Updated on February 8, 2017
Exploring Living Fossils – Sea Life – Part 2
In those quiet moments just before dawn, the rhythmic sound of rolling waves cascading against the sandy beach was the only sound. The wet sand gradually began to glisten as the minutes passed and the first rays of sunshine struck the microscopic crystals within the sand. The early morning stillness was broken by the dull, thudding noise of small, running bare feet, interspersed with high-pitched giggles as a child ran along, leaving footprints in the damp sand. Suddenly, the child stopped and dropped to the ground on bent knees to examine a small treasure. Running a slender finger along the edges of the delicate, smooth object, the child was intrigued by the shape, beauty, and wonder of the object. Carefully, those fingers lifted the object, brushing off the sand to reveal the complete sea shell.
Many people love collecting sea shells today. Not only are they beautiful, interesting objects, but they are also made and used by living creatures. You might have a shell collection that could include half of a clam or oyster shell, a swirled snail shell, or even a spiraled nautilus shell. We find fossils of shells almost exactly like those modern shells, buried in rock layers with dinosaur bones. These are living fossils. Last week, we started talking about living fossils – creatures we find both in the fossil record and still living today (read the previous article here). Living fossils present a challenge to evolution. If creatures are supposed to be changing into other things, why do we find so many creatures that stay the same throughout supposed millions of years of evolution?
Living fossils present a problem for one theory for the supposed evolution of fish. Dr. John Long is considered an expert on the evolution of fish. According to Dr. Long’s ideas on the evolution of fish, both cartilaginous fish (a group that includes sharks and rays) and bony fish (like salmon, gars, and sardines) evolved from their shared granddaddy, the jawless fish. But, we still find jawless fish, like the blood-sucking lampreys alive today. If both shark-like creatures and bony fish were “better” or “more-evolved” versions of jawless fish, why did jawless fish survive until today? Take a look at modern waters and the fossil record: we find fossil sharks, rays, salmon, gars, and sardines, along with jawless lampreys in both places. Doesn’t it seem more likely they have all been around the whole time than that they evolved?
The Solnhofen formation in Germany provides many examples of these living fossils, beautifully preserving delicate creatures (read about jellyfish fossils in this formation here). In these rock layers, you can find shrimp, lobsters, prawns, and horseshoe crabs, all that look very similar to what we see today. This rock layer is classified as part of the Jurassic group – a group of layers in which dinosaur fossils can be found (more about rock layers & geologic column here). Looking at life in the waters, we can see that the fossil record isn’t quite as bizarre as it’s often made out to be.
Without evolution and vast ages of time, the Biblical global flood provides a good explanation for what we see in rock formations and fossils throughout the world. When reading about Noah’s ark and the flood in the Bible, you may have noticed that only land dwelling creatures were on the ark. That would mean no fish tanks on the ark. This often brings up the question, how did fish survive the flood? There are more fossils of water-dwelling creatures than any other type of creature. Numerous fish, clams, and other sea creatures died in the flood. But, through living fossils, we can see that many of the same types of fish buried in the flood are also alive today. The flood would not have been a perfectly mixed soup, so fish and other sea creatures that survived probably found pockets of water that were suitable for them. Living fossils that survived the flood are a beautiful reminder of God’s grace and preservation.
©2017, Sara J. Bruegel
References:
- Batten, Don and Sarfati, Jonathan.How did fish and plants survive the Genesis Flood? February 24, 2006. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved 2-8-17. http://creation.com/how-did-fish-and-plants-survive-the-genesis-flood
- Levin, Harold. 2010. The Earth Through Time, 9th edition. Pages 361-6. John Wiley & Sons Inc. United States.
- Werner, Dr. Carl. Living Fossils. Evolution: The Grand Experiment, Vol. 2. 2008. Audio Visual Consultants, Inc. New Leaf Press. Green Forest, Arkansas, USA.
Posted on February 3, 2017
Exploring Living Fossils – Part 1
As I scanned the display of familiar Kansas fossils, taking lots of pictures for my personal research record, there was one oddly shaped fossil that didn’t quite seem to fit in with the others. But, with the overwhelming number of fossils at the annual fossil show in Tucson, I didn’t give that fossil much thought until recently. It looked like two globs of pale tan against the gray surrounding rock that had spikes sticking out of them in a random pattern. They were sea urchin fossils. What’s remarkable about them is that they look almost identical to the live sea urchins we find in the oceans today.
When you think “fossil”, dinosaurs and other strange creatures that are considered “extinct” probably come to mind. But, did you realize that our modern oceans, beaches, forests, and yards are crawling with all kinds of living things we find throughout the fossil record? “Living Fossils” are creatures found in the fossil record that are also alive today, like the sea urchin fossils.
Living fossils present a big problem for the idea of pond-scum-to-people-evolution. The word “evolution” just means change – change over time. Living fossils are a problem for evolutionary ideas because they are creatures that have not been changing, even over vast amounts of time (at least, in theory). We tend to want to depict dinosaurs living in strange worlds with other odd creatures, unlike anything we see today. But, taking a better look at the fossil record, you can see that many fossil creatures look an awful lot like the modern creatures we have today. A big, long-necked Apatosaurus could have munched the branches of a tree just like the one in your yard; sea creatures you find in an aquarium today, like coral, eels, rays, and jellyfish were there when fierce mosasaurs roamed the seas.
https://pixabay.com/en/pencil-urchin-sea-life-ocean-water-139403/
Aquatic creatures are the most common type of fossils, and living fossils swimming in our modern oceans are also quite abundant. Those sea urchin fossils I mentioned at the beginning were from central Texas, found in the Winchell Limestone. This rock layer is officially classified as part of the Pennsylvanian group (read more about rock layer grouping & the geologic column here). According to evolutionary theory, those sea urchins are supposed to be about 300 million years old, yet, the fossil looks an awful lot like the modern Pencil Sea Urchin. We find star fish, sea cucumbers, sponges, various corals, and sand dollars, to name a few that are all considered at least 65 million years old (i.e., living with the dinosaurs, according to evolutionary ideas). Crinoid (sea lily) fossils look a lot like modern “sea lilies”, virtually unchanged after a supposed 400 million years of evolution.
https://pixabay.com/en/jellyfish-aquarium-wildlife-aquatic-695127/
If “evolution” keeps the crinoid, jelly fish, sea urchins, and other things unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, why would we expect fish to grow legs and start walking and change into lizards, dinosaurs, and a variety of mammals all within that same timespan? Why would these creatures stay the same over those vast amounts of time? Perhaps a better explanation is that 1) they really haven’t been around hundreds of millions of years, 2) each basic type of creature was fully-formed from the start, with the ability to diversify within limits (e.g., different breeds of dogs, but all are still dogs), 3) all of the animals we know of today lived at the same time because they were all created at the same time, and 4) fossils were buried during different stages of the global flood, just a few thousand years ago.
Over the next few of weeks, we will be digging in to more of the different types of living fossils and what they mean. Living fossils are a beautiful illustration of the faithfulness of God. He not only created all of these marvelous creatures we see in our world today, but He also preserved them through the global flood. May living fossils be a reminder to you that the Lord is faithful in His love for you and His desire to preserve you:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. ~ Jude 24-25
©2017, Sara J. Bruegel
References:
- Werner, Dr. Carl. Living Fossils. Evolution: The Grand Experiment, Vol. 2. 2008. Audio Visual Consultants, Inc. New Leaf Press. Green Forest, Arkansas, USA.
Posted on January 27, 2017
He Nose About Breathing
Breathe through my nose? What do you mean? That’s the problem. I can’t breathe through my nose – it’s stuffy! These were my first thoughts when I heard about using certain breathing exercises to help relieve my seasonal allergies to pollen, dust, animals, and other things (in Texas, it’s called “Hay Fever”). The more I studied these methods, the more sense it made and the more I found out it actually seemed to be working. Learning more about it, I came to appreciate the amazing design of the human nose. The key point was learning how to breath the way our bodies were originally designed to do this essential function.
The smelling ability of your nose is pretty incredible, but there’s so much more to the nose than just smelling. Did you know that your nose is specially equipped to clean, warm, and humidify the air you breathe? Nitric Oxide is released when you breathe through your nose, sterilizing the air as it goes to your lungs, among other functions. As nasty as the topic may seem, nose hairs, mucus, and boogers have important functions to help defend your body and especially your lungs. As you breathe, nose hairs and mucus help collect harmful things in the air and tiny hair-like structures (called cilia) help move more of these tiny harmful things to a safe waste zone. Those potentially dangerous things usually get safely sneezed or swallowed.
The inside of the human nose is built in such a way that it can perfectly channel the direction and speed of the air coming in and out of the nose. These air streams are just turbulent enough to gently bring a sample of air to the smelling sensors, but smooth enough to go through the right processes it needs to get to the lungs. Your mouth is equipped to be able to breathe, too, but the mouth has a number of other important jobs, and the nose is best equipped for breathing.
If you’re ever temped to look in the mirror and criticize what your nose looks like – how big or small, pointed or flat, narrow or wide, freckled or not etc. – remember how incredibly designed it is. Remember how your Creator lovingly designed the way it works to protect and nourish you. He is a creative artist Who made you one of His grand, beautiful, unique masterpieces. He formed Adam from the dust and breathed the breath of life into him. God carefully crafted your flesh, and gave you life and breath. The stars, rocks, animal, and molecules are all spectacularly amazing works of God, but it was you that He sent His Son to rescue. And to those who have accepted that gift, He also gives the life-breath gift of His Holy Spirit, true life living inside us. As you breathe through your nose today, remember how carefully God made it, and all the ways He is using it to protect you, and remember to thank Him and praise Him for it.
©2017, Sara J. Bruegel
- Thomas, B. 2008. The Amazing Design of the Human Nose. Acts & Facts. 37 (8): 14.Institute for Creation Research http://www.icr.org/article/amazing-design-human-nose
- UpChurch, John. Getting Close to Gross. April 1, 2011; last featured March 6, 2011. Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 1-27-17 https://answersingenesis.org/human-body/getting-close-to-gross/
- Demick, David. The breath of life: God’s gift to all creatures. December 2004. Creation 27(1):42–45. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved 1-27-17
http://creation.com/the-breath-of-life - Research Australia. (2008, May 30). New Breathing Exercises Help Manage Asthma. ScienceDaily. Retrieved 1-27-17 www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080528095853.htm
- Williams,Amber. FYI: What’s the Point of Nose Hair? January 3, 2012. Popular Science. Retrieved 1-27-17 http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-12/fyi-whats-point-nose-hair
- Guliuzza, R. 2009. Made in His Image: Breath of Life. Acts & Facts. 38 (6): 10. Institute for Creation Research http://www.icr.org/article/breath-life
- Mercola, Dr. Joesph. Why Nose Breathing Is so Important for Optimal Health and Fitness. July 30, 2016.Retrieved 1-27-17. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/07/30/buteyko-breathing.aspx
- Mercola, Dr. Joseph.How the Buteyko Breathing Method Can Improve Your Health and Fitness. November 24, 2013. Retrieved 1-27-17 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/24/buteyko-breathing-method.aspx
Posted on January 19, 2017
Preserving Pearls
“May I hold it?” I asked, marveling at the two small objects in his hands. The man placed them in my hands. Gently, I rolled around the small, imperfectly shaped little ball. It felt lighter than I had expected, almost as if it had been made of wax. I was holding a fossil pearl and part of the oyster shell that went with it. The man traded me for another object – this time several pearls were still inside the oyster, but the bump of the pearl was still clearly visible.
While I had certainly seen lots of fossil oysters and clams, scattered all over the ground at the dig site in Kansas, I had never really thought about fossil pearls. One of the fossil pearls that I held was found near the region of Kansas where I have been digging in past years. Walking along the surface of our dig sites, the ground is strewn with pieces of clams. Often, a very large clam would be sitting on the surface. On these large clam halves, one side is smooth, looking like more like a typical shell you would find on the beach, but the other side often has a very different texture. This texture is actually made by a colony of small oysters that became fossilized with their host clam.
Let’s take a look at modern pearls forming in oysters before digging into the fossil pearls too deeply. Oysters get their food by filtering tiny delicious tidbits (like algae) out of water. Sometimes a small object gets stuck between the soft body parts inside and the shell, causing irritation. Usually, it’s food or a parasite (not a grain of sand). Our marvelous Creator designed the oyster with a special way of responding to this irritation. After isolating the parasite, the oyster gently coats it with “nacre”, made of a special protein combined with calcium carbonate. Oysters continue to give that irritant one coat of nacre at a time, layer upon layer, slowly making it into the beautiful rounded object that we call a pearl.
Just like the minerals in clam and oyster shells get replaced and turned into rock during fossilization, the pearl can also become replaced, so that it is made of rock instead of the aragonite, or calcium carbonate, that we see in pearls today. Sometimes the pearls can be completely replaced, but you can still see the rings made by the layering done by the oyster. Other fossil pearls still have the same nacre that modern pearls do on the inside, and only some of the layers of the pearl are turned into rock. Because they are replaced, most women (except the author) would probably not find a string of fossil pearls nearly as attractive as modern pearls.
Fossil bivalves (that fall under the same category as clams and oysters) can be found in some of the lowest and oldest rock layers of the world. They are found throughout the fossil record and in modern day. Isn’t it interesting, that even in the oldest rock layers, these creatures were still basically the same as what we have today? Yes, there are variations. We see different sizes, shapes, and species, but they still had the same basic abilities and characteristics. If the evolution and millions-of-years old earth models were true, why would these creatures suddenly appear, then stay basically unchanged through a supposed five hundred million years while everything else is theoretically evolving and getting better? Perhaps a better explanation is that God created oysters, clams, and other creatures with their unique features and ability to adapt, and they became preserved during different stages of the global flood.
Pearls, both fossil and modern offer a stunning illustration. When someone or something irritating gets under your skin, you have some important choices to make. It may be some kind of parasite of the heart – bitterness, hurt, selfishness or something else. Like an oyster, our Creator has given you a very unique ability to control your thoughts and attitudes. Instead of letting those “parasites” creep in and take over, you can choose to coat them with the love of Christ and truth from the Word of God. It may take time, but eventually, you will end up with a stunning treasure instead of a destructive disease. Choose to be like the oyster today.
©Sara J. Bruegel, January 2017
- “Kari”.Largest Known Fossil Pearl: Vienna, Austria. Kari Pearls. Retrieved 1-19-17. http://www.karipearls.com/fossil-pearl.html
- How Pearls are Formed. Pearls.com . Retrieved 1-19-17. http://www.pearls.com/pages/how-pearls-are-formed
- Brosius, Liz. Kansas Geological Survey. Fossil Clams and Other Bivalves.GeoKansas. Retrieved 1-19-17. http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Extension/fossils/bivalve.html
- Fossil Oyster With Fossil Pearl – Smoky Hill Chalk, Kansas. Sold Specimen. Fossilera. Retrieved 1-19-17. https://assets3.fossilera.com/fossils/fossil-oyster-with-fossil-pearl-smoky-hill-chalk-kansas
- Everhart, Mike. 2011. Inoceramids: Giant clams of the Cretaceous. Oceans of Kansas. Retrieved 1-19-17. http://oceansofkansas.com/Inoceramids.html
- Nacre. Pearl-Guide.com. Retrieved 1-19-17. http://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/content.php?80-Nacre
Updated on January 12, 2017
Tip-Toe Tracks
The dark gray sky glowed with eerie shades of sickly green, rusty red, and deep purple. Patches of smoky black lingered low in the sky, sometimes broken by torrential shafts of rain. Deep rumbling noises and echoes of boiling water as it let off steam sounded constantly in the distance. Occasionally, those distant sounds were broken by sudden sharp noises of splintering wood, avalanching cliffs, explosions, and other noises.
Giant, brown waves swept back and forth across the land, carrying rocks of all sizes, shredded trees, and whatever else it picked up along the way. A retreating wave revealing the wet sandy beach. Moments later, the area shook, but not from an earthquake this time. The sooty air rang clear with distressed wails and dire groans of a stampede of strange creatures as they tried to run across the wet sand, leaving deep footprints.
Another surge of water intruded the area before the animals could go very far, filling in their fresh footprints with new mud. They waded through the fast-rising waters until the water rose to their hips and started to sweep them off their feet. Struggling against the strong current the creatures frantically tried to paddle with their strong legs and short arms. Occasionally, they could feel the mud below touching their toes, then just the tips of their clawed toes touched the bottom. But, soon, these creatures were swept away by the waters and all the dry land was completely covered.
This is a picture of what it might have looked like when dinosaurs were trying to escape the rising waters of the world-wide flood, mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 6-9. Many paleontologists have trouble giving a good explanation for the different types of dinosaur footprint fossils because they believe that the earth is billions of years old and dinosaurs lived and died long before humans came on the scene, dismissing the idea of a global flood before it has even been seriously considered as a good model for explaining what we see. What I call “toe-print” fossils are good examples of a type of dinosaur footprint fossil better explained by models of the global flood than by the old earth models.
“Toe-print” fossils capture just the toes and claws of a two-legged dinosaur (like velociraptor or Iguanodon) touching wet sand. We have two options: either these dinosaurs were skilled ballerinas who danced along beaches and swamps, or their weight was being held up by water and they were moving their legs (trying to swim). “Toe-print” fossils like this have been found in several different places around the world. Some were discovered in China in 2013 and another site is in Australia.
Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackway in Queensland, Australia was first thought to be a stampede of small two-legged dinosaurs being hunted by a bigger dinosaur. By using computers to compare these tracks with other fossils, researchers recently discovered that they were actually made by all vegetarian dinosaurs (none trying to eat each other) and were originally mis-identified as the wrong type of dinosaur because they are “toe-print fossils”, not full footprints. Some of the marks left by dragging claws made them look like footprints belonging to another type of dinosaur.
Some paleontologists say that these dinosaurs got caught in a small river flooding, just like rivers sometimes flood today. However, ripple patterns, dents made by dragging debris, and other markers in the rock indicate fast rising water and drastic changes happening within seconds, more severe than what we see today. If you zoom out, the rock layer containing Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackway would require a “river” at least as wide as the Australian state of Queensland. That’s wider than the state of Texas. Putting that into perspective if you haven’t tried to drive across Texas, it would take over sixteen and a half hours of non-stop driving on a straight road at sixty miles per hour to go that distance. That would be a very wide river. Taking that in the context of the other fossils and rocks we see around the world, it seems best explained by a global, catastrophic flood.
Thinking about the global flood, it sounds very catastrophic and violent. Many creatures and people died in those flood waters. People often ask why God would horrifically destroy the earth and people He created and loved. But, perhaps there’s another question we should be asking: why has God been so very gracious and given people another chance over and over again?
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. ~Lamentations 3:21-23
©2017 Sara J. Bruegel
References:
- University of Alberta. (2013, April 8). New evidence dinosaurs were strong swimmers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 12, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130408123502.htm
- Oard, Michael J. A stampede of swimming dinosaurs. January 2014. Creation 36(1):38–41. Creation Ministries International. Retrieved January 12, 2017 from http://creation.com/dino-stampede
- Thomas, Brian, M.S. New Dinosaur Tracks Study Suggests Cataclysm. January 25, 2013. Institute for Creation Research. Retrieved Janurary 12, 2017 from http://www.icr.org/article/7249/265
- Clarey,Tim, Ph.D. Dinosaurs Swimming out of Necessity. April 26, 2013. Institute for Creation Research. Retrieved January 12, 2017 fromhttp://www.icr.org/article/dinosaurs-swimming-out-necessity
Updated on December 17, 2016
Digging Deep Diamonds
“Look, it’s a piece of bone!” I knelt and picked it up, then another, and another of the pale fragments on the ground. It was a pleasant, sunny autumn day, perfect for an afternoon of casual fossil hunting with my boyfriend. As we followed the bone fragments, I almost stepped on a large, pale fossil just barely sticking out of the ground. It really was quite an extraordinary find – the fossils were preserved surprisingly well, and there were several others that we found just behind the bone I had nearly stepped on. Then there was something odd behind the bones . . . it was hard to tell at first, but more digging revealed that it was a small, wooden box! I was baffled, until my boyfriend opened the little treasure box, revealing a diamond ring. He offered our “rare find” to me, and I accepted it. Getting to dig up my own diamond like this reminded me of where diamonds come from, and how incredible they are.
Every diamond actually does have to be “dug up”, but human mining abilities can only sift through diamonds that have already been brought close to the surface. Diamonds start out at least ninety miles below Earth’s surface – much deeper than people can even hope to mine. To put this into perspective, the deepest part of the ocean is almost seven miles deep and the area where diamonds form is about thirteen times deeper. Shallower than this, the temperatures and pressures are not enough for diamonds, and they break down into graphite, like black pencil lead. Much lower than the diamond zone, the temperatures and pressures are too much, and the diamond breaks down. Diamonds were probably formed around the time God first created land, about six thousand years ago, sitting below the “basement rock” that was the main foundation for land before the global flood.
For a while after creation, these valuable gems were likely still out of reach, well below Earth’s surface. The volcanic activity during the global, catastrophic flood (and for a while after the flood) provided just the right way for diamonds to travel up to the surface. Today, these precious stones are found in very special rock sections of either kimberlite or lamproite, formed into deep, narrow “pipes”. These rocks are basically a type of volcanic rock with some interesting extra minerals that the magma (underground lava) picked up on its way to the surface. Diamonds rode this stream of magma up through Earth’s surface. As mentioned before, these gems will turn into pencil lead if they’re not in their special diamond zone. To get diamonds up to the surface without breaking down, they need to move very quickly. They needed to travel all ninety miles in just seven to twenty hours. Magma moving this fast would create an eruption much bigger than Mount St. Helens and unlike anything in our world today. We know that something catastrophic must have brought diamonds close enough to dig.
Diamonds are incredible gem stones that point to creation and the catastrophic flood, showing remarkable evidence that the Earth is young (only about six thousand years old). Their dramatic entrance is only part of the story. Carbon-14 is a radioactive chemical that breaks down and would become undetectable after about fifty-thousand years. Traditionally, diamonds are thought to be one to three billion years old, but Carbon-14 could not last that long. These valued stones confirm what the Bible says about the history and age of the earth.
The journey of a diamond coming up to the surface is a beautiful thing to think about. Valuable gems start out in the depths of the earth where it’s dark and extremely hot. Literally tons of pressure are pushing all around it. They need to be picked up by a flow of magma, getting ready to explode toward the surface. Those diamonds need to be carried fast enough so that they don’t break down. To become jewelry, these gem stones must be cut and shaped, even after all they’ve traveled through, because that cutting and shaping will reveal the deep beauty under the surface. All that these diamonds travel through keeps them pure, brilliant, sharp, and valuable. One of the most beautiful things about a diamond is the way it reflects light. May your life be like a diamond, made better through the pressures and changes over the years, kept in just the right place at just the right time (by your Maker), and cut away so that you may brilliantly reflect the Light of the World – Jesus.
©December 2016, Sara J. Bruegel
References:
- Snelling, Dr. Andrew. Dazzling Diamonds by Special Delivery. April, 2015. Answers Magazine. Answers in Genesis. Last accessed 12-16-16. https://answersingenesis.org/geology/rocks-and-minerals/dazzling-diamonds-special-delivery/
- Snelling, Dr. Andrew. Diamonds—Evidence of Explosive Geological Processes. Originally published in Creation 16, no 1 (December 1993): 42-45. Last accessed 12-16-16 https://answersingenesis.org/geology/rocks-and-minerals/diamonds-evidence-of-explosive-geological-processes/
Updated on December 9, 2016
A New Fossil Tail
Did you ever play the game, “Telephone”, passing a whispered phrase down the line of people? By the time the person on the end blurts out whatever they heard, it’s usually not what the first person said. The silly game of telephone can teach us memorable and fun lessons about the dangers of rumors. It’s amazing how quickly a rumor can circulate around a close-knit circle of people. Rumors are also dangerous in the realm of science. A scientific rumor is when people come to hasty conclusions about science, before they have all the data needed to make those conclusions, and then they go spread it around.
Have you seen the news lately? Perhaps you’ve seen the numerous headlines proclaiming that a well-preserved dinosaur tail has been found in amber with feathers intact. Many magazines and websites are jumping on this supposed momentous scientific discovery. But, when it comes to exciting scientific discoveries, people are much too eager to spread the news and not eager enough to first learn all the details. We must not make hasty judgements before all the facts are known and understood.
A group of Chinese scientists have been studying a very interesting piece of amber. Amber preserves beautifully detailed plant and insect fossils. But, instead of leaves in this amber, these scientists found feathers that look to be still intact, including what appears to be a tail section of some kind. Looking at their original report, it appears that they did find feathers. These feathers had hooks and barbules – a complex, beautiful system specific to feathers. There definitely are feathers, but what animal they belong to is more questionable. There are several types of bird fossils found in this unit of rock layers.
Since this team just published their finds on December 8, 2016 (yesterday), it’s still too early to say much about this fossil, but let’s take a quick look at what they did discover and some of the potential problem areas in their conclusions. One of the main reasons these scientists think that it’s dinosaur is because the individual tail bones (vertebrae) are not stuck together like they usually are in the tip of a birds’ tail called the “pygostyle”. However, keep in mind that we only have a middle part of the tail – both ends are gone. It’s questionable that they would even have enough of the tail to know definitively whether or not the bones at the end are stuck together like a bird’s pygostyle. The piece they have is only about one and a half inches long.
These scientists say the tail section they have belongs to a dinosaur. However, to match it up with a dinosaur skeleton, including only bones, you would need to get a good look at the bones. According to their original publication, they weren’t able to get a good look at the bones because of how the feathers and skin were covering them. It sounds like there were only a few parts that could be seen well enough to make much of a sound judgement. We really need more good, solid data before much else can be said about this popular discovery. We need more peer-review from other scientists in their specific fields. Don’t let your faith rely on the changing winds of human opinion and whatever is popular – rather, make sure you base your life, beliefs, and judgements on the firm foundation of the faithful Word of God.
©December 2016, Sara J. Bruegel
References:
- Lida Xing, Ryan C. McKellar, Xing Xu, Gang Li, Ming Bai, W. Scott Persons IV, Tetsuto Miyashita, Michael J. Benton, Jianping Zhang, Alexander P. Wolfe, Qiru Yi, Kuowei Tseng, Hao Ran, Philip J. Currie. A Feathered Dinosaur Tail with Primitive Plumage Trapped in Mid-Cretaceous Amber. Current Biology, 2016. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31193-9
- University of Bristol. (2016, December 8). Amber specimen offers rare glimpse of feathered dinosaur tail. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 9, 2016 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161208141637.htm
- “Dinosaur” in Amber: Evolutionists Spin Another Tail. December 9, 2016 https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/feathers/dinosaur-in-amber-evolutionists-spin-another-tail/
Updated on December 2, 2016
Quickly Cooling Crystals
The bright morning sun glistened off the different colored rock crystals, all squeezed together into a block of granite rock. “Oh look! There’s schist, and I think that’s pegmatite!” I declared, delightedly leaning as close as I could to the jumble of shining rock on the other side of the railing. Mount Rushmore was great, but this nerdy rock-lover was more interested in the surrounding rocks than the actual carving of the presidents’ faces. The rocks were beautiful to look at, but how they got here today is an incredible story.
Some of the original rock here may have been made on creation week, when God first separated the waters, making land. That original rock was heated and squeezed by pressures that likely came from Earth’s moving plates near the beginning of the flood, transforming it into the shimmering rock, called schist. This was one of the rock types I saw below the presidents at Mount Rushmore. The other main type of rock I saw there was granite. Granite formed when underground magma (basically the same as lava, just underground) squeezed up into the schist rock that was already there and cooled into the hard rock that the presidents’ faces are carved out of at Rushmore.
If you look closely at George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, you will notice white streaks across their foreheads. Those streaks are made up of a special type of granite, called pegmatite. What makes pegmatite different from regular granite? Just the size of its crystal grains. If you’ve ever seen a granite counter top, polished smooth, you can tell that it’s made up of a bunch of tiny colorful mineral crystals. Pegmatite is the same, just made up of bigger mineral crystals. Some granite counter tops will also have a streak of bigger crystals (pegmatite) going through the regular smaller crystals.
Traditionally, geologists who wanted to believe that Earth is millions of years old would have said that the bigger the crystals, the more time it took to form. But, research has shown that large pegmatite crystals can form much quicker than expected because of water in the magma. Forming these pegmatite crystals is basically a cooling process, and water speeds up this process, helping it cool faster. In general, putting water on something hot (e.g., a pan or hard-boiled egg) will help it cool down faster because as the water evaporates, turning to steam, it will take away some of the heat-energy from the object. The same basic idea applies to pegmatite. Water mixed into the magma helps it cool faster than normal by taking some of the heat-energy and forming the big crystals of pegmatite granite that we can see as white streaks on two of the presidents’ foreheads at Mount Rushmore.
Pegmatite is not the only thing that cooled faster than normal because of water. There were giant blobs of magma, called “batholiths”, that cooled and hardened into granite like the rock the presidents are carved from at Rushmore. The presence of water would also help these giant underground heat chambers cool, but cracking from the fast cooling would also speed up their cooling. Pretty much all granites around the world are cracked, showing evidence of rapid cooling. In the end, it’s not about how much time you have, but about the chemistry and physics of what is happening. What’s so important about getting cool rock? It all points back to the global flood. Both at the time of original creation the flood and , water would have gotten trapped in magma, helping cool the magma into the granite rocks that we have today. You don’t need millions of years to make granite – you only need the right conditions.
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, December 2016
Reference
- Geology Field Notes: Mount Rushmore National Park.Explore Geology. Nature & Science. National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Last accessed 12-2-16 http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/moru/
- Snelling, Andrew and Woodmorappe, John. Rapid Rocks: Granites … They Didn’t Need Millions of Years of Cooling. December 1, 1998. Originally published in Creation 21, no 1 (December 1998): 42-44. Answers in Genesis. Last accessed 12-2-16 https://answersingenesis.org/geology/geologic-time-scale/rapid-rocks/
- Marshark, Stephen. Earth: Portrait of a Planet. , Third Edition. 2008. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Page 168-9.
Posted on November 18, 2016
Facing the Facts
The late summer evening glow of the setting sun made the trees and rocks of the South Dakota Black Hills reverberate with a final splash of brilliant color before darkness cloaked their splendor for the night. My flip-flops seemed to echo loudly off the smooth pavement, trying to keep up with my excited pace. Briefly, I stopped at the eye-catching view: a broad, smooth pathway lined with state flags from around the U.S. framing the giant heads of four presidents on the distant peak. They still looked small from this far away. Standing at the end of the pathway, I leaned on the stone railing as I watched the sky get darker and the faces on the hill side suddenly lit up, one by one. Watching the evening lighting of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, I heard stories about the carving of this incredible monument.
But, how can we really know that Mount Rushmore was created by people, and that it’s not just a cool, naturally made rock formation? After all, there are some stunning “natural” rock formations, made without human involvement. Just look at Arches National Park, or some of the odd rock formations I’ve written about, like balanced rocks or boulders that stack together to look like a fruit bowl or crab (find those articles here). Those odd rock formations were not stacked or carved by people. Why do we insist that Mount Rushmore must have been made by some very special efforts of people? Isn’t that a bit closed-minded? I wasn’t there before those faces appeared, so how can I know for sure what caused them? Let’s go over four simple reasons we can know these faces in the rocks were purposefully carved by intelligent people:
1) Written & retold stories
Visiting Mount Rushmore, books, pamphlets, signs, and park rangers will tell you the stories of exactly how and when these faces were carved into the rock. They include very detailed information, like names and other facts about all the men who worked on it, dates when work was started and finished, copies of original plans, and explanations of how they did it. Also, those stories can be confirmed by writings of other people from that time.
2) Intricacy
Although made of the same granite as the rough rocks around it, the faces of these presidents are smooth and detailed. They show unique facial features and personality, including eyes, hair, and even some clothing.
3) Re-designed several times
Because of the way granite breaks and cracks, the intelligent artists/engineers had to re-design their plan several times over the course of the project. They were able to notice problems with their patterns and change their designs to suit the needs.
4) Incredible likeness
Faces of the four American presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, gazed confidently out of the hill side. But, of course, these were not the real presidents – they were only sculptures of rock. Yet, looking at each of those stony faces, we remember the people they portray. They were purposefully made to look like the faces of real people. Those faces were carved so that people could remember who they were and what they did.
All the natural world – all of creation- was specially designed by an intelligent Person. Our Creator, the God of the Bible, gave us a detailed, written account of how and when He did it. We see His fingerprints in the intricate details of design of atoms, animals, the universe, and us. God, in His wonderful fore-knowledge gave living things (animals, humans, plants) the ability to just slightly alter their “construction plans” if needed. Living things have the special ability to adapt, within limits, to meet the challenges of their environments. Finally, God made humans to reflect His face, constantly reminding others of Who He is and what He has done. My friend, YOU are His masterpiece – not to be selfishly shown off for how special you are, but to show off the talents of your Designer, constantly reminding people of the One who created you and made a plan to redeem you, too.
© Sara J. Bruegel, November 2016
Posted on November 11, 2016
Stepping Mile-High
“ . . . Eight, nine, ten” our group chanted as we climbed the grand stone steps, voices ringing loud and clear in the early evening air. “ . . . Eleven, twelve, thirteen!” We stood all together and posed for a picture, there on the thirteenth step of the Colorado state capitol building in Denver, standing exactly one mile above average sea level. Denver, Colorado is known as the “Mile High City”, but most of the city sits slightly lower than the exact 5,280 feet that make one mile. The area right around the state capitol building is a small hill, making it a little higher than the rest of the city. Looking at the front entrance of the elaborate building, the fifteenth step is clearly engraved with the words “One Mile Above Sea Level”, but there are also two brass markers on other steps that say they mark exactly one mile. One above the engraved letters, on the eighteenth step, and another below them both on the thirteenth step. Of course, I wondered, which one is right?
Three steps said they were exactly one mile above sea level, but only one could be right. Looking closely at the markers, I noticed that the inscription on the lowest bronze marker included the year, “2003”. But, the other bronze marker was difficult to read and the engraved step did not include dates or other details. Upon further investigation, I discovered that when the Colorado state capitol building was first built in the 1890’s, the fifteenth step (the engraved one) was found to be the mile-high sweet spot. Later, in 1969, it was re-surveyed by students of Colorado State University and the eighteenth step was marked as being one mile high. Using modern technological advances to re-measure in 2003, the thirteenth step was marked as being exactly one mile – 5,280 feet – above sea level.
Satellites (like GPS) and numerous other tools from modern technology have enabled people to make more accurate measurements over the years. I had to wonder . . . how big of a difference does each step of the Colorado State Capitol building make? Looking at those steps that seemed far apart, but realizing exactly how high each step is compared to the one mile height helps put them into perspective. If you compared the height of one step to a mile, it would be the same as comparing:
- A single coffee bean compared to the length of a football field,
- The width of a single red blood cell to the height of a six-foot man, or
- The period at the end of this sentence to a twelve-foot high ceiling.
Can you imagine trying to measure something so accurately? It’s no wonder the official mile-high step measurement has changed over the years. When it comes to the tiny, precise differences of measurements, we can clearly see that human ability and intelligence is limited. All people (including scientists) are finite. We cannot get everything perfect, much as we would like to.
But, God knows and perfectly controls details that are way smaller and more significant than we can ever begin to grasp. He controls and perfectly orders details that keep atoms together, edits the DNA in our bodies, and shields us from more dangers than we could imagine. The Lord perfectly orchestrates the rising and setting of the sun, changing of the seasons, beating of your heart, and the forces that keep everything from disintegrating or worse. Our mighty Creator, the God of the Bible, knows the number of hairs on your head and the number of hours you will spend on earth. He knows every thought that has ever popped into your head. He can arrange perfect timings for bumping in to a friend unexpectedly or convicting your heart to pray for someone right when they need it. That same Person, the King of the universe, wants to draw you to a closer walk with Him every day, growing and loving Him more every day. Be sure to seek Him with your whole heart and choose to humbly acknowledge that His ways are always right.
“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered”
~Matthew 10:30
© Sara J. Bruegel, November 2016
References:
- Cook,Terri. Only in Colorado: The Capitol’s Mile-High Step(s). May 26 2015. Only in Colorado Series. 5280 Magazine. Last Accessed 11-11-16
http://www.5280.com/cultureandevents/digital/2015/05/only-colorado-capitols-mile-high-steps - History of the Capitol. Colorado State Capitol. Colorado Official State Web Portal. Last Accessed 11-11-16
https://colorado.gov/pacific/capitol/history-capitol
