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See also
See also
Migration (animals, post-Flood)
'Out of place' fossils/artifacts
About this page
About this page
This topic overlaps with many others:
For information about index fossils, relative dating of strata, and related claims of circular reasoning, see the geologic column page.
For resources dealing generally with problems of the claim of a catastrophic global Flood, see the Flood geology page.
For information about the patterns of fossil distribution throughout and within the strata, and also geographically, along with the implications for evolution or the biblical Flood, see below.
For information about the succession of changes through the strata and what they tell us about evolution, as well as resources dealing with claims about gaps in the fossil record, see the fossil record page.
Brief notes
Brief notes
Fossils are found 'sorted':
geographically
between different strata
within recognizable ecosystems within strata (see also trace fossils for evidence of activity within these ecosystems)
Creationists know of these patterns of distribution and attempt to explain them with hypotheses such as:
hydrological sorting
everything being buried where it lived
'differential escape'
It should be remembered that plants and trace fossils show patterns of distribution too.
Resources
Resources
Claim CC364: Sea fossils have been found on mountaintops
Claim CH561.1: Fossils are sorted by ecological zonation
Claim CH561.2: Fossils are sorted hydrologically
Claim CH561.3: Fossils are sorted by the ability to escape
Claim CH561.4: Fossils are sorted by a combination of these factors
Brief responses in the Index to Creationist Claims in the TalkOrigins Archive.
Wyoming Fossils: Coming to Grips with the Absurdity of the Flood Geology Model of Fossil Origins
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
13 Paleontologists are not “fiddling with the evidence”
14 “Same time, different places” or “same place, different times”?
15 I wanted to see proof in the ground for myself
16 I let go of my belief in a young Earth
Parts 13 to 16 of Stephen Godfrey's story about coming to the realization that the YEC position he had been taught was wrong. In part 13, he talks about how he came to realize, including from his own fieldwork, that '[a]ny given organism will indeed appear in the fossil record only with certain other kinds of organisms, and not with any others'. In part 14, he talks about how he considered the evidence from a 'same time, different places' (Flood) perspective and a 'same place, different times' (old Earth, evolutionary) perspective and the problems that arose from one model and the conclusions he came to. In parts 15 and 16, he describes going to look for himself to satisfy questions he still had. He notes that his change to believing in an old Earth did not come about by any belief in evolution but in the geological evidence for the age of the Earth.
Noah’s Flood debunked (Part 2)
potholer54 takes a look at the ‘billions of dead things’ and some of the creationist claims that attempt to explain the organisation of the fossil record: everything dying where it lived, buoyancy after death, and ‘differential escape’. Uses humour.
The Pit of Bones: A Death Chamber Time Capsule
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog, looking at the Sima de los Huesos ('Pit of Bones') pit cave in Atapuerca, Spain and what implication the contents have for the young Earth chronology and Flood geology.
When Marine Reptiles Ruled the Sea: Huge Ichthyosaur Fossil Find and the Age of Reptiles
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Hiking through the Jurassic Period in Wyoming: A Sheep Mountain Fossil Hunt
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
The Ark Encounter Sits on a Foundation Made of Trillions of Fossils
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Life in a Glass House: Diatoms Shatter Young Earth Flood Geology
Forams and Diatoms: Testing Young Earth Flood Geology Hypotheses
Posts by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog, looking at the distribution of diatoms and foraminifera and what this means for Flood geology.
Quadrillions, Quintillions and Beyond: The Vast Fossil Record Refutes the Flood Geology Hypothesis
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Juvenile Dinosaur Fossils in a Nest: Testimony to Rapid Burial but Not by a Flood
Fossil Eggs, Nests, Floods and Stressed Pregnant Dinosaurs
Dinosaur Footprints, Eggs and Bones – Are Paleontologists Creating Fake History?
Posts by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
A Tale of Taphonomy: Clam Shrimp Fossils and the Age of the Earth
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog, looking at the distribution of clam shrimps in the fossil record and how their distribution would not be possible if there had been a global flood.
The Lost World of South American Ungulates: A YEC Ungulate Problem
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Atacama Whale Fossils – Huge Find of Modern Whale Fossils in Chile
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
When Flightless Birds Ruled the Land: The “Terror” Birds of the New World
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Diatoms: Tiny Organisms Highlight Big Inconsistencies in Young Earth Flood Geology Models
Post by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
Forests During the Age of the Dinosaurs – A Cretaceous Reconstruction
Post by Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog.
An Ancient and Alien Forest Reconstructed: A Fossil Challenge for Young-earth Creationists
Permian Pompeii Challenge Taken Up? ICR’s Brian Thomas Comments on Fossil Forests
Pair of posts by biologist Joel Duff on his Naturalis Historia blog, looking at a fossil forest near Wuda, China.
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