Millions of years gaps in the layers:
There are millions of years that are missing in the rock layers).
If Evolution is to be believed, then there are gaps in the layers of rock where a massive amount of time has elapsed, but there is no or very little physical evidence to show for it.
Geologists have given the name paraconformities to describe this.
There are many examples where two layers meet and there is no evidence of erosion or disruption at these junctions, and yet this is supposed to represent a gap of millions of years.
If the lower layer had been exposed for millions of years on land, then the surface would have been eroded by the elements, and channels would have been formed.
But these surfaces are smooth and flat, which wouldn′t be the case after millions of years of weathering.
Similarly, if the lower layer had been exposed for millions of years under water, then it would have been eroded by currents and would have been disturbed by burrowing creatures.
This burrowing is called bioturbation, and it very quickly destroys any uniform layering in sedimentary rocks.
References:
Thanks to Paul Garner for his lecture delivered at the autumn meeting of The Genesis Agendum at Baden-Powell House, London on Saturday, 30 November 1996.
[1] Garton, M (1993), Rocks and Scripture: the millions of years timescale and some geological common sense, Origins [Biblical Creation Society] 6(15), 17-23
[2] Dineley, D L (1992), Devonian, in Duff, P M D and Smith A J (eds), Geology of England and Wales, Geological Society, London
[3] Cocks, L R M (1993), Triassic pebbles, derived fossils and the Ordovician to Devonian palaeogeography of Europe, Journal of the Geological Society 150, 219-26
[4] Roth, A A (1988), Those gaps in the sedimentary layers Origins [Geoscience Research Institute] 15, 75-92
[5] Wilson, M A and Palmer T J (1992), Hardgrounds and Hardground Faunas, Institute of Earth Studies Publications 9, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Examples of paraconformities:
[A] Pen y Fan:
The north face of Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales.
It is claimed that there is a gap of 10 million years. [1]
(Marked by the red line)
The lower layer was a land surface exposed to erosion before it was buried by the sediments above. [2] [3]
But this junction is flat and smooth. The layers are continuous and intact.
This would not be the case if it was exposed for 10 million years.
[B] The Colorado River at Dead Horse Point in Utah.
In the canyon there are two paraconformities; one is reckoned to represent a 10 million years gap, and the other 20 million years. [4]
The first paraconformity covers over 250,000 square kilometres (100,000 square miles).
But there is no evidence that the surface has had much erosion, because it is quite flat.
Geologists who believe in Evolution have no real answers to paraconformities, but the obvious answer is that the time span is not millions of years.
(See the problems with radiometric dating in the: ‘Fossil Dating Accuracy of fossil dating methods’ in an earlier article.)
There are junctions between layers, which have got evidence showing that time has passed without another layer being formed.
An example is colonized sea-floors (hardgrounds). [5]
Go to next article:
Colonized sea-floors (hardgrounds)
After a period of time the sea-floor would harden, but that wouldn′t stop the burrowing and boring creatures from colonizing the hardened surface.
The timespan for these hardgrounds to form could only be months, years, or decades – but not necessarily thousands or millions of years.
The diagram below shows the condition of the Colonized sea-floors (hardgrounds):
CENOZOIC
Holocene: Well developed.
Pleistocene: Well developed.
Pliocene: Well developed.
Miocene: Well developed.
Ollgocene: Well developed.
Eocene: Well developed.
Palaeocene: Well developed.
MESOZOIC
Cretaceous: Common. Well developed.
Jurassic: Common. Well developed.
Triassic: Well developed.
PALEOZOIC
Permian: Not so developed.
Carboniferous: Not so developed.
Devonian: Not so developed.
Silurian: Not so developed.
Ordovician: Common. Not so developed.
Cambrian: Not so developed.
Erosion surface: The Great Unconformity.
PRECAMBRIAN
Vendian (Proterozoic): Hardgrounds are less well-developed in the Paleozoic period, which means that the time was very short for them to form.
This would fit with what we were saying in the previous article: ‘Earth′s catastrophic history’:
"The Lower Palaeozoic period (Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian) was a time when the ocean waters swept over the continents, levelling the land as it went. Remember that these layers could have been formed very quickly by the action of the water sweeping in."
Mesozoic and Cenozoic hardgrounds are more common and they have had more time for them to develop, because these layers were laid down after the catastrophic events of the Lower Palaeozoic period.