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Author Topic:   Fossil Graveyards: A Favorite Creationist Subject
lpetrich
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 2 (31797)
02-09-2003 4:27 PM


A favorite subject of creationists has been fossil graveyards, places where large numbers of fossils have accumulated. An Internet search for "fossil graveyards" revealed mostly creationist discussions of them.
Creationists claim that such places could not have been produced by gradualistic processes, and, of course, that Noah's Flood had produced every single one of them.
However, their multiplicity suggests multiple origins, with each fossil graveyard having been produced separately. This is also apparent from their fossil contents -- they have fossils typical of other locales with their position in the geological column.
One famous example is the La Brea Tar Pits, which is a Late-Pleistocene fossil graveyard. Most of the species found in it are either present-day species or close relatives of present-day species. However, there are a few more exotic species, like sabertooth felines and giant ground sloths.
Earlier fossil graveyards, however, fall much more strongly into the "exotic" category.
Some fossil graveyards, like the LBTP's, have a superabundance of carnivores; this is related to how they form. Animals entering the LBTP's can get mired down in them, and when they do, they attract carnivores. However, those carnivores themselves may get mired down and become attractive would-be meals for other carnivores. Thus making it a "carnivore trap".
The species composition of carnivore-trap fossil graveyards clearly implies that a big flood was not responsible for them, because a big flood would not have been very selective.
In fact, there is a whole discipline, "taphonomy", about how fossils are formed and about what clues fossils can yield about their environments. Was some animal buried whole, or was it devoured with its bones being left behind? Did it get buried in place or was it washed down a river? Etc.

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by Dr Cresswell, posted 02-11-2003 1:24 PM lpetrich has not replied

  
Dr Cresswell
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 2 (31957)
02-11-2003 1:24 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by lpetrich
02-09-2003 4:27 PM


I've never quite understood how fossil graveyards can be seen as evidence of a universal flood. By it's very nature such a flood would surely be an extremely turbulent environment which would well and truly mix the remains of creatures living at that time. There may be a certain amount of sorting based on size as the turbulence settles down, but that would produce a very different pattern of fossils than what is actually observed in fossil graveyards.
Alan

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by lpetrich, posted 02-09-2003 4:27 PM lpetrich has not replied

  
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