"After the Pre-Cambrian void we see a vast fossil record in
the sedimentary rocks (water deposited) showing hugh arrays of
life. Finally, today, and for the past few thousand years, no
fossilization to speak of is taking place."~Randy L. Wysong, The
Creation-Evolution Controversy, (Midland Mich.: Inquiry Press,
1976), p. 364
"How does one explain, for example, a dead fish lying on the bed
of a lake for about two hundred years while the slowly
accumulating sediments gradually cover it and then fossilize it?
Where does this happen in modern lakes?"~John C. Whitcomb and
Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1961), p. 427
Also,
"Under ordinary processes of nature as now occurring, fossils (especially of
land animals and even marine vertebrates) are very rarely formed. The only
way they can be preserved long enough from the usual processes of decay,
scavenging and disintegration is by means of quick burial in aqueous
sediments." Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1961), p. 128
We are going to examine these claims that fossilization does not occur in
the modern era. We will see that it is not true.
Lets look at terrestrial fossils first.
Amboseli Park in Kenya gives an excellent example of modern day
fossilization occurring in a modern terrestrial environment. Anna K.
Berhrensmeyer studied the taphonomy (what happens after death) of bones on
the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They walked transects making observations of
all the bones in the ground that they could find. How long could the bones
last on the surface of the earth? Is rapid, meaning instantaneous burial
required? Behrensmeyer states,
"The total sample consisted of over 20,000 bones representing
more than 1,500 individuals. These represent attritional
mortality over a period of 8 to 15 years maximum; most bones are
destroyed by surface processes or buried within this period of
time."~Anna K. Behrensmeyer, "Vertebrate Paleoecology in a Recent
East African Ecosystem," in Jane Gray, A. J. Boucot and William
B. N. Berry, editors, Communities of the Past, (Stroudsburg:
Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co., 1991), pp 591-615, p. 596
Eight years is quite a long time compared to the timeframe normally given by
young earth creationists. Why are these bones able to last that long? She writes
"Bone weathering on the surface varies according to
microhabitat; critical factors include fluctuations in
temperature and moisture. Bones in moist or shaded places may
stay uncracked for years while exposed parts of the same skeleton
go through progressive weathering stages and usually disintegrate
entirely in 8 to 15 years. Weathering is inhibited by burial in
Amboseli, and burial to a large extent is caused by trampling,
especially during periods when the ground is wet. In most cases
lower sides of bones are less weathered than upper, but kicking
and trampling also has the effect of turning bones over
periodically, so they weather evenly on both sides. Trampled
bones are often oriented nearly vertically in the surface
sediment. Compact bones, such as podials, seem to have relatively
higher rates of burial and lower rates of weathering than skulls,
pelves, and vertebrae."~Anna K. Behrensmeyer, "Vertebrate
Paleoecology in a Recent East African Ecosystem," in Jane Gray,
A. J. Boucot and William B. N. Berry, editors, Communities of the
Past, (Stroudsburg: Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co., 1991), pp
591-615, p. 606
But more importantly, the chemistry of the soils is the main factor.
"Soils of the Amboseli Basin are generally alkaline and
conducive to bone preservation, and bones occur in all stages of
fossilization, unmineralized to completely mineralized. Fossil
bones probably vary from Holocene to Pleistocene in age, but none
have yet been dated."~Anna K. Behrensmeyer, "Vertebrate Paleoecology in a Recent
East African Ecosystem," in Jane Gray, A. J. Boucot and William
B. N. Berry, editors, Communities of the Past, (Stroudsburg:
Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co., 1991), pp 591-615, p. 596
Rapid burial of bones in not required for fossilization, unless one says
that 8 years is a rapid time.
Now for subaqueous fossilization. Some glacial lakes preserve an organic
rich goo on their bottom. (Alan R. Emery, "Sediments of Deep Canadian Shield
Lakes: Observations of Gross Structure and Biological Significance,"
Science, 181, p. 655-657)
But there are fossils that have been formed in the last few thousand years
in the ocean. This has been known for over 45 years. L. G. Weeks reports on
the occurrence of fossilized fish in concretions formed during the past few
thousand years,
"Among the most interesting occurrences of fish-bearing
concretions are those that are being found in Recent or sub-
Recent marine clays in various places along the coasts of
Greenland and northern Canada. Figure 5 shows one of these
specimens from the American Museum which Dr. Scaeffer kindly
permitted the writer to have photographed. The concretions occur
in marine clays which apparently were raised above sea level by
the isostatic rebound that followed the melting of the
Pleistocene ice cap. The fact that concretions have already been
developed in these very young clays seems significant."~L. G.
Weeks, "Environment and Mode of Origin and Facies Relationships
of Carbonate Concretions in Shales," Journal of Sedimentary
Petrology, 23(1953):3:162-173, p. 168
So, for those who want examples of modern fossilization, here they are.
glenn
Adam, Apes, and Anthropology: Finding the Soul of Fossil Man
and
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm