Links on Polystrate Fossils

We don't blog much about fossils but I thought this one was more interesting than most on that topic. The linked to blog entry actually links to a second article entitled Polystrate Fossils Require Rapid Deposition. The following is a quote of the summary of that article (in blue):


Polystrate fossils are a strong indication of rapid sedimentation. A number of examples of polystrate fossils were briefly listed. Uniformitarian scientists simply appeal to local rapid deposition to account for polystrate fossils, but they rarely if ever have any evidence for rapid deposition, other than the trees themselves, that is consistent with similar sediments with no polystrate fossils. Thus, polystrate fossils are both positive evidence for rapid deposition and negative evidence for the validity of the uniformitarian paradigm.

Particularly difficult to explain are polystrate fossils found in coal mines. The uniformitarian “swamp” model emphasizes long periods of time. With this in mind, we examined four open-pit coal mines northeast of Anchorage, Alaska. There were about 20 polystrate trees, mainly in two of the mines. The trees were at different levels in the mines, indicating rapid deposition of all the strata, including the coal. The strata were generally evenly bedded in all four coal mines, and the mode of deposition would have been similar over the entire area.