The Hidden Force

Nat_Our

Sedimentation and the fossil registration

www.sedin.org/CC02GAD/

It is published here only a brief synopsis of the same article for their analysis and evaluation:

The Polystrate Trees and Coal Seams of Joggins Fossil Cliffs

Henry M. Morris, Ph. D.,

Certain geologic sites have been especially crucial in shaping current thought.
Thus it is with the amazing sequence of beds and fossils exposed along the Bay
of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada, near the town of Joggins.
Sir Charles Lyell, friend and colleague of Charles Darwin, and principal
architect of the principle of geologic uniformity, published his classic book,
Principles of Geology, in 1830. In it he proposed that slow and gradual pro-cesses,
operating on a local scale much as are seen today, had sculptured the earth's surface over vasteons of time. He denied the role of major geologic events, most especially the global Flood of Noah's day, insisting that "the present is the key to the past."
The scientific community of the day opposed him, recognizing that most geologic deposits were best interpreted in terms of catastrophic events,
operating at rates, scales, and intensities far beyond those observed today.
In an attempt to convince them, Lyell traveled far and wide, searching for evidence to support his model. 

 Thus Joggins became a major argument against the Flood and against the doctrine of recent creation. As a result, the influence of the Bible on science and society waned, paving the way for Darwin's view of biological uniformitarianism. But was Lyell's
presentation of the evidence accurate? Let's return to the site for a fresh look.
The Geologic Setting Alternating beds of sandstone, siltstone, and shale are exposed along the banks of the Bay of Fundy, known for its extreme tidal range. Here the difference between the water's elevation of high tide and low tide is over 50 feet!2 This leads to continual erosion of the cliff and continual exposure of new fossils. The strata sequence,
dipping to the south at about 25 degrees, is approximately 14,000 feet thick, mea-sured perpendicularly to the originally horizontal bedding. The individual beds are interspersed with scores of layers of coal. Lyell's partner, Sir William Dawson,
recorded some 85 coal horizons, ranging in thickness from just a few inches to thick
enough to be mined by underground mining methods. As one walks northerly along
the banks of the Bay, one encounters beds deposited ever earlier in time, since the
lower beds must have been deposited first. In standard thinking, this thick sequence
of beds was laid down over a 10-million-year period of time, from 310 to 300 million
years ago.
Two schools of thought exist within uniformitarian geologists, who variously
interpret these beds as: a flood plain in which a river occasionally overflowed its
banks, burying the surrounding marsh in mud; and as a coastal plain occasionally
inundated by rising oceans. In both cases, sediments are assumed to have been
building up as the underlying basin subsided, with deposition keeping up with
sinking.3 The coal beds are thought to record a recurring swampy bog, where organic
materials collected for hundreds of years, only to be buried either by river flooding or sea level rises. 

In time, the peat turned to coal while the surface mud supported another forest and the cycle repeated. Some of the partially buried dead stumps remained intact and penetrated through the overlying shale, sandstone, and accumulating layers of forest litter, existing today as polystrate (i.e., "many strata") fossils. Surely there is a more satisfying explanation.
Arguments for Rapid Sedimentation

A Remaining Enigma
The fact that the trees are so different from modern trees, coupled with the fact that the depositional environment was quite different from environments observed today, defies attempts at a complete reconstruction. We certainly will not find the solution in uniformitarian thinking. On the other hand, the myriad of complex events necessarily occurring during the Flood of Noah's day provide a framework within which to consider possible solutions.
Keep in mind that the Joggins coal region with its polystrate trees is not dissimi-lar
from many carboniferous coal deposits. Scheven has proposed that many pre-Flood
forests may have actually grown on the water surface.7 With their light weight,
hollow structure, and extensive flat-lying root systems, they may have formed
essentially a growing mat of vegetation. Intertwined roots would have given it
stability, becoming a possible home for small amphibians and reptiles.
Perhaps as the Flood began, these forest islands continued to float, but began to
die and break up, and their soft inner pulp decayed. Waterlogged organics could
accumulate under the mat, to be covered frequently by mud flows from the open
ocean. A succession of coal deposits could thus accumulate in one area. A similar
scenario has been observed in the Mount St. Helens floating log mat, as the terrestrial
forest floated and sank to the bottom of Spirit Lake.8 As at Yellowstone's fossil
forests, some trees would be trapped and buried in mud flows, with some retaining a
upright posture.9 The succession of individual layers transgressed by polystrate fossils
in each case necessitates rapid sedimentation and a short period of time.
While a fuller understanding awaits more research, we can say with confidence
that the "just-so story" told by Lyell and his modern-day disciples simply doesn't fit
the facts. His story was unfortunately sufficient in his day to convince many scientists
and theologians to abandon the doctrines of recent creation and global flood, but it is
insufficient today, now that more is known.