Evolution Impossible (15 page)

I have discussed how the textbooks assert that the fossils provide direct evidence for evolution and that popular science writers like Richard Dawkins claim that there is abundant evidence from the fossils for evolution. But when we examine the actual evidence, we discover that the fossil evidence for evolution is seriously lacking. This lack of evidence has been recognized by paleontologis
ts for some time. For example, the authoritative Harvard University paleontologist Professor Stephen J. Gould conceded that there was an absence of fossil evidence for the intermediary stages required for the major evolutionary transitions. He also admitted the uselessness of anything short of completion in every stage of evolutionary development by asking, “Of what possible use to a reptile is 2 percent of a wing?”
33
Other shortcomings in the fossil evidence have been pointed out by the eminent Harvard University–educated paleontologist Barbara J. Stahl.
34

I have discussed how Dr. David M. Raup, curator of geology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and past president of the Palaeontological Society, points out that geologists do not actually find evidence for evolution in the fossil record. Dr. Ariel A. Roth, who served as the editor for the journal
Origins
for more than 20 years, writes in the conclusion of his extensively footnoted 380-page book on the evidence for our origins, “It surprises me that the concept of evolution persists in view of the paucity of firm evidence to support it.”
35

This knowledge of the major shortcomings of the so-called evidence for evolution is not being taught to biology students nor made widely known to the general public. In fact, the standard reference textbooks for biology and evolution continue to omit any in-depth discussion of these major objections to the theory. Harvard University professor Stephen J. Gould also points out that the evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks are based mainly on inference, not on the evidence of fossils.
36

1
. E.P. Solomon, L.R. Berg, and D.W. Martin,
Biology,
7th edition (Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2005), p. 339; see also National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine,
Science, Evolution and Creationism
(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2008), p. 22–25.

2
. Richard Dawkins,
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
(London: Bantam Press, 2009), p. 161.

3
. N.H. Barton, D.E.G. Briggs, J.A. Eisen, and N.H. Patel,
Evolution
(Cold Spring Harbour, NY: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press, 2007).

4
. Dawkins,
The Greatest Show on Earth,
p. 165.

5
. Ibid., p. 164.

6
. P. Garner, “The Fossil Record of ‘Early’ Tetrapods: Evidence of a Major Evolutionary Transition?”
Journal of Creation,
vol. 17, no. 2 (2003): p. 111–117; see also,
www.creation.com/tetrapod
.

7
. Dawkins,
The Greatest Show on Earth,
p. 166–168.

8
. R.M. Bailey, “Osteichthyes,”
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1960), Vol. 9, p. 442.

9
. D.M. Raup, 1979,
Conflicts between Darwin and Palaeontology,
Field Museum of Natural History, Bulletin 50, 1979, p. 22–29, cited by A.A. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture
(Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1998), p. 182–183.

10
. R.J. Wootton, “Flight: Arthropods,” in D.E.G. Briggs and P.R. Crowther, editors,
Palaeobiology: A Synthesis
(Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1990), p. 72–75.

11
. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture,
p. 185.

12
. Ibid.

13
. A.H. Brush, “On the Origin of Feathers,”
Journal of Evolutionary Biology,
vol. 9 (1996): p.133; see also, Barbara J. Stahl,
Vertebrate History, Problems in Evolution
(New York: Dover Publications, 1985), p. 349–350.

14
. A.J. Charig, F. Greenaway, A.C. Milner, C.A. Walker, and P.J. Whybrow, “Archaeopteryx Is Not a Forgery,”
Science,
vol. 232 (1986): p. 622–626.

15
. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture,
p. 182.

16
. Duane T. Gish,
Evolution: The Challenge of the Fossil Record
(El Cajon, CA: Creation-Life Publishers, 1986), p. 124.

17
. A.H. Knoll and G.W. Rothwell, “Palaeobotany: Perspectives in 1980,”
Palaeobiology,
vol. 7, no. 1 (1981): p. 7–35.

18
. D.E.G. Briggs, D.H. Erwin, and F.J. Collier,
The Fossils of the Burgess Shale
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press 1994).

19
. W.C. Bell, “Cambrian,”
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,
p. 424–427.

20
. K. Towe, “Trilobite Eyes: Calcified Lenses,”
Science,
vol. 179 (March 9, 1973): p. 1007–1011.

21
. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture
, p. 164–165.

22
. X.G. Zhang and X.G. Hou, “Evidence for a Single Median Fin-fold and Tail in the Lower Cambrian Vertebrate, Haikouichthys Ercaicunensis,”
Journal of Evolutionary Biology,
vol. 17 (2004): p. 1162–1166.

23
. Bell, “Cambrian,”
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,
Vol. 2, p. 425.

24
. Solomon, Berg, and Martin,
Biology,
p. 393–395.

25
. J.B. Wood, “Fossil Cephalopods,” Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, 2010,
http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/FosCephs.php
, accessed 5/3/2010; see also, http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/inverts/mollusca/cephalopoda.php.

26
. D.H. Erwin and J.W. Valentine, “ ‘Hopeful Monsters,’ Transposons, and Metazoan Radiation,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
vol. 81, 1984, p.5482–5483.

27
. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture
, p. 86.

28
. Dawkins,
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution,
p. 163.

29
. Carl Werner,
The Quest for an Answer, Evolution: The Grand Experiment,
Volume 1 (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 2009); and Carl Werner,
Living Fossils, Evolution: The Grand Experiment,
Volume 2 (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 2009).

30
. Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 77.

31
. Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, R.L. Cifelli, and Z.X. Luo,
Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

32
. Werner,
Living Fossils, Evolution: The Grand Experiment,
Volume 2, p. 241–243.

33
. Stephen Gould, “Is a New and General Theory of Evolution Emerging?” in M. Ruse, editor,
But Is It Science?
(Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1988), chapter 12, p. 177–194, cited by Colin Mitchell,
The Case for Creationism
(Alma Park, Grantham: Autumn House Limited, 1994), p.129.

34
. Stahl,
Vertebrate History, Problems in Evolution.

35
. Roth,
Origins: Linking Science and Scripture
, p. 362.

36
. Stephen J. Gould,
The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
(New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1980), p. 181.

Chapter 7

The Geological Evidence for a Catastrophic Global Flood

Much of the surface of our planet is covered with rock strata that formed under water. This observation is not contended by geologists. Standard geology reference books state that sedimentary rocks, which are laid down mainly by the action of water, cover about 75 percent of the earth’s surface. Shale, sandstone, and limestone account for more than 95 percent of these sediments. The rest of the earth’s surface is covered by either heat-altered sedimentary rocks such as marble or igneous (volcanic) rocks, which in many cases later spewed out over underlying previously deposited sedimentary rocks. In total, however, the sedimentary rocks make up only about 5 percent of the volume of the earth’s crust. From these figures it becomes apparent that, generally speaking, sediments are spread as a relatively thin layer over the surface of the earth.
¹

Two questions follow: “Was this thin layer of sediments that essentially covers the surface of the earth laid down over hundreds of millions of years as a result of repeated local flood events, the rising and falling sea levels, and volcanic and earthquake disturbances of lakes and seas? Or were these strata laid down over a relatively short period of time as a result of one massive worldwide flood event?” Observations of formations in the geological strata, such as huge beds of water-deposited limestone, the more than one mile deep (nearly two kilometers) layers of water-deposited sediments that surround the Grand Canyon, and the discovery of massive burials of fossil graveyards, along with thousands of other deposits, have been significant. The development of theories to explain them remains a major study in the field of geology.

In recent times there has been a growing recognition of the role of large-scale catastrophes in shaping the earth’s surface. For example, the eminent geologist Professor Derek Ager, of the University College of Swansea, argues that the rock strata around the world suggest that there have been periods of slow gradual change (known as gradualism in the uniformitarian model) punctuated by occasional huge natural disasters.
²
One of the important observations of Professor Ager is that often the same particular combination of layers of sedimentary strata are found around the world. For example, in Britain, Greenland, the Canadian Rockies, and Australia, fossiliferous lower Cambrian strata conformably overlay (that is, with very little signs of erosion) a particular type of sandstone layer known as quartzite, which does not contain fossils. This in turn unconformably overlays a great variety of different types of Precambrian rocks. Professor Agar points out that it is not just this layer of quartzite that is found just about everywhere but there are other associated recognizable strata combinations such as a basal conglomerate (rounded pebbles and boulders cemented together with sandstone), followed by marine shales and thin limestones.
³
That is, layers of rock containing fossils of many different types of organisms have been buried in water-deposited sediments overlaying sedimentary rocks, with the same pattern of deposition worldwide. The striking similarity of the pattern of strata suggests that the same environmental conditions prevailed across the world. This means much of the world must have been covered with water at these times. It is difficult to imagine that the same pattern would be deposited if the strata were the result of local events occurring hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years apart in the different locations. If such was the case, we would expect evidence of intermittent erosion taking place, forming gorges, canyons, and valleys. However, Dr. Ager notes that these strata overlay conformably, that is, with very few signs of erosion.

In chapter 5, I discussed the massive chalk deposits across the world corresponding to a time of great flooding of the earth’s surface and the extinction of the dinosaurs, flying reptiles, and huge marine reptiles, as well as many other marine organisms.
⁴
From the conventional dating of these strata, there are over 400 million years between the worldwide flooding in the Cambrian period and the worldwide flooding in the Cretaceous period. However, according to current conventional interpretation of the geologic column, there were also massive extinctions caused by flooding a number of times in the intervening time period. That is, there were massive water burials of organisms in flood-associated extinction events separated by tens and even hundreds of millions of years. Evidence of these extinctions is observed in the strata corresponding to the end of the Ordovician period, during the Devonian period, during the Permian period, and during the Triassic Period of the geological column.
⁵
That is,
massive worldwide flood-associated events are recorded also in the intermediate strata. The question remains, however: Do we interpret the formation of these deposits in terms of many localized flood events occurring relatively concurrently around the world at intervals separated by tens of millions to hundreds of millions of years, or does this evidence point to one large more recent worldwide flood event?