Earth. It will appear after the third and final worldwide destruction. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…” (Rev. 21:1).

Your Bible makes it clear that all who have ever lived will either be in the Family of God in this new creation—or they will have been cast into the lake of fire in the third and final destruction of the earth!

The choice is ours to make—the Kingdom of God, or the lake of fire! Jesus had John write, “Blessed are those who keep His commandments, that they may have the right to eat of the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

With God’s help, if we choose now to repent, to believe, to overcome, and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus, we shall soon sit with Christ and rule the nations for a thousand years! After the thousand years is over, there will be a final resurrection of those who lived and died in ignorance. God will then use us to teach every man who has ever lived the way to peace and to happiness.

That’s when Darwin will learn how wrong he was! That’s when all the evolutionists will learn that the Bible is right after all! And all who refuse to believe and practice the truth will then perish by fire—the second death. All who obey will live and reign in the new creation.

Reprinted from The Plain Truth magazine, February 1964. Available in the Public Domain. This article has been minimally edited for clarity and its biblical quotations have been replaced with those from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order.

Part II: Modern Geology Compelled to Recognize Catastrophism

Philip Neal

Since Dr. Lynn Torrance wrote this article in 1964, much has changed in the way geologists view the physical history of the world—and the fate of the dinosaurs. Up to 1980, most geologists endorsed strict uniformitarianism, the theory that changes in the earth’s crust during geological history resulted from the predictable action of continuous and uniform processes. This is also referred to as gradualism, i.e., that geological change occurs slowly over long periods of time. This “principle of uniformitarianism” is credited to the work of geologists Charles Lyell and James Hutton.

Accordingly, geologists rejected catastrophism—the theory that changes in the earth’s crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent and unusual events (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or floods of vastly greater power than those observed throughout history). Instead, they believed that the earth had been shaped by the long-term action of forces such as volcanism, earthquakes, erosion, and sedimentation—forces that could still be observed in action today.

Entrenched uniformitarianism made the introduction of catastrophic theory difficult. But in 1923, Harlan Bretz published a paper on the dramatically channeled scablands of eastern Washington State. He was trying to explain the origins of a whole series of deep, abandoned canyons cut in hard, basaltic bedrock featuring dry waterfalls, deeply plunging pools and potholes, large stream ripples, gravel bars, and exotic house-sized boulders. Bretz showed that the scablands were of glacial origin, formed by a once-glacial Lake Missoula.

As would be expected, Bretz encountered resistance to his theories from the geology establishment of the day, since his research strongly promoted flood-catastrophism. After all, geologists had so thoroughly vilified the concept of “great floods” that they could not believe it when somebody actually found evidence of one. But after decades of debate and controversy, Bretz’s catastrophic explanation of the enigmatic Washington State topography was accepted as fact. Suddenly, catastrophism was becoming the new watchword.

(Recognition of the Missoula flood has helped other geologists identify similar landforms in Asia, Europe, Alaska, and the American Midwest. There is now compelling evidence for numerous gigantic ancient floods where glacial ice dams failed time and again, allowing massive amounts of lake water to rapidly flood an area. In fact, it is now widely accepted that England’s fate as an island was sealed by erosion from glacial floods that carved the English Channel.)

Scientifically-based catastrophism began to gain wide acceptance. One stimulus for this change came in 1980 from the publication of a paper by Walter and Luis Alvarez suggesting that a six-mile-wide asteroid struck the earth 66 million years ago. Apparently, this was just the catastrophe catastrophists were looking for.

But uniformitarianism proved to have considerable staying power. So instead of genuine catastrophism, there was a “marriage” of gradualism with catastrophism—which some call neo-catastrophism. This novel approach attempts to explain sudden extinctions in the paleontological record by high magnitude (catastrophic), low frequency (rare) events—such as asteroid impacts and super-volcanic eruptions. These events are thought to have occurred over great periods of time, with cumulative (gradual) effects.

Today, most geologists continue to combine catastrophist and uniformitarian standpoints, taking the view that earth’s history is a slow, gradual story “punctuated” by occasional naturally occurring catastrophic events. But as we will see, even neocatastrophism fails to adequately explain the widespread geological phenomena that continue to awe scientists.

This is precisely the position of Henry Morris, Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He writes: “The inadequacies of … uniformitarianism have become increasingly obvious in recent years, and such quasi-catastrophist concepts [neo-catastrophism] as wandering continents, shifting poles, slipping crusts, meteoritic and cometary collisions, etc., are appearing more and more frequently in geological literature. It is, in fact, generally recognized that even the ordinary fossiliferous deposits of the sedimentary rocks must often have at least a semicatastrophist basis, since the process of fossilization usually requires rather rapid burial, under conditions seldom encountered in the modern world. Most geological processes of the present seem to be non-catastrophic in nature, but catastrophes of some sort seem necessary to explain many of the earth’s geological formations.

“Uniformity [uniformitarianism] is therefore entirely undeserving of its sacrosanct position in geological interpretation. On the other hand, [the earth’s geological] phenomena lend themselves quite readily to interpretation in terms of the Creation- Catastrophe framework.” (Biblical Catastrophism and Geology).

Writing for www.answersingenesis.org, Dr. John Whitmore notes that geologists are slowly coming to realize that most rocks contain evidence of rapid accumulation. “Conventional geologists are recognizing that catastrophic processes [explain] many parts of the geologic record….” He goes on to clarify their thinking: “When an organism is turned into stone (i.e., fossilized), the process usually must happen rapidly, or the organism will be lost to decay…. In order for an animal carcass to be turned into a fossil, it must be sequestered from decay very soon after death. The most common way for this to happen is via deep rapid burial…. It is [becoming] widely recognized that most of these [fossil] deposits were formed by catastrophic, rapid burial of animal carcasses.”

Remember, rapid accumulation and rapid burial are 1) required for the formation of most fossil deposits, and yet 2) are not possible under a uniformitarian process. Catastrophism is the only viable explanation.

Lawrence Ford of the Institute for Creation Research indicates that today’s geologist is increasingly being confronted with irrefutable evidence of catastrophism. He says “evidence is mounting for the existence of [ancient] super-faults, which have not been active in recent history. These super-faults involve very rapid displacements driven by gravity. They must have generated enormous friction and heat that vaporized or melted rock on fault surfaces. We can see excellent examples of super-faults in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and in the Heart Mountains of Wyoming—evidence that catastrophic plate tectonics and giant gravity-driven landslides formed mountains.” He adds that the “Coconino Sandstone of the Grand Canyon region has abundant cross-bedding that argues for deep, fast-moving flood waters over a submerged continent.”

Indeed, the origin of the Grand Canyon continues to be a topic of much speculation and debate—and geologists have yet to reach a consensus. Dr. Steve Austin (of the same Institute) published a study in 1994 showing that the Grand Canyon was cut by a catastrophic flood. In 2000, a symposium was convened by geologists to discuss the canyon’s origin wherein similar ideas were presented. It appears that opinion is slowly beginning to favor a “catastrophic carving” of the Grand Canyon.

The fact is, millions of years are not required to explain the earth’s strange geological phenomena. In the aftermath of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, scientists began to realize that thin, delicate rock layers don’t necessarily represent slow sedimentary processes; thin layers of rock can be formed catastrophically. Mount St. Helens is one of the most well-studied and documented volcanoes in history. One of the most interesting discoveries following its eruption was thinly laminated deposits containing volcanic ash. The layers were clearly laid down suddenly, catastrophically—not as would be expected of such rock deposits.

Mount St. Helens also indirectly caused massive catastrophic flooding. For example, the “Little Grand Canyon” of the Toutle River was cut by a massive mudflow on March 19, 1982, that originated from the crater of Mount St. Helens. The abrasive mudflow cut through rockslide and pumice deposits leaving the new canyon system—which is 140 feet deep in some places. Nearby Engineer’s Canyon was also cut by the mudflow and is 100 feet deep.

It indeed seems that an increasing number of scientists are coming to grips with catastrophic geology. They are beginning to express an appreciation for the geologic power of “a lot of water in a little time”—which contrasts with the commonly accepted model of “a little water over a lot of time.”

Dinosaur Graveyards

Dinosaur extinction is still a major enigma of earth history. The mystery is heightened when one realizes that the dinosaurs were actually well adapted to their environments and apparently had a worldwide distribution (dinosaur “graveyards” have been unearthed on every continent).

Since about 1980, within the neo-catastrophic/uniformitarian paradigm, the “meteorite hypothesis” has been the dominant theory concerning the dinosaurs. But according to Michael Oard (www.creation.com), this theory fails to explain the abundance of evidence that the dinosaurs “died in a cataclysm of global proportions.” Oard cites Gregory Paul, a well respected geologist, who says, “Indeed, the dinosaurs’ fecundity makes it hard to see how such resilient animals could ever have been killed off. The extinction of the dinosaurs was probably not part of the normal course of evolutionary fluctuations, nor was it just another result of random extraterrestrial [meteoric] disruptions. Instead, it remains one of the most extraordinary and inexplicable events in earth history.”

Oard appropriately asks, “Could the reason the extinction of the dinosaurs remains such a major mystery be because of the uniformitarian bias within historical geology?”

He notes that the overriding aspect of dinosaur fossils is that most dinosaurs were buried rapidly in water—or entombed in giant mass flows. Afterwards, fossilization must have proceeded rapidly. Thus, he writes, “water is closely associated with the burial and fossilization of the dinosaurs.” This rapid burial is necessary if organisms are to be preserved as fossils.

Oard writes that “dinosaurs are often found in large bone-beds or dinosaur graveyards, where many dinosaur bones are packed together. This provides evidence for at least catastrophic local floods. A few of these bone-beds contain thousands of dinosaurs and indicate catastrophic action. Probably the largest bonebed in the world is located in north-central Montana … [where an] estimate was made for 10,000 duckbill dinosaurs entombed in a thin layer measuring 2 km east-west and .5 km north-south. The bones are disarticulated and disassociated, and are orientated eastwest.” He quotes geologists Horner and Gorman, who studied the Montana site—a jumble of disarticulated bones piled like logs in a logjam: “How could any mud slide, no matter how catastrophic, have the force to take a two- or three-ton animal that had just died and smash it around so much that its femur—still embedded in the flesh of its thigh—split lengthwise?”

Oard answers, “A cataclysmic event obviously is implied.”

Dinosaur graveyards are not found just in the western United States, but worldwide. And practically all of them indicate catastrophic burial by water or aqueous slurries.

Billions of dinosaur tracks have also recently been discovered, and these provide further evidence for unusual, stressful conditions. In the western United States, of special note are the mega-track sites. Practically all such track-ways are straight—an indication the animal was fleeing for its life.

Oard refers to researchers Lockley and Hunt, who state: “Any deer or elk hunter knows that land animals frequently meander, especially while looking for food. Straight tracks are usually made when the animal is in a hurry, escaping a predator or a hunter, or rapidly migrating. Even in these situations, the track-ways will sometimes curve or meander a little. The fact that practically all dinosaur track-ways are straight strongly favors animals desperately trying to escape some catastrophe. The worldwide extent of these straight dinosaur track-ways provides evidence for a cataclysm of global proportions.”

Moreover, it is rare to find juvenile tracks along such track-ways. It is speculated that this is because juvenile dinosaurs would have been 1) among the first to perish in rising flood waters; 2) trampled along the way by adult dinosaurs fleeing for their lives; and 3) unable to keep up with the fleeing adult populations. Again, the evidence points to widespread catastrophism.

These unusual characteristics of dinosaur track-ways do not fit into the uniformitarian paradigm of slow, gradual processes over millions of years. Rather, the evidence points to a time of worldwide stress on dinosaurs trying to escape rapidly rising flood waters. Indeed, wherever dinosaur bones are unearthed, the evidence predominantly suggests catastrophic entombment. Just the burial and fossilization of such massive hulks as the larger dinosaurs indicates major, sudden catastrophic action.

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