Folded Rock Layers: Evidence of Noah’s Flood?
Motorists driving along Interstate Highway 68 in Maryland
are often intrigued by the dramatic curves and folds in the layers of sedimentary
rock in Sideling Hill. It is a
sight that becomes more puzzling if you reflect on it. Obviously, because of gravity, sediments always spread out horizontally; but in this cut, the layers of solid rock are not flat or horizontal, but curved up! How could that happen? Stopping at the rest area for
information, you soon discover that folded rock layers like that are not rare at
all: in fact, the multi-state geologic region to which Sideling Hill belongs is actually characterized
by closely folded rock strata1. And numerous examples of even more extreme folded rock are found all around the globe, including in frequently visited parts of the
Grand Canyon.2
Investigating further, you are told that according to the accepted
historical geologic model (uniformitarianism), the six to nine mile deep layer
of sedimentary rock covering the earth formed very slowly--fractions of a millimeter per year--by processes still at
work today. This accumulation, therefore, required eons of time.
The horizontal layers of sedimentary rock that comprise the “geologic
column” reveal the history of the earth in the various strata, with the oldest
rocks at the lowest levels. These
layers are named according to the era in which they were presumed formed, and are
the Paleozoic Era (544 to 245 million years ago, further subdivided into six to
eight periods), the Mesozoic Era (252 to 201 million years ago, further
subdivided into Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods), and the Cenozoic
Era (65 million years ago to the present, the time in which mammals were
believed to have evolved).
Geologists who have studied the Sideling Hill Road cut assert that
the sedimentary rock layers (of which we can see about 810 feet) were formed
during the early Mississippian Period (330 to 345 million years ago), and then
folded during mountain building in the Permian or early Triassic Period,
approximately 230 to 240 million years ago.1 In other words, the
rock had 100 million years to harden before it was somehow forced into its present
shape.
How is sedimentary rock formed? Sedimentary rock, whether sandstone,
shale, conglomerates, limestone, or chert, is composed of particulate matter
(sand, silt, and gravel, themselves the result of the breakup of igneous
rock), together with any bits of plant or animal debris. Geologic mapping demonstrates that
this sediment was swept by water over long distances before
being deposited in horizontal layers.
While such sediments do not ordinarily become stone today, it is
believed that those which became rock were swept along and mixed with some type
of cementing agent that chemically interacted with the sediments, causing them
to harden into solid rock, much like the setting of concrete or plaster of
Paris.
But this explanation, you realize, only makes the puzzle more difficult! If you have tried to
bend a piece of plaster of Paris or concrete, let alone rock, you know that it does
not flex or bend, even if you apply pressure slowly. These materials are so brittle
that they fracture or crumble instead. It is hard to imagine layers of rock hardened for more than 100 million years smoothly bending or folding
into the intact arrangement seen in Sideling Hill.
So what is the answer? There can be only one. The only way sedimentary layers like those in Sideling
Hill could deform without fracturing is for the layers to be laid down in
rapid succession, and then folded up while still as soft and pliable as modeling clay.2
But are sedimentary layers ever deposited rapidly? Yes. The volcanic
eruptions of Mount St. Helens in 1980 resulted in a series of mudslides that rapidly formed 600 feet of sediment layers, which though flat, were otherwise very
similar to those of Sideling Hill. Researchers found that within five years, the horizontal layers
had hardened into actual rock3. With that in mind, a different scenario begins to make better sense. If during the first year after
the rapid deposition of sediments there had been volcanic eruptions or geologic
movements to uplift and deform the layers, they could well have bent
into the curved pattern seen in Sideling Hill, because they were still soft and
malleable. If the rock had become hard, however, any later disrupting forces would have crushed or pulverized the layers rather than smoothly deforming them.
What, then, if we look beyond the standard
uniformitarian model spanning hundreds of millions of years, a time frame chosen mainly because it is the time required for Darwinian evolution to have occurred?
How are rocks dated anyway?
While radiometric methods are commonly used to date igneous rock, these
methods cannot be used for sedimentary rock, itself the result of the degradation or breakup of older rocks. Sedimentary rocks, unlike igneous rocks, are dated from certain fossils found embedded within particular layers of rock. Interestingly,
these key fossils are themselves dated by the geologic strata in which they are
found! Obviously, this is circular
reasoning, and it continues to plague evolutionists.
But are there any other historical geologic models that could explain folded rock layers, other than uniformitarianism? Consider catastrophism! What if there
had been some dramatic sort of cataclysm that produced miles of uprooted sediment that covered the entire face of the planet? And
what if that cataclysm had been combined with powerful eruptions and rock movements all within
the period of a year, when the sediment layers were still soft?
If your mind has jumped to the Great Flood (Noah’s Flood, or the Genesis Flood),
the greatest worldwide cataclysm ever recorded, you are not alone. In fact, folded rock layers are
actually regarded by some scientists as one of the more obvious geologic evidences
for the Genesis Flood. And there are other
lines of evidence, too, including the lack of weathering or bioturbation
between rock strata, the rapid burial of plants and animals, the transport of great
amounts of sediment over long distances, the lack of soil between rock layers, the
presence of fossils of sea creatures high above sea level, and polystrate
fossils such as petrified trees that extend through multiple strata.2,3 If our eyes are open to it, there is a lot of scientific
evidence!
Suppose the Bible were true after all, including the book
of Genesis? Considering this may be for some a matter of personal integrity.
G.M. Horning
References:
1. Geology of the Sideling Hill
Road Cut, Maryland Geologic Survey, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, www.mgs.md.gov, accessed 07/20/2017
2. Snelling, Andrew A.; Rock
Layers Folded Not Fractured.
Answers Magazine, April-June 2009, pp 80-83.
3. Morris, John D.; Geologic
Evidence for a Young Earth (p. 107), in The Young Earth, Master Books, 1998.
4. Morris, Henry M.;
Uniformitarianism or Catastrophism, pp. 91-130, in Scientific Creationism,
Master Books, 2012.
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