Earth′s catastrophic history:
Many professional geologists are now thinking along the lines of catastrophism, where the Earth has undergone a number of catastrophic events. (Most of them still believe that this happened over billions of years).
But as we′ve seen, the rock layers can be laid down very quickly. (See the previous article: Quickly formed layers.)
And for fossils to form, it requires a very rapid burial of the creature or plant.
To show that this happens suddenly, here are some examples:
[1] Two dinosaurs fighting?
In 1971, in Mongolia, two amazing dinosaur fossils were found.
A Velociraptor on top of a Protoceratops, either both animals were suddenly buried and fossilized, or the two corpses had been dumped together by the flood waters.
But either way, to cover two dinosaurs quickly enough for them to get fossilised would have taken a catastrophic event. [1]
[2] Died in their danger position:
An extinct group of marine arthropods, called trilobites, were able to roll themselves up for protection – rather like woodlice.
Many trilobites are fossilized in this danger position, showing that they were buried alive while trying to protect themselves.
[3] Frozen in time and not decayed:
Sea-lilies, known as crinoids, are made up of small calcium carbonate plates which are held together by soft tissue. When it dies, the soft tissues quickly decay and the sea-lily falls apart in a few days – even in still water.
When fossilised sea-lilies are found in a well preserved and intact state, (ie in Jurassic rocks in Dorset), it means that they were buried in sediment very quickly, before they had started to decay. [2]
Part 2:
See the great, widespread erosion surface.