The Age of the Earth
Part Two:
Scientific Evidence for a Worldwide Flood

Two Vastly Different World Views, with Vastly Different Conclusions:
Let's not kid ourselves.  What this is all about is whether or not the Old Testament book of Genesis -- along with the rest of the Old Testament, and the New Testament -- is an accurate account of what happened around 4600 years ago with regard to a worldwide flood, and around 6000 years ago, with regard to Creation itself.

Was virtually all of the sedimentary strata laid down by a single Noachian, worldwide deluge, in a short amount of time, or is the evolutionary scenario of slow change, acting over eons of T-I-M-E, and the associated Geological Time Chart (with its assigned millions and millions of years) a more accurate account of Earth history?

And beyond that, if there is a God to whom we owe our very existence, are we, or will we be, in any way held accountable for how we choose to view the evidence before us and even for our underlying motives behind which evidence we choose to put our faith in?  

With this in mind, the author of this paper believes that there is very good evidence for a worldwide flood, and that this evidence is provided for us by the following items highlighted below in blue.  They provide evidence of either massive and rapidly deposited sediments, or those that were rapidly eroded.  Such evidences are found in numerous places on virtually every Continent.  

Polystrate Fossils: 
One of the strongest pieces of evidence for a worldwide flood is the existence of what Rupke termed "polystrate fossils."  Such fossils are found all over the world.  They usually consist of fossil  trees that were buried upright, and which often traverse multiple  layers of strata such as sandstone, limestone, shale, and even coal beds. ^1,2,3,4  They range in size from small rootlets to trees over 80 feet long. ³   Sometimes they are oblique in relation to the surrounding strata, but more often they are perpendicular to it.  For example, at Joggins, Nova Scotia, polystrate  tree (and root) fossils are found at various intervals throughout roughly 2,500 feet of strata. Many of these are from 10-20 feet  long,  ^5,6 and, at least  one was 40 feet long. ^5,6,7  

Very few of these upright fossil trees have attached roots, and only about 1 in 50 ⁸  have both roots and rootlets attached.  Such trees, and their -- more often than not -- missing roots, are discussed in much more detail in  The "Fossil Forests" of Nova Scotia. ⁹  Likewise, many (if not most) of the large, fragmented, and  broken-off  Stigmaria roots are also missing their rootlets. ⁹ 

Many of these roots, and rootlets, are also buried individually. ⁹  This evidence strongly  suggests that these trees did not grow in the same places where they were buried, but rather were  uprooted and  re-deposited there.  

Similar circumstances occur at various other places in Nova Scotia, as well as in the United States, England, Germany, and France.  Another place where large tree stumps are preserved without their roots attached is  Axel Heiberg ^10,11 Island in Northern Canada.

And although there is much data on buried trees in the geological literature, most of it is over 100 years old, and difficult to access.  One of the few articles on this subject was by Rupke, and in it he comments that:

“Personally, I am of the opinion that the polystrate fossils  constitute a crucial phenomenon  both to the actuality and the mechanism of cataclysmic deposition.  Curiously  a  paper on  polystrate fossils appears to be a  'black swan’  in geological literature.  Antecedent to this synopsis a systematic discussion of  the relevant  phenomena was never published.  However, geologists must have been informed about these fossils.  In view of this it seems unintelligible that uniformitarianism has kept its dominant position." ¹²

With regard to Rupke's observation, I suspect the reason why such is (still) the case has more to do with one's personal bias against the concept of a Creator / God to whom we might very well have to give account of ourselves than to the ever-mounting evidence against the theory of evolution and the millions of years Old Earth that it requires (to appear plausible).  However, T-I-M-E is simply not enough -- not even BILLIONS of years of it.

See also The Organic Levels of the Yellowstone Petrified Forest ¹³ and  The Yellowstone Petrified "Forests"  ¹⁴ by Harold Coffin.

The Fossils Themselves:
Fossils do not form on lake bottoms today,  nor are they  found  forming  on the bottom of the sea. ¹⁵  Instead, fossils normally only form when a plant or animal is buried soon after it  dies. ¹⁶  Therefore, the fossils themselves (and fossil graveyards) are evidence of a catastrophe such as a  flood or volcanic eruption that took place in the past.  See also Rapid Petrification of Wood, by Andrew Snelling.

Clastic Dikes:  According to  Austin, a clastic dike is "a cross  cutting body of  sedimentary material which has been intruded into a foreign rock mass."  ¹⁷

"These dikes...(may) penetrate horizontal sedimentary strata (or) they may occur... in  igneous and  metamorphic rocks.  The process of  formation of a clastic dike is analogous to wet sand oozing up between ones toes, but on a much larger scale." ¹⁷

Clastic dikes present a problem to the "mythions of years" mindset of evolution in  that  massive -- (supposedly millions of years) -- older sediments are found intruding  up into overlying  younger  strata.  This  must have occurred while the "older" sediments were still in a plastic state. 

What took these "older" sediments so long to become hard?

One  would  think that a million  years would be more than enough  time to turn massive sand  laden sediments into sandstone,  yet we have an example of sediments which  are said to be  80 million years older than those above them, and yet they still had not  become  hard, but were in  a wet and plastic state when an earth movement  caused them to be forced  up into the (supposedly  much) "younger" sediments.  Such things not only present serious problems for the evolutionary  method of  "dating" rocks, but tell us (if we are willing) that something is wrong with it with the dates that are assigned, and cause us to strongly suspect that we are not being told the truth by the mass media, nor the "Scientific" community of evolutionist believers. ^17,18,19 

Mt. St. Helens:
Three separate eruptions produced  sedimentary-type layers hundreds of feet thick.  One of these was a hurricane velocity deposit that produced thousands of thin  laminations up to 25 feet thick  ^10,11,12  The third eruption was a  lava flow,  which  turned into a hot mud-flow as it  crossed the Toutle River.  This mud flow not only diverted  the  river, but carved  a 17 mile long  series of canyons (up to 140 feet deep) in a matter of hours.  They call  it the  Little Grand Canyon of  the Toutle River." ^20,21,22  The mass  media  and  popular (subjective) "science" publications still (to this very day) have not told  the public what happened. ²³  For more on this see  Mt. St. Helens: Evidence in Support of Biblical Catastrophe.

Palouse Canyon:  
In Eastern Washington State there is a canyon that was eroded  through solid  basalt by Lake Missoula floods in 1-2 days. This canyon is  300 to 500 feet deep.  See references below for more information. ^{24,25,26,27,28} 

Observations at an Australian Beach:  
At Greenmount  Beach on the Gold Coast of  Queensland, an interesting thing occurred:  "clear laminations, or layering, in the sand--formed  by  the separation  of  normal silica-sand grains and smaller, denser mineral sand-grains such as rutile which are dark  in color.. The  layering was present along the whole sand mass exposed." ²⁹

"This was produced as a result of  a  "beach restoration project  (which involved)  the dredging of  sand  from  (a)  sand bar (on) the Tweed River and  carrying  it  by ship several kilometres north to the southern  Gold Coast beaches, where it was pumped ashore as a water/sand slurry through a large pipe to  the  beech."  ²⁹  See also Talking About Geology / Varves. ³⁰

Spontaneous Sorting of Layers:
Laboratory experiments have shown  that spontaneous sorting and layering occurs with a sand, mud and clay slurry.  When the mixture slows down, the sand, mud  and clay will  spontaneously precipitate (settle out) and form individual layers.   Guy Berthault  has performed a number of experiments which demonstrate this. ^31,32,33  Those who wish to see for themselves,  may do so by simply ordering one of the following videos :  Evolution: Fact or Belief?  Or  Experiments in Stratification. 

Turbidity Currents:
A turbidity current is  an  underwater  mud flow, the discovery  of  which caused somewhat of a revolution in  geology.  As  a  result, many sedimentary  strata layers throughout  the world have been reevaluated and found to be turbidites. ^{34,35,36,37,38,39,40}

For example, regarding turbidites and the impact they are having on modern Geology, Kurt Howard, ⁴¹ said the following in his paper on this topic: 

My physical geology professor said, "Regarding uniformitarianism, you can take it  with a grain of salt."  After reviewing geology texts on the subject of turbidites, I am following the courageous professor's  advice. To  paraphrase his  words, I am taking uniformitarianism  with a  grain of  sand,  for  the  philosophy of  uniformitarianism states that sedimentary layers  form over many millions of years, while ... recent research has shown that turbidites form within a few hours. {1}  Emphasis Added

In  1972 Burgert  identified several lower basal Tapeats units as turbidites  in Grand Canyon's Cheops Bay. Dr.  Ariel Roth a  geologist at Loma  Linda University's Geoscience Institute, suggested that  30% of  all sedimentary rocks  in  Grand Canyon are  turbidites.  Some  geologists  suggest that  50% of the world's  sedimentary rocks  might  be  turbidites.   Emphasis Added

Modern geologists discarded the terms  flysch sediments and  geosyncline because rapidly formed megathick flysch is incompatible with uniformitarianism and long ages.  However, in the last few  years, the number of geologists abandoning the classical uniformitarian  discipline  and adopting the new catastrophism is  almost  a shock to ... creationists. Geologists are  finally beginning  to grudgingly agree  with ... creationists about the nature of the stratigraphic record, which is a record of major catastrophic events and  not the slow year-by-year buildup  suggested by uniformitarianism.  Flysch deposits might be the sedimentary results of  a global  flood.  The idea of  geosynclines is  unpopular because most geologists believe  in plate tectonics.   Emphasis Added

Extensive Strata and Pancake Layering:
As we observe sedimentary strata throughout the world  we see  almost  everywhere flat-lying (or "pancake")  layered strata.  Many of these layers are so extensive that they cover several states.  Evolutionists believe that such layers were deposited slowly over millions and  millions of years, or that they are simply "river" deposits  or river deltas.  ^42,43  Creationists, and a growing number of geologists see problems with such interpretations. ^44,45  First because there is virtually no evidence of  erosion  between  the layers, and second, because the sheer  size and extent of  the strata suggests that the layers were neither formed by rivers, or river deltas.  That's because many of the "layers" are quite thick, and cover (literally) hundreds and even thousands of square miles.

This, coupled with the presence of marine fossils that are buried in many of the layers, tells us that they were deposited by ocean currents (i.e. from a major, major Flood), like nothing we have ever seen before.

We can say  for certain that it was the ocean, as opposed to a lake, because of the marine  fossils that are buried  in  much  of this strata.  For example, in the Grand Canyon area itself,  old Earth geologists  have said  that the Ocean swept over the whole area on six  different occasions.  Young Earth geologists say it  was probably only once.

A "Whale" of a Fossil:
Or should we say "a fossil of a  whale?"  It's  true, but  what  is  most  interesting about it is  how it was buried. In 1976, workers from the Dicalite division  of  Grefco inc. found  the  remains of a baleen whale entombed vertically in a diatomaceous earth quarry. 

"They've  found  fossils there before; in fact the machinery operators have learned a good deal about them and carefully annotate any they  find  with the name  of  the collector,  the date, and  the exact  place found.  Each discovery is turned over  to Lawrence G. Barnes at the Natural  History Museum  of  Los  Angeles  County.  The Whale, however, is  one of  the  largest  fossils ever collected  anywhere...  (It) is standing on end.. and is being exposed gradually as the diatomite is mined.  Only the  head and a  small part of  the  body  are  visible as  yet. 

"The modern baleen whale is  80  to  90 feet long and  has a  head of similar size, indicating  that the fossil may be close to 80 feet long."  ^46,47

More Fossil Whales:

"In bogs  covering glacial deposits  in Michigan, skeletons  of two whales  were discovered ... How did they come to Michigan in the post-glacial epoch?  Glaciers do not carry  whales,  and  the  ice sheet  would not have  brought them to the middle of a continent...  Was  there a  sea in  Michigan after  the  glacial epoch, only a  few thousand years ago?"  ⁴⁸

"Bones  of  Whale have been found 440  feet above sea level, north  of  Lake Ontario;  a  skeleton of  another whale was discovered in  Vermont, more than 500 feet above sea level; and still  another in the Montreal-Quebec area, about 600  feet  above  sea  level..."  ⁴⁸

Marine Fossils In The Mountains:  
In Mountains all over the world one can find sea  shells  and  other  marine fossils.  These include the Sierras,  the Swiss Alps, the  Himalayas and many more. ^{49,50,51,52,53}   For more on this subject see the following  video ⁵⁴ by Dr. Walter Brown.

Frozen Mammoths:   
Frozen mammoths and Mammoth bones are  found  in  large  numbers  in  Siberia, Alaska, and Northern Europe.  Some of these were in such good preservation that Eskimos would  feed their  dogs  meat from these frozen animals when they became  exposed  due to melting  ice  and  snow -- that  is, if wolves didn't get their first.  For those who want to know more see:  Frozen Mammoths. 

Fissures In The Rocks:  
In caves and fissures in  England  and Whales  and all over western  Europe are found bones and bone fragments of many types of extinct and extant animal species -- including the  mammoth, hippopotamus,  rhinoceros, horse, polar bear, bison, reindeer, wolf  and cave lion.  In virtually every  case, the bones are disarticulated, without teeth marks, un-weathered, and in most cases  broken and  splintered. ⁵⁵

"In the rock on the summit of Mont de Sautenay -- a flat-topped hill  near Chalonsur-Saone between Dijon  and Lyons -- there is a fissure filled with animal bones.  'Why should so many wolves, bears, horses, and oxen have ascended a  hill  isolated on  all sides?'  asked Albert Gaudry, professor at  the Jardin des  Plantes.   According to him, the  bones in this cleft are mostly  broken  and splintered  into innumerable... fragments and are 'evidently not those of animals devoured by beasts of  prey;  nor  have  they been broken by man.  Nevertheless,  the remains  of  wolf  were ... abundant, together  with those  of  cave lion, bear, rhinoceros, horse, ox, and  deer... Prestwich thought that the animal bones... were found in  common  heaps because,  '... [they] had  fled [there]  to  escape  the  rising waters.'"  ^55,56

Erratic Boulders: 
All  over Europe and  North America are  found extremely large "boulders" which  were transported many miles by some mysterious force -- the most likely of  which  is  a  massive  flood  that swept over  the Continents.  Concerning these Velikovsky writes :

"Some erratics are enormous.  The block  near Conway,  New Hampshire, is  90  by 40 by 38 feet and weighs  about  10,000 tons, the load of a large cargo ship.  Equally large is Mohegan Rock,  which towers over the town of Montville, in  Connecticut.  The  great flat  erratic  in  Warren County, Ohio, weighs approximately  13,500 tons and  covers three quarters of  an acre;  the Ototoks erratic, thirty  miles south  of  Calgary, Alberta, consists  of  two pieces  of  quartzite 'derived from at least 50 miles to the west,'  [and weighs] over 18,000 tons." ⁵⁷

Was the Flood Local or Worldwide? 
In the late 60's and early 70's:

"Two American  oceanographic  vessels pulled  from  the bottom of  the Gulf of  Mexico several long, slender cores of sediment.  Included in them were the shells of tiny one-celled planktonic organisms called foraminifera.  While living on the surface, these organisms lock into their shells a  chemical record of  the temperature and salinity of  the water.  When they  reproduce, the shells are discarded and drop to the  bottom.  A cross-section  of  that bottom ... carries a record  of climates  that  may go back more  than 100  million  years.  Every  inch of  core  may represent as  much as 1000  years of  the earth's  past." ⁵⁸  Emphasis Added

"The  cores  were analyzed  in  two  separate  investigations,  by  Cesare  Emiliani  of the University  of Miami, and James Kennett of the University of Rhode Island and  Nicholas Shackleton  of Cambridge University.  Both analyses indicated a dramatic  change in salinity, providing compelling evidence of a vast flood  of  fresh water  into the Gulf of  Mexico.  Using  radiocarbon, geochemist Jerry Stripp of  the  University  of Miami  dated  the  flood at  about 11,600  years  ago." ¹  To Emiliani, all  the  questions and  arguments are  minor  beside  the  single fact that a vast  amount  of  fresh  melt  water  poured  into the Gulf  of  Mexico.   'We  know  this,'  he  says,  'because  the  oxygen  isotope ratios of  the  foraminifera shells  show a  marked  temporary decrease  in  the  salinity  of  the waters  of  the Gulf  of  Mexico.   It  clearly  shows that  there  was  a major  period  of  flooding  from 12,000  to 10,000  years ago... There  was no question that  there  was a  flood  and  there  is  no  question that  it  was  a  universal  flood. ⁵⁸  Emphasis Added

"Emiliani's  findings are corroborated by geologists Kennett  and Shackleton,  who concluded  that there was a 'massive inpouring of  glacial melt water  into the Gulf  of Mexico via the Mississippi  River system.  At  the time of maximum  inpouring of  this water, surface salinities were... reduced by about ten percent." ⁵⁸

The Black Sea Speaks:

"Science... has found evidence for  a massive deluge  that may ... have  inspired  Noah's tale.  About 7,500 years ago, a  flood  poured ten  cubic miles of  water a day -- 130 times more than  flows over Niagara Falls - from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black  Sea, abruptly  turning the formerly  freshwater lake into a  brackish inland sea." ⁵⁹ Emphasis Added

"In  1993,  William Ryan  and  Walter Pitman  of  Columbia University's  Lamont-Doherty Earth  Observatory  dug up cores of sediment  from  the bottom of  the Black sea.  The cores showed  that  the sea's  outer margins had once been dry  land, indicating it had been two-thirds  its  present size.  Furthermore, over  the entire sea bottom was a thin, uniform layer  of sediment that  could only have  been deposited  during  a  flood.  The  researchers  also found that within that layer saltwater  mollusks appear, all  from the Mediterranean and all dating from around  7600 years ago." ⁵⁹ Emphasis Added

Miracle, or Worldwide Flood?

"Such a hypothesis would  require assumption of a  highly  unlikely pattern of  faunal migrations, where swarms of species of Manticoceras  are followed, everywhere at the  same distance and  the same time interval, by swarms of species of Cheiloceras,  the two waves  preserving their  separate identities on a staggered mass migration around the world ... without evolutionary changes and  without ever  becoming mixed..." ⁶⁰ Emphasis Added

"It  would  be  easy to repeat this investigation  for  almost every critical zone  fossil  or  fauna  throughout  the geological  column  for  hundreds,  perhaps thousands of...cases.  The conclusions would  be  the same.  In the words of Jeletsky (1956)  we  would have  to  'invoke a miracle',  if,  for  example,  we  were to assume  anything but world-wide  contemporaneous  deposition for  each of  the 55 ammonite  zones of the Jurassic.  Not  all  of  them occur everywhere, but wherever  two or more  are  found in  superposition  they occur  in the same order. ⁶⁰ Arkell (1957,  p.  L112) ⁶¹  summarized  the picture of  ... Mesozoic ammonoids as follows:   Emphasis Added

'Evolution is above all  very uneven.  Certain periods were outstandingly productive  of  new and verile  forms  which  often  seem  to have sprung  into existence  from  nowhere ...  and  to  have  become dominant  almost simultaneously over a large part of  the world ...  

How such sudden multiple creations were brought about is  a task  for the  future  to determine.'" ^60,61  Emphasis added                                                                                                    

Worldwide Chaos and Out of Order Fossils:

The following excerpts provide further evidence that something is amiss with the Geological Time Chart and the associated Theory of Evolution itself.

"I regard the failure to find  a  clear  'vector  of progress' in  life's  history as  the most  puzzling  fact of the  fossil record."  ⁶² 

And that:
  
"Heretofore, we  have thrown up our hands in frustration at  the lack  of expected pattern in  life's  history --  or  we  have  sought to impose  a  pattern that  we hoped  to find on a  world that does not really display it...  If we can develop a...theory of mass extinction, we  may  finally understand  why life has thwarted our expectations, and... extract an  unexpected ... pattern from apparent chaos." ⁶²   Stephen Jay Gould      Emphasis added.

"One of  the ironies of  the evolution-creation debate is  that the creationists have accepted the mistaken notion that the  fossil record shows a  detailed  and orderly progression..." ⁶³   David M. Raup   Emphasis added.

"only  15-20%  of the earth's land surface has even 3 geologic  periods appearing in 'correct'  consecutive order."  ⁶⁴ 
  John Woodmorappe   Emphasis added.       
                    
"Any sequence in which an  older  fossil occurs  above a  younger one is stratigraphically disordered ... disorder may  be  from  millimeters to  many meters  ... (and) is produced by  the physical or biogenic mixing of ... sediments ... Since  these processes occur to  an extent in  virtually all sedimentary systems, stratigraphic  disorder  at some scale is  probably  a  common  feature of  the  fossil  record." ⁶⁵  Emphasis Added           

"The  extent of disorder ...is not well documented;  however, the widespread occurrence  of  anomalies  ...   suggest   that   disorder  should  be taken  seriously..."  ref. 61  p. 234.   W. J. Arkell.   Emphasis added 

"Examination  of Britain's  record of  the Ice Age levels  discloses  a  'complex  interbedding  of drift sheets derived from  different sources.'  'When  we add the additional complications  imposed  by   thin  drifts,   scanty  interglacial  deposits,  and  the  frequent  presence  in  fossil-bearing  beds of  secondary [displaced]  fossils  derived from  the reworking of older horizons,  we get a  truly difficult overall problem ... All in  all, British glacial  stratigraphic research  has encountered  exceptional  difficulties,' writes  R. F. Flint, professor of geology  at Yale University. ^66,67 Immanuel Velikovsky   Emphasis added
   

A Note about "Problematica": 
"Problematica"  is the "code word"  that Paleontologists use to describe out of order fossils, or fossils that are not easily placed, or that are "mixed" in with  one's they shouldn't be with.  If  one  were to perform an internet search  on this word he or  she  may be  surprised at  how many web pages there are on  this subject: especially considering that the word isn't even in the Dictionary -- at least not an English one.  For more on this see: Sea-Sloths and Out of Order Fossils.   

For those seeking more information on this Worldwide Flood which almost  certainly did occur, or  how a Boat with Thousands of Animals onboard could possibly have survived Here is  a  link that may  answer  some of  your  questions.  If not, feel free to email the  author, or to take the  IQ test.   

Copyright, 2006, Randy S. Berg; No part of this paper may be reproduced, used, or sold for profit without 
the express written consent of the author. Copies may be distributed freely for educational purposes only.     

Home
References

Part Three:
Evidence for a Young Earth

Part One
Radiometric Dating, Continental Drift, and the Big Bang

More Links:

Flood Legends
The La Brea Tar Pits
The Geologic Column
More Flood Evidence
Genesis and the Flood
The Florida Everglades
Evidence from Scripture I
Evidence from Scripture II
Questions About the Flood
Evidence from Cyclothems
The "Fossil Forests" of Nova Scotia
Sea Sloths and Out of Order Fossils