Part 2

The following explanatory paragraphs are identified by number on the cross sectional map of the Grand Canyon area supplied with this discussion. (Vertical is exaggerated 5 to 1.) This map and comments must be studied carefully and mastered until the global flood concept is seen and understood clearly in the Grand Canyon strata. Some of the conclusions listed below are disputed even among the creationist scientists. Stromatolites (large structures which appear to be made of blue-green algae) and which appear to be Precambrian is an example, debated among creationists. Modifications in the future can be expected, but the basic idea of worldwide Flood geology is firm and factual. We now turn our focus more centrally to the cross sectional map for a brief, basic explanation of the Grand Canyon strata.

1. Broken up, sometimes twisted and metamorphosed Precambrian strata --"the world that perished" (II Peter 3:6). No transported fossils are in this area and almost no fossils are found at all. The few that are found were part of the pristine creation, mostly microscopic, a few being subsoil worm like organisms in natural settings but mostly one-celled bacteria or algae. Even today, microscopic organisms thrive hundreds of feet below the surface. The strata below the great unconformity (see #2)appear to have been originally well ordered, contrasting the universal chaos everywhere above this great erosion surface. Widespread faulting in the Precambrian shows that this well-ordered regime underwent catastrophe, upset, colossal sheet erosion and redeposition of new strata.

2. The "Great Unconformity"--world wide phenomenon created by the inrushing water over the sunken continent (Genesis 7 & 8, also Psalm104:8-9). Much of the continental world was progressively wiped clean to bedrock by extensive sheet erosion, then those sediments were necessarily redeposited. Marine type fossils, transported and buried, would naturally dominate this redeposited zone. In the lowest strata above the great unconformity, phyla of every life form are abundant, and in mind boggling variety. So abundant and varied are these life forms that it has been named the "Cambrian Explosion" of life by evolutionists but it is really the earliest unload of suspended destruction residual to the great Flood. As such it is better named the Cambrian explosion of death--a vast graveyard of highly complex marine organisms. This lowest Cambrian zone even includes vertebrate forms. Complex life forms do not appear simply and gradually above this great erosion surface but suddenly, abundantly and under catastrophic burial conditions. The entire sedimentary world above the great unconformity is an immense burial ground. Because the strata below the great unconformity shows a destroyed world below it, we must look for causes and sources for the 350 million cubic miles of strata above it. That's about 1500 million cubic km. of redeposited strata. This point must be fully grasped. It shows a destroyed order below it and a chaotic depositional graveyard above it. Remnants of the original created world are visible, but broken and tilted. Therefore, the enormous deposits above the great unconformity are later accumulations from horrendous, cataclysmic forces of redeposition. Please review this point carefully until fully grasped.

3. Part of the "fountains of the great deep" (Gen. 7:11). Great volcanic extrusions and explosions are within the meaning (Amos 7:4,5) because magmatic fissures are certainly "fountains" and certainly originate from the "great deep." But the "fountains" may also reference the unstoppable tsunamis from a raging wild ocean, overwhelming the continent in many regions and a more benign deluge elsewhere. In any case, worldwide volcanic activity is included in the meaning of the phrase with lava flows totaling hundreds of thousands of square miles. Notice the flat lying sheet lava (within and at the base of San Francisco Peaks) which extended far beyond the peak area, now removed by secondary erosion. This depiction as well as the opposite side depiction near Cedar Breaks show that these intrusions and extrusions occurred during or following the Flood. Our planet has experienced some sort of terrestrial wreck and displays its bleeding wounds all over the globe.

4. The end of the water deposits caused by in rushing marine waters over the sunken continent and/or elevated ocean basins perhaps to the upper limit of zone 5, then immediately eroded down again in places by outrushing waters (continent rising) to this line 4. This is called the Permian boundary, quite a distinctive geologic division. This deposition/erosion sequence was perhaps mostly completed in the single year of the Flood although much activity may have continued for hundreds of years after Noah disembarked. Notice the very wide sheet erosion caused by widespread, sudden water movements with little evidence of even ten months of erosion time between strata. These erosion planes are similar to the great unconformity We are talking big time erosive excavation. Sheet erosion can occur from those unthinkably immense, rapid and massive water movements. Today's limited water erosions tend to make gullies and canyons. Never does regional sheet erosion occur today in areas including fossils of land based life.

5. This immense zone, from Permian to top of Cretaceous or perhaps above that, may have been deposited, then partly removed as the sunken continent began to rise again. See Psalm 104:5-9 quoted above. This is Psalm 103 in Russian or Catholic Bibles. Notice again the evidence for wide area sheet erosion, impossible to explain by slow and gradual processes.

6. Sediments from a long series of massive deposits. Please see the introductory paragraphs above regarding their formation. Some of the limestone became mixed in with the slurries like the sandy Muav dirty limestone, which indicates rapid deposition like the turbidites rather than static accumulations of precipitates. Some other limestones are quite pure. The very flat deposits of these massive slurries of all types are hydraulically sorted (that is, sorted by the floodwaters) into the various strata.

7. The limestones are not all necessarily transported but are formed by precipitation of calcium carbonate in sea water. Most precipitates occur as solutions are cooled but in the case of limestone (calcium carbonate)the solution precipitates when warmed. The great volcanic eruptions under the ocean created great volumes of calcium carbonate precipitate. It was probably like a violent snowstorm of calcium carbonate underwater, forming into limestone in various parts of the world on a grandiose scale, then transported and sorted with the other massive deposits. However, the pre-Flood world contained massive accumulations of limestone which were pulverized by the flood waters into particle size, sorted hydraulically into vast, moving regions of like materials and redeposited along with new carbonates created by the warm flood waters. A sort of cohesion seems to keep the vast regions in distinct units. The Redwall limestone contains billions of nautiloids (pointed shelled organisms typically two feet in length and only a few inches in diameter found in Nautiloid canyon and extending 200 plus miles to Nevada) which are shown conclusively to be rapidly buried with high energy in a fluid carbonate slurry. This indicates the presence of current flow of high intensity at burial, incompatible with gradual deposition over long periods of time. The Redwall may have been partly sourced from pre-Flood limestone,pulverized into sand-grain size and redeposited along with newly formed limestone.

The population of crinoids, diatoms and other life forms which control the world's oxygen levels may have comprised a complete world-filling inventory during creation week and some were fossilized in limestone and chert even before the Flood but most of the fossilization was Flood related.

8. Coal deposits caused by great floating log mats and uprooted and fragmented vegetation. The pre-Flood flora and fauna may have exceeded today's inventory by several dozen times. Bark, roots and branches might sink to form peat while many of the larger logs kept floating and decayed. The peat, buried by massive flood sediments, then deprived of oxygen and heated, became coal in a matter of months or a few tens of years. Huge quantities of pre-Flood peat were probably disturbed, transported by floodwaters, sorted, redeposited, buried and coalified. Fossils of tall trees in vertical position, penetrating through several sequences of coal and sediment, (polystrate fossils) will not allow a slow development of coal from peat bogs over thousands or millions of years. No processes going on today can explain these colossal coal beds but a world wide flood provides a sensible mechanism.

9. Radioisotope dating techniques have failed to support millions of years of post Cambrian geology. In the Grand Canyon area, for one of many examples, the igneous rocks at the canyon bottom, give a rubidium/strontium date many millions of years younger than recent lava flows known to be only a few thousand years old which flow over the top of the canyon walls from the Uinkaret Plateau. All geologists agree that the lava flows on top of the canyon (9A) are recent. Native Americans may have witnessed some of these eruptions but the radioisotope date(rubidium/strontium) of these recent eruptions (of the Uinkaret Plateau not shown on this cross section) measure much older than the lowest Cardenas Lavas and diabase sills (9B) found within the very bottom Precambrian strata. Volcanos in Hawaii which erupted in the 19th century give isotope dates of many millions of years. It has been assumed that radiometric "clocks" are set to zero when magma is molten but that is not so. Some radioactive inclusions found in crystals within magma tend to survive the magma phase so when recrystallized into rock and then dated there is a considerable "inheritance of daughter elements" in the crystals from the magma source. Geologists may be essentially dating the age of the earth base materials, not the date of magma solidification.

The interior of earth (and all the terrestrial type planets) contains much radioactivity. If a terrestrial planet existed between Mars and Jupiter and was broken to fragments by a large cometary collision just before the Flood, and if as a consequence fragments crashed into all the planets including earth, precipitating the Flood, would not the newly deposited magmatic intrusions and Flood sediments be filled with extraterrestrial radioactivity, thus further skewing measurements and perhaps accelerating some disintegration such as U-235 fission? A far out conjecture, I admit, but worth answering.

Gunter Faure, who authored the first text for graduate students in radioisotope dating, acknowledges that in dating, "Discordances are the rule, not the exception." There are always a wide array of assumptions as well as measured discrepancies in all the isotope dating techniques. Someday, isotope dating may be a useful tool for science and radio carbon already is useful within a 4000 or 5000 year limit but at the present time, isotope dating, while it makes a good story, is simply not reliable. However it is difficult to look at the data without concluding that the earth mineral base is, indeed, millions of years old.

A technical discussion which is rather breathtaking given at the 1998 International Conference on Creationism by Andrew Snelling concludes in discussing excessive Argon with mineral concentrates in recent eruptions,"these considerations call into question all Potassium/Argon "dating" whether "model" ages or "isochron" ages and all Argon40/Argon39 ages that have been calibrated against Potassium/Argon dates." This recent paper (Pages 503-525 of the proceedings) is MUST reading for technical people on the dating subject. Obtain from Creation Science Fellowship, 705 Washington Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15229 USA. Since Potassium/Argon dating is the method of choice in dating ape and "humanoid" fossils, anthropological assumptions by evolutionists need to be reexamined and abandoned or revised.

The age of the universe and the earth mineral base is an altogether different question from the dating of fossils and the Flood. While creationists in general try to support a young universe (max 10,000 years), they do so from a wrong reading of two texts of Scripture. The universe and the earth mineral base could be millions or billions of years old, biology and surface geology could not. (See The Age of the Universe: What Are the Biblical Limits? below.)

10. The ice age cannot be depicted on this cross section but it was caused by a significant increase in ocean temperature and a significant decrease in solar incidence on the continents. The great volcanic eruptions at the close of the Flood (including very active mid-ocean ridges) warmed the ocean and filled the atmosphere with volcanic debris,chilling the non-equatorial continents in a continuous winter for many years. But precipitation was greatly increased due to warm ocean temperatures. The ocean was warmed by the same volcanic eruptions which provided the dust and gas clouds to cool the continents all over the globe. This resulted in a global "lake effect" which loaded two hemispheres at much of their upper latitudes with year-around snow. The ice age was a post-Flood phenomenon and may have lasted over large areas for a few hundred years. Job, one of the oldest post-Flood biblical patriarchs, even though he resided in what is now hot and dry Middle East, talks much of ice, snow, hail, frozen ocean surfaces and intense cold.

11. All geologists agree that high mountains and all the mountain ranges are late in geologic history. From a biblical view they are part of the Flood catastrophism, probably at its close or just following the cataclysm. Before the Flood, the highest elevation anywhere on the globe may have been no more than one or two thousand feet (300-600 meters) with no high mountains at all as shown by abundant marine fossils at the tops of every major mountain range. The extensive mountain ranges world wide were lifted fairly rapidly after the Genesis Flood, at least enough area for Noah, et al, to disembark. The rest of mountains may have lifted up over several hundred years following the Flood. The mountain rearing probably took place about five or six thousand years ago possibly by continental "collisions" and oceanic plate subductions on a global scale or just global shivers from a swallowed asteroid. Mountain ranges of this type are not depicted on this cross section.

12. Extensive beds of continental dimensions of a single massive slurry are best explained by a world wide catastrophic flood. The Coconino sandstone covers 200,000 square miles (520,000 sq. km.) up to 300 feet(almost 100 meters) deep. The Morrison formation, rich in dinosaur fossils, covers 400,000 square miles, 100 feet thick. Coal beds cover as much as 160,000 square miles of thin seams. The St. Peter sandstone blankets much of North America and parts of Europe with over one million square miles of deposits in thin layers. The Supai group reaches from Pennsylvania to Arizona, just to name a few extensive beds. Any of these are difficult (actually impossible) to explain without postulating a deluge of global proportions. Uniformitarian explanations fail miserably to account for their existence.

13. The geological column as partially present in Southwestern United States. Most of the column, Cambrian and above, was deposited in the year of the Genesis Flood. Some of the uppermost deposits may have been post-Flood.

The assignment of dates to the geologic column has not fulfilled the standards of objective science. The ancient dates assigned to the column laid the foundation for the theory of evolution but have no good science for their support. Evolutionists want billions of years for geologic processes but a close look at world geology supports rapid everything, Cambrian and above, with some minor variations.

14a. Widespread faulting occurred before and after the Flood. This "before Flood" faulting may mark the beginning when the "fountains of the great deep were broken up," thus inaugurating the Flood.

14b. This "after Flood" faulting occurred as the world was returning to equilibrium following the greatest physical event within human history. Even today, the earth is not fully normalized.

15. The distribution of animal fossils throughout these vast deposits is explained by hydraulic sorting, ecological zonation, differential buoyancy of carcasses, and, to an extent, mobility of animal species. Evolutionists claim a gradual progression of biota reflecting the progress of evolution, but the discovery of pine pollen in the Precambrian Hakatai shale (please note location in the Precambrian) would utterly invalidate the theory of evolution. (This discovery is disputed by both evolutionists and creationists and does need further corroboration.) It is true that there is a pattern in fossil location but not necessarily simple to complex and not necessarily the pattern claimed by evolutionists. Bacteria do not exhibit such a succession, invertebrates do not, nor do the plants show such a pattern. The Cambrian explosion of fossils includes most animal phyla including vertebrates--totally discordant with evolutionary theory but totally concordant to Flood geology. What appear to be bear and bird tracks and even "simian" appearing footprints and one print that looks "uncannily like a large human hand" was reported in the Smithsonian magazine July 1992 p 70ff. These are all found in Permian supposedly 280 million years old, long before bears and birds to say nothing of simians or humans were supposed to exist. Problem fossils like those need more study for sure but are easily understood by the creationist view. (See Roth, 28, Chapter 10)

The "Cambrian explosion" of life forms (Cambrian here represented by the Tapeats sandstone, Bright Angel shale and Muav limestone) is really unanswerable by evolutionists and involves extremely complex life forms at the lowest zone and even includes vertebrates. The fossils within these phanerozoic formations follow a sensible pattern depending on their ecological location. For example, heavier shelled bottom dwelling ocean creatures are found, predictably, at the lower levels. Land dwelling mammal fossils tend to be found above the Permian boundary as the waters began to recede, exposing continental ground. Bloated carcasses may have floated in the various formations according to a decomposed, gas-laden density unique to each animal kind. I Corinthians 15:39 states, "For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals,another for birds, and another for fish." Is it possible that bloated carcasses float according to this "kind of flesh" here enumerated and have found a natural location which gives the illusion of progression upward? See Roth's book, Origins: Linking Science and Scripture, page 169 referenced below. Those enormous reptiles, the dinosaurs, mostly vegetarian, required a huge ecosystem to support their diet, yet the dinosaur yielding formations have no evidence of such ecosystems. Instead these reptiles are buried in sandstone with volcanic ash above,sometimes below and a small part mixed within with almost no vegetable material. Vegetable material throughout is buried mostly in seams, often coalified with almost no bones in those seams.

16. Multiple intertongues may exist at the Muav/Redwall contact, and if so would prove conclusively that these great units were deposited in mobile waters and that any hiatus, let alone more than 100 million years between, is utterly impossible. Differences in dolomite composition from the Redwall versus that in the Muav, appear to control the surface discoloration of each differently, hence the appearance of colored bands. Interbedding exists between many other formations as well. (See photocopy.) Mammoths may be post-Flood and are found in the latest deposits including ice age deposits.

It is certainly possible that a large asteroid impacted the Earth,directed by the hand of God in a terrible judgment. "I, even I do bring a flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life." (Genesis 6:17). An asteroidal impact, undeniably a possibility, could provide a mechanism for so great an upheaval as the Genesis Flood. An impact may have split the earth's crust into plates like a shattered egg shell thus triggering widespread volcanic devastation. After all, the interior of the earth is mostly fluid or plastic and the solid crust is only like an onion skin relatively. Plus, before day three of the Genesis record, the continents were flooded in the beginning so why contest the Scripture in chapter seven? The energy involved in an impact is easily calculable for various sizes of bolides but the consequences are not easy to predict at all. The Bible tells of this judgment but does not tell us about the trigger, so an asteroid is guesswork although made plausible by the ubiquitous impact craters within the solar system. But something catastrophic happened about five or six thousand years ago which also may have left impact craters throughout the solar system. It is impossible to adequately visualize the magnitude of the Flood catastrophe and whatever may have triggered it.

There is a wide range of geologic features throughout the world but all of them, Cambrian and above, can be explained and are best explained by a worldwide cataclysm of flood waters. This geologic cross section should be studied carefully because there is a wealth of information in it, but there are many variations of this depiction throughout the world. When the recent worldwide flood interpretation is firmly grasped for geology, the result is a sensible, scientifically reasonable model in perfect harmony with Scripture as well as with raw data. One leaves the investigation with the conviction that every jot and tittle of Scripture is inspired by God. But we must reject the dating assignments depicted on this cross-section. An easy way to remember is substitute "yarns" for "years" on these otherwise excellent maps. I don't mean to level accusations or appear unkind with that but the dates are simply in error.

It is clear that asteroidal impacts cannot possibly be slow and gradual,lava flows in their nature cannot be slow and gradual over millions of years, deposits from regional moving slurries cannot be slow and gradual over millions of years. Volcanic deposits in their nature cannot be slow and gradual as they unload their material. Limestone deposits could be slow and gradual but not with Nautiloids, embedded in them, extending for hundreds of miles and oriented by current flow and not without containing abundant erosional and biologic evidence for periodic lengthy waiting times between strata. The Muav limestone mixed with sand indicates a hyper- concentrated fluidic transport and if so it was not slow and gradual either like the Tapeats and Bright Angel of the same Cambrian deposits. River deltas are another example that could be and probably have been slow and gradual although greatly accelerated just after the Flood. The Coconino sandstone is regarded by creationists as water deposited but evolutionists claim it as desert drifting sands. Thus it could be a slow process if wind blown but must be rapid if it is water deposited. This paper recognizes the evidence for the water borne nature of the Coconino from the angle of its cross-bedding. That indicates water transport and quadruped tracks are found which could hardly be preserved in desert sand. See Steve Austin's book referenced above. The conclusion is that the entire column was deposited quickly with only a few deposits debatable, and in creationist minds, those few are not convincing at all. Gradual deposits prevail today only after the main catastrophism was completed a few thousand years ago. All the activity may have taken several hundred years to complete even though Noah disembarked after one year to the first exposed land.

Let the reader appraise the foregoing. Surely an asteroidal impact is possible, no one could deny that. But if not asteroid, then something has wrecked our planet so we ask the question. Is it plausible? In my mind catastrophic events bring far more explanatory power than alternatives. No doubt opponents will imagine difficulties to this model. That is assumed and it is fine if accompanied with factual evidence. I am sure that any difficulties do not compare with the impossibilities of uniformitarian, gradualistic ideas for accomplishing the present state of things.

Evolution is impossible for many, many reasons. Following are a few highlights mentioned only briefly as assertions. Any of these assertions can be documented fully but most of them are close to self-evident anyway. Assertions prove nothing, but they can be valuable heuristically by inviting further investigation by any who want to find out the truth.

The laws of mathematical probability will not allow evolution and a simple protein molecule could not evolve from a supposed "primordial soup" even if the world were 900 trillion years old. Evolution is impossible from the laws of thermodynamics, the most solid of all laws of science. Entropy always increases. Everything tends to disorder. Order comes only through intelligent activity. Crystal growth is a function of the original atomic structure and only represents the releasing of the order already resident in the atomic structure. Not only is spontaneous generation of orderly systems never found anywhere but spontaneous dissolution of ordered systems into disorder is an inexorable law,ubiquitous and without exceptions. Mutations do not result in a net increase in original information or complexity and therefore cannot be, as evolutionists suppose, the driving force of evolution. The fossil record demonstrates a stubbornly unchanging rigidity of life forms within the range of each genetic pool and the gaps between major divisions are real and immense. There are no transitional forms bridging the major gaps of life forms. Even after 140 years of intense research, none have been found. When evolutionists cite variations within the normal or extreme range of each gene pool (which is all the viable variations that ever occur) they have not shown proof of evolution but variation within species (or genus). All agree, dogs and people come in a wide range of morphology but are nonetheless all of the same species. Large variations in anthropoid skull shapes are easily explained by looking at the skulls of that dog species--all one species but enormous variation in shape. So it is not surprising that we have Pygmies, Swedes, Mongolians, Eskimos and South Sea Islanders with a wide variation in skull shape even today in our human species--all variations within a common gene pool. Similarities in morphology across genus or species lines only prove that God is a God of order.

No one knows how many complex designs exist in nature, but a fair guess, in my opinion, would be literally trillions of them throughout the biological, astronomical and atomic worlds. Not one of these intricate wonders could design itself, not even one, or if "evolved" but merely guided by God, we must ask why a loving God chose such a ruthless method of creating life? Death, struggle and war; tooth, claw and blood did not design the wonders of biology. To accuse God of using lethal competition is nothing less than idolatry. Each organism involves numerous designs with "irreducible complexity" (Michael Behe referenced below) which means that nothing works until everything works which precludes slow and gradual evolution. A partial wing is a liability, not an advantage for that life form. The discovery of E-coli's flagellum propulsion mechanism with multiple rotary electronic motors, reduction gear systems and right angle drive shafts all packaged in a microscopic envelope is simply unanswerable. So also is metamorphosis,symbiosis, pre-programmed migratory patterns, DNA coding and seemingly endless interdependent and complex designs. All of which speak eloquently of a supernatural intelligence who invented them all. Evolution has no real science for its support and is better compared to science fiction. It is a hitchhiker on science, wearing the clothing, using the language and surrounded by some good quality science in related areas, but without even a single item which can withstand the rigors of hard scientific scrutiny for authentication of evolution itself. It has contributed nothing to hard factual science but operates as a parasite. Theistic evolution is a gross idolatry when it pictures God as creator through death, struggle, tooth, claw and the survival of the brutist. Violent tooth and claw came to be as a consequence of our great rebellion against God in the garden. (Genesis 9:2 Romans 8:20-22;Isaiah 11:6-9) To picture God using the mechanism of lethal competition for the creation of all life is an offense to Jesus Christ the Creator who is love incarnate.

Again, the facts are not in dispute, but only the interpretation of the facts. It will be rewarding if the reader does some independent research on each assertion which may need corroboration. Here are some recommended books to help start the process.

My top recommendation is Dr. Ariel Roth's book, Origins: Linking Science and Scripture, published by Review and Herald Publishing Association,Washington, D.C., 20039-0555. It is a very fair-minded treatise, readable and well documented. Dr. Harold Coffin's book, Origin by Design, is also helpful for a much better corroboration of these assertions, also published by Review and Herald. Dr. Coffin is a paleontologist and geologist of high caliber with deep confidence in the testimony of Scripture. Another book relating directly to the Grand Canyon is The Grand Canyon--Monument to Catastrophe, edited by geologist Steven Austin. Austin's book is available from the Institute for Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021. These books are MUST reading for any serious student. Then, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, by Michael Denton, Darwin's Black Box, by Michael Behe and Darwin on Trial, by Philip Johnson are beginning books against Darwinian Evolution. A fascinating video,"Unlocking the Mysteries of Life" by the intelligent design people is very convincing. There are many other convincing books and articles on this important subject. Many authoritative, and verifiable supporting sources are available if the referenced books are inadequate.

This is an addenda (part 2 of 2) in The Age of the Universe. Revision November 2004

This publication including the geological cross section map of the Grand Canyon, essential to the numbered references above is available from Morningstar Publications, 931 15th Street, Washougal, WA 98671-1209 USA $8.00 ppd. (Hardship discount/Free offer: inquire Ph. 360-835-8361. Checks only).