Re: Flood Model and dinosaur tracks

Karen G. Jensen (kjensen@calweb.com)
Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:17:03 -0600

>>
>
>[snip]
>
>>
>>>Dinosaur tracks are not found down near the
>>>base of the Cambrian (the earliest "flood" sediments). They are found
>only in
>>>Mesozoic-age rocks. Mesozoic rocks in the western U.S. typically have
>>>thousands
>>>of feet of Paleozoic age rocks beneath them. Those Paleozoic rocks are
>>>presumably
>>>flood sediments. Those dinosaurs had to leave tracks after MOST of the
>flood
>>>sediments HAD ALREADY BEEN DEPOSITED. Presumably after the highest
>>>mountains
>>>had been covered by flood waters leaving the poor dinosaurs no place to
>>>walk to in their escape.
>>
>>Right. And different dinosaurs were deposited in different layers (some
>>middle Jurassic, others Upper Cretaceous, etc.) because of differences in
>>their success in evading the waters for a time, different strength and
>>endurance in swimming ability, different floatational characteristics, etc.
>>
>
>
>Then why are Tyrannosauroids and Allosauroids not deposited together? Being
>of similar size and body plan, you would expect that they would have been
>very similar in all the considerations you name above, yet they are found in
>the fossil record as much as 100 million years apart.

Evidently these two did not live near each other. And if they had, we
would expect that they would have competed, and we know which one we would
predict as the winner. Geographic distribution is more important than body
size, floatation, etc. for fossil distribution. I should have noted that
above.

Same thing with
>regard to Ankylosauroids and Stegosauroids.

Yes, same thing.

Why are the Ceratopsians spread
>across 50 million years instead of all being found in the same-age
>sediments? Same thing with the Hardosaurs.

Same thing, with the floatational considerations.

Why is the Andrewsarchus not
>found with bear fossils, or Arsinoitherium with rhinoceros fossils, or
>Phorusrhacos with ostrich fossils?
>

Good question. Where were the Tertiary forms when the Mesozoic ones were
being fossilized? The standard evolutionist answer: They hadn't evolved
yet. The standard creationist answer: Well, uh, they were in the
highlands somewhere... (or in icebergs, or all in the ark, or....) The
truth -- ah, I look forward to knowing the truth on this! -- may be
somewhere between these extremes.

The Tertiary forms did expand after the Mesozoic forms went extinct (or
most of them -- many Mesozoic plant genera/subfamilies, and a few animals,
are extant, tho given different names). The Neogene (Upper Tertiary)
really does look to me like postflood speciation, (fossilized during
volcanic events, quakes, floods, etc continuing for a time after the
flood).

>It won't work; too many modern and extinct animals are close enough in size
>and body design to have been deposited together according tour model, yet
>are actually found to be quite far apart.

Yes, floatation is only one aspect of taphonomic dispersal. I shouldn't
have presented it without noting other factors as well. Just like
hydrodynamic sorting, alone it can't explain everything, or any other
factor taken by itself.

We don't have all the answers at all. Thank you for pointing out obvious
errors.

Karen