Evidence that Noah's Flood Formed the Fossil Record - Dr. Kurt Wise (The Paleontology of the Flood)

The fossil record can be difficult to understand. It is, however, an extremely important witness to the results of the global flood and its aftermath in the post-flood period. During the 2017 IGH Conference, Dr. Kurt Wise explored the impact of the Flood on the earth in a series of three in-depth lectures. This lecture on the “study of fossils,” the second in the series, provides a fascinating look at the nature of the fossil record. Paleontology is actually Kurt’s specialty, having received his PhD from Harvard while studying under evolutionary paleontologist Steven J. Gould. Needless to say, Kurt understands paleontology extremely well from both perspectives.

This lecture is from our 2017 'Is Genesis History?' conference. We invited a number of scientists and scholars to teach in-depth on the Creation/Flood model. You can buy, download and watch over 70 more lectures like this at:

Specific topics of “Paleontology of the Flood” include:

2:40 – Biostratigraphic Column
10:00 – Nature of Fossilization
19:45 – Footprints/Trackways
25:00 – Disparity vs. Diversity
29:00 – Organismal Change: Stasis and Abrupt Appearance
32:30 – Testing Evolutionary Claims
40:00 – Floating Forest Theory
50:00 – Explanation of Coal Layers
1:07:00 – Overview of Model

[crane]

I’m from eastern Russia, my father and grandfather, older brother were all coal miners... this man isn’t lying about coal..

[garyzimmerman]

I live in the middle of a HUGE fossilized oyster bed. My little back yard (about 15 ft. × 15 ft) has produced HUNDREDS of fossils. Many perfect and some paper thin, also in perfect condition. I have also found about four or five fan type oyster shells not fossilized in the same strata. The real amazing thing is my backyard is actually at a high point and there's a severe drop-off leading to a creek down below. I wish I wasn't handicapped, I would already be down in that creek bed!

[azaryaros]

The thing he said about floating forest is logical. My grandparents used to lived in the deep jungle of Borneo Island where they told us story about land thats waving when you walk on it. Then they realized its actually a big lake underneath the ground. Sadly the forest is gone now because of oil palm plantation. The lake is also dried.

[oliakara]

Thank you for all research and hard work.

[boomdawg]

I grew up in West Virginia and my father allowed a piece of property we owned to be strip mined. As you described, it was very flat on the top and bottom of the vein, the vein was about 6 feet thick with soap stone below and clay above. I spent hours as a teen cracking open lumps of coal to see leaves and fern fossils. the lowermost part of the coal seemed to have the most intact material. Of course I was looking for a dinosaur bone but never found that prize.

[dannymack]

Luke 19:40 But He answered and said to them,  “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

[tmcdermott]

Arenchymous tissue is always associated with waterlogged plants, and often with marine submerged trees, like the mangroves. This theory is plausible and well presented.

[christhewritingjester]

Very interesting. It seems like most of the creation stuff I see is nowhere near this detailed, but they mostly deal in the big picture, so I really appreciate the theories going over this level of detail.

[nephilimfree]

The continents are covered with an average of 1, 800 meters of sedimentary materials deposited by rapidly moving water which are heavily littered with rapidly buried creatures which are now fossils. This geologic fact provides overwhelming evidence of the Noaich Flood because uniformitariqanism cannot have produced the strata, it has been demonstrated scientifically that strata form rapidly and in groups together at the same time, making the strata above and below any given streata to be of no difference in age. Features of the strata which prove global catastrophism is the cause of the global strata are:
1. The mountains of the earth are comprised to a large extent of deformed strata, which cannot have become deformed by heat and pressure miles deep inside the earth, but were instead soft and moist when deformed
2. There is a nearly complete absence of erosion between any of the strata
3. There is a nearly complete absence of grass in the geologic column
4. There is a nearly complete absence of soil in the geologic column
5. The strata have fine and distinct boundaries between each other instead of gradating
6. The majority of strata possess grain-size distribution - a feature that is produced only by rapid sedimentation
7. Sand dunes formed under water litter the continents, verified by their approximately 15 degree angle of inclination. Sand dunes formed by wind have an approximately 25 degree angle of inclination.
8. Fossilization requires rapid burial - all strata in which there are fossils were deposited rapidly, regardless of other properties they may have.
9. Mountain Water Gaps exist globally - mountains which were still soft and moist after rapid uplift which were pulverized by a newly created stream of water (river) which ate through the mountain.
Water seeks the path of least resistance and could not have eaten through the side of a mountain. It would instead flow around it.
10. Dropstones are common in mountains - large rocks and boulders which have become moved into place by very fast moving water and sealed in sedimentary strata which deform around them
11. Planation Surfaces are plentiful on the earth - broad areas, sometimes hundreds or thousands of square miles which have been planed off by massive sheets of rapidly moving water as the flood waters ebated the continents during the end stage of the Noaich Flood - uniformitarianism cannot account for massive planation surfaces.
12. Percussion Marks - impact marks ranging is size from small to huge on rocks and boulders across the earth show that extremely fast moving water (up to and beyond 100 mph) has moved rocks weighing up to tons at high speed - enough speed to cause percussion marks under water when they collide with each other.
13. Massive quantities of methane hydrates lining the continents - frozen or semi-frozen methane hydrate which is buried in sediments around the edges of the continents - produced by massive volumes of plant matter ripped from the continents and buried which has now become frozen methane gas. There is so much of it that if it could be mined efficiently, it would provide enough energy for the entire world for over a century.
14. Oil and gas reserves under high pressure - the pressure could not be present after many millions of years. The gas or oil would dissipate all pressure through fissures and microfissures in the rocks. Unless the oil and gas were produced recently, it could not be under high pressure.
15. Polystrate fossils - leaves, marine fossils, trees, worms, etc. show that the strata in which they are encased were deposited rapidly, effectively eliminating all concepts of vast geologic time.
16. Massive canyons - carved out while their strata going down to 1 mile or more deep into the earth were eroded very rapidly, effectively eliminating all concepts of vast geologic time.
17. Megasequences - There are 5 major megasequences which span the majority of North America and can be found globally: 1. Sauk Megasequence, which rests upon basement granite 2. Tippecanoe Megasequence 3. Keskaskia Megasequence 4. Arrasoka Megasequence. 5. Zuni Megasequence The Navjo Sandstone covers 400, 000 sq. km in the western US. comprised of grains eroded from the Appalatian Mountains. The Coconino Sandstone formation averages 315 ft. thick and covers 518, 000 sq. km in the US. and sits on the Hermit Shale. The boundary between them is extremely fine. This removes the potential for long perionds of time between the Hermit Shale and Cocconino Sandstone, and verifies both were created rapidly. The Tapeats Sandstone and Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon can be traced across the entire United States, up into Canada, and even across the Atlantic Ocean to England. The chalk beds of England (the white cliffs of Dover) can be traced across Europe into the Middle East and are also found in the Midwest of the United States and in Western Australia. Inclined (sloping) layers within the Coconino Sandstone of Grand Canyon are testimony to 10, 000 cubic miles of sand being deposited by huge water currents within days. Directional sorting is often found in the fossil record. The Miffle Permian Qixia and Maikou limestone of southeast China cover 1.2 million sq. km.
18. Giant gravel deposit sheets miles wide and dozens of feet thick (such as in western Sichuan Basin, China), sometimes up to hundreds of miles from their source location, and massive rock deposites up to miles deep
19. Numerous other facts - erosion rates, geologic young age for the earth's rocks, genetic mutation rates, and many others all discredit uniformitarianism and show the Flood of Noah is a historical geological fact.

[patrickkelly]

Please explain why there are no rabbit fossils to be found in the Cambrian.
Please explain why dinosaur fossils are below the KT boundary.
Please explain why no modern creatures are to be found in the Burgess shale.

[alloraptorgen]

Its sad to see so many people automatically being shut down by so many other people that don't even give the theory a chance. I don't even see many people actually arguing with formulated ideas or sentences, they just rudely and sarcastically reject everything these people have to say when they are actually explaining themselves in a clear way. But instead of being opposed in a clear way by people who disagree, I keep seeing blatant disrespect. People saying creationists are on drugs, crazy, unscientific, and not even giving a second thought.

They don't need to agree with creationists, Christianity, or even all these plausible theories. But that doesn't mean they should be behaving in this way.

[MeanMrMustrd]

This guy spends 30 minutes preparing you for what he is really excited share. Well done

[nunyabisnass]

So a flood event that was violent enough to deposit large masses of vegetation, animals and sediments simultaneously, was also gentle enough to preserve footprints? Nah you have to explain that instead of simply asserting it quickly and moving on.

You have to show how a violent event can preserve delicate details both above and below those details before you can expect anyone to buy your hypothesis.

[BibleResearchTools]

This excellent video series provides unbiased scientific evidences for a global flood, such as:

1. Transcontinental megasequence rock layering

2. Megasequences contain graduated sediments (larger to smaller particles, bottom to top)

3 Laminate layers (very little bioturbation)

4. Little or no erosion between layers, denoting rapid layering.

5. Consistent east-to-west currents (denoting the moon holding the flood water while the earth revolves under it)

6. Sand transported across continents.

7. Rock layers folded, not fractured, denoting soft, pliable rock layering when plate tectonics began to divide the continents.

8. High and dry sea creatures (even in the Himalayan plateau)

9. Fossil graveyards everywhere (even though fossilization is a complicated, rare occurrence under normal circumstances).

Dan

[traffic-law]

It would be great if you could show us fossils of humans who died in Noah's flood.

[cynthia]

It is amazing to me that it is not easier to believe there is a God who created the heavens and the earth and all the things created in the earth. People have to go through serious hoops to make the theory of evolution work. Thank you for your presentation. God bless 💛

[ericjarvie]

These guys have done an excellent job in laying out Earth's history..This thesis makes an lot more sense than the incoherent tale that's told in universities and schools..indeed in days of climate change and potential for global catastrophe none of which is ever envisioned in the standard text book dogma it's time we take an serious look at the flaws in the sciences or face the potential for disaster never even knowing what hit us never mind what should we do!!

[smokeysmith]

While listening to Dr. Kurt’s presentation with my Bose headphones, I can only hear Brett Baier’s voice from FOX News speak of fossilized species and such and it’s messing with me because this subject is not his wheelhouse. ThankYou, for sharing this information here on YouTube. Regarding dinosaur bones and fossils, have mass human boneyards been discovered similar to the dinosaur boneyard discovered out west in North America?

[nathanwofford]

If you did a core sample of Spirit Lake near Mt. St. Helens, you would find a biostratigraphic column example that perfectly resembles the "evolutionary" column, which refutes the idea of evolution, as opposed to catastrophic-flood sediment, completely.

[grey]

This has been a personal. theory of mine for many years. Nice to have it explained scientifically. Thanks for the excellent video.