It is common knowledge among honest evolutionists today that Darwin's concept of gradualism via natural selection is no longer accepted in the realm of academia to explain the fossil record. Allow me to briefly exemplify by letting the following evolutionists speak for themselves:
[Stanley, Steven M., 'Macroevolution: Pattern and Process' (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Co., 1979), 332p.]
The known fossil record fails to document a single example of phyletic evolution accomplishing a major morphologic transition and hence offers no evidence that the gradualistic model can be valid. (p.39)
[Raup, David M., "Evolution and the Fossil Record," 'Science,' vol. 213 (July 17, 1981)]
So, the geological time scale and the basic facts of biological change over time are totally independent of evolution theory. (p.289)
[Ridley, Mark, "Who Doubts Evolution?" 'New Scientist,' vol.90 (June 25, 1981), pp.830-832. Ridley was in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University.]
In any case, no real evolutionist, whether gradualistic or punctuationist, uses the fossil record as evidence in favor of the theory of evolution as opposed to special creation....(p.831)
The geologic column in its final version consists of eleven basic layers. According to the evolutionary theory these layers were laid down over a period of millions of years.
Billions of years.
However, several problems arise when the geologic column is looked at through the theory of evolution. First, if the geologic column were to be compacted together, layer upon layer, its height would exceed 100 miles. This is a problem because one must consider the earth's crust is no greater than 30 miles thick and sedimenlary [sic] rocks are never found exceeding 15 miles in depth.
Why would the column have to be 100 miles thick? Because you said so? Have you taken into account compression over time (for example, sandstone is compressed to make it sandstone). Not all rock is sedimentary. Some is igneous and some metamorphic.
The Grand Canyon also presents a problem to the evolutionary geologic column because several sedimentary layers, such as the Cenozoic and Mesozoic strata, are absent. Such absences directly correspond with the many observations that the theorized transitional species between virtually every major group of animals is also missing.
You might check out The Geology of the Grand Canyon before proceeding along this line of thought.
One of the most stunning evidences against the supposed vast ages of the earth and the geologic column is the presence of human footprints in layers dated older than the Quaternary Period.
The only reporting of human footprints being found are the Paluxy River Man Tracks. Unfortunately for creationists these have been shown to be nothing more than eroded dinosaur tracks. If you have a list of others, please post it here. I'd like to track them down and read about them for myself.
In addition to footprints, human fossils have also been found in areas of the geologic column which represent time periods supposedly millions of years prior to modern man.
Really. Show us.
I think you’ll find that geology tells us that the age of the rocks, not biology. The age of rocks is completely independent of whether or not life evolved. If ID biology replaces evolutionary biology, the rocks are still old. What are these eleven basic layers you speak of?
First, if the geologic column were to be compacted together, layer upon layer, its height would exceed 100 miles. This is a problem because one must consider the earth's crust is no greater than 30 miles thick and sedimentary rocks are never found exceeding 15 miles in depth.
Erosion and deposition? Even today, in parts of the world, rocks are being eroded, while in other parts, the sediments are being deposited. Rocks are also destroyed in subduction zones while new ones are created through volcanism, intrusions, sea-floor spreading… all that plate tectonics stuff.
The Grand Canyon also presents a problem to the evolutionary geologic column because several sedimentary layers, such as the Cenozoic and Mesozoic strata, are absent.
First of all, I don’t know the age of the Grand Canyon formations, but I’ll take your word that they’re older than 250 million years (i.e. older than Mesozoic). If this is the case, then the problem the Grand Canyon poses for evolution is that it can’t tell us anything about Mesozoic or Cenozoic life. So, we look elsewhere for rocks of the appropriate age.
Another problem in the evolutionary theory is the inconsistency in strata succession form old strata to young In over 500 locations globally the succession of strata is inverted and younger strata is found lying beneath older strata.
Inversion of strata sequences is a common occurrence associated with folding. Thrust faults also may cast young strata over older ones. Its all part of plate tectonics.
The discovery of fossils and footprints in the geologic colmnn below levels in which they should be located is also a problem to the evolutionary geologic column. One of the most stunning evidences against the supposed vast ages of the earth and the geologic column is the presence of human footprints in layers dated older than the Quaternary Period.
Paluxy?
In addition to footprints, human fossils have also been found in areas of the geologic column which represent time periods supposedly millions of years prior to modern man.
Examples?
According to evolution the formation of coal seams occurred over millions of years. However, the presence of fossilized trees in these coal beds indicate that they were formed very quickly since a tree could not survive for a million years while the surrounding vegetation solidified.
Once again, geology gives us this info, not evolutionary biology, although I'm not sure if it states that formation of all grades of coal takes millions of years, rather that the seams are millions of years old. These trees do tell us that the plant material from which coal is formed was laid down relatively quickly. Not far from where I live, 10 feet of peat was laid down over several thousand years since the last Ice Age ended, complete with upright tree stumps which did not fully decay due to the acidity of the environment. As far as I remember, feet of moss peat can even be laid down in decades. However, this is merely the first step in the formation of coal. Conversion into coal requires heat and compression i.e. burial. The deeper and longer the burial, the better the grade of coal. Anthracite is formed when the coal is subjected to folding and deformation associated with mountain building.