Geological Periods and Paleontology

Geological Periods and Paleontology

The first basic information regarding the Earth's crust began to be acquired in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, during the buildings of railways and tunnels. William Smith, a British tunnel builder, saw that there were rocks along the North Sea coast similar to those unearthed in Somerset during building work that dated back to the Jurassic period (206 to 144 million years ago). With the rock and fossil specimens he collected from one end of the country to the other, Smith produced the first geological surface map of England. In addition, based on rock specimens in his possession, he also drew underground geological maps for some regions, which made a major contribution to the advancement of modern geology and to determining the Earth's geological time frame. Thanks to the information contained in his maps, the nature and contents (iron seams, coal, etc.) of the strata immediately beneath the surface could be known, even if the rocks themselves were covered in vegetation.

The first maps drawn by William Smith, the founder of British geology, contributed greatly to the development of modern geology. A) Some fossil samples collected by William Smith, B) Gastropod, Ç) Two-shelled 1) Upper Carboniferous Period, 2) Lower Carboniferous Period, 3) Middle Jurassic Period, 4) Jurassic Period, 5) Triassic Period

Fossils played a vital role in the acquisition of all his information. The geological time frame from the Precambrian Period to the Quaternary period was drawn up using the data indicated by fossil beds, and is still in use today. Thanks to investigations of rock structures, the stages undergone by the Earth at different periods were identified, and the fossils inside rocks provided information about the organisms that had existed during different periods. Combining these two together produced a chronology, according to which the history of the Earth is separated into two eons, with those eons being subdivided into eras and eras into periods.

In order to make natural history more comprehensible, geologists and paleontologists divided the history of the Earth into geological periods. While determining these periods, the formation of rocks, their ages and the fossils they contain play an important role. A) PRECAMBRIAN (4.6 billion to 543 million years ago), B) PALEOZOIC, C) CENOZOIC, D) MESOZOIC 1- Cambrian Period (543 to 490 million years ago) 2- Ordovician Period (490 to 443 million years ago), 3- Silurian Period (443 to 417 million years ago), 4- Devonian Period (417 to 354 million years ago), 5- Carboniferous Period (354 to 290 million years ago), 6- Permian period (290 to 248 million years, 7- Triassic Period (248 to 206 million years ago), 8- Jurassic Period (206 to 144 million years ago), 9- Cretaceous Period (144 to 65 million years ago),  10- Quaternary Period, 11- (65 million years ago to today)

1. The Precambrian Eon (4.6 billion to 543 million years ago)

The Precambrian is regarded as the oldest and also the longest period in the Earth's history and is subdivided into various eons and eras. The period between 4.6 and 3.8 billion years ago is referred to as the Hadean Eon. At this time, the Earth's crust was still forming. The Archean Eon was between 3.8 and 2.5 billion years ago, followed by the Proterozoic Eon, between 2.5 billion to 543 million years ago. In the fossil record, there are various traces of single- and multi-celled organisms from these periods.

2. The Phanerozoic Eon (543 million years to the present day)

Phanerozoic means "visible or known life." The Phanerozoic Eon is studied under three separate eras: the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic.

The Paleozoic Era (543 to 251 million years ago)

This era, which lasted some 300 million years, is the first and longest part of the Phanerozoic Eon. Throughout the course of the Paleozoic, the climate was generally humid and temperate, though ice ages did take place from time to time.

Rocks from the Precambrian Period in Greenland (4.6 billion years to 543 million years ago). (left) The Ediacara Hills in Australia contain rocks from the Precambrian Era. The 570- to 543-million-year-old jellyfish fossils pictured are also found in Ediacara. These fossil records dating back to hundreds of millions of years deny the claim of "evolutionary process." According to the unscientific claims of evolutionists: 1- The fossil record should present many transitional forms. 2- The transition in these records ought to be slow and gradual, and should show a development from simple to complex. 3- After the first imaginary cell evolved, new species have to emerge. Also, the traces of these species should be seen in fossils. However, fossil records have never verified the claims of evolutionists. Fossils have revealed some certain facts: With their specific structures, living beings have distinct and distinguishable qualities. These qualities were not gradually acquired over time, and there exists no traceable evolutionary connection among the groups of presently living organisms. This is one of the most important evidence revealing that all living things were created flawlessly by God, with all their characteristics.

The Paleozoic Era is studied under six distinct periods, the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian:

The Cambrian Period (543-490 million years ago)

A drawing of the creatures from the Cambrian Period.

This period is the geological age in which all the basic living groups (or phyla) still alive today, and even more that subsequently became extinct, appeared suddenly. (Phylum is the largest category after kingdom in the classification of living things. Phyla are determined on the basis of the numbers and variety of living things' organs and tissues, their bodily symmetry and internal organization. The number of today's phyla has been determined as 35, but around 50 existed during the Cambrian Period.)

The emergence of species was so sudden and so wide-ranging that scientists gave it the name of the "Cambrian Explosion." The evolutionist paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has described this phenomenon as "the most remarkable and puzzling event in the history of life", while the evolutionist zoologist Thomas S. Ray writes that the origin of multi-cellular life is an event of comparable significance to the origin of life itself.

When one considers information about the Cambrian explosion as provided by the science of paleontology, it clearly confirms God's creation and refutes the theory of evolution. The Precambrian age before the Cambrian was populated mainly by single-celled organisms, with just a few multi-celled life forms with few specific characteristics and lacking such complex structures as eyes and feet. Therefore, no evidence supports the imaginary evolutionary transition to Cambrian life forms, and not a single fossil that can be claimed to represent their supposed forerunner. In this barren environment, inhabited by single-celled organisms, an astonishing variety of life with exceedingly complex features suddenly came into being. Through this explosion, moreover, there emerged life forms separated from one another by very distinct structural characteristics. Fossils reveal very profound gaps in terms of both relatedness and complexity among organisms living in the Precambrian and those in the Cambrian. So striking are these gaps that evolutionists, who need to be able to prove continuity among living groups, have been at a loss to establish any familial relationships among these phyla, on even a purely theoretical level.

The Cambrian Period shows that right at the beginning, very different life forms with exceedingly complex structures emerged suddenly—and in fact, this is exactly what is taught by creation. The origin of the perfect structures possessed by living things is God's creation. In the fossil record, these perfect structures appear in a flawless form without exhibiting any deficient, semi-completed or still-functionless stages of the kind predicated by the chance-based theory of evolution.

The Ordovician Period (490 to 443 million years ago)

A drawing of the creatures from the Ordovician Period

In this period, a large number of marine invertebrates lived. The fossil record has revealed a great wealth of families of marine creature during the Ordovician Period. There are also terrestrial plant fossils dating back to the same period. During the Ordovician Period, global climate changes caused by ice ages resulted in a number of species becoming extinct. This state of affairs is described as the "Ordovician extinctions."

Some life forms that existed during the Ordovician Period are still around today. One is the horseshoe crab. A 450-million-year-old fossilized horseshoe crab shows that nearly half a billion years ago, these creatures had exactly the same features and complex equipment. The oldest known and most perfect fossilized water spider also belongs to the Ordovician Period (425 million years) and is another important proof that living things have remained unchanged for long ages. In a period when—according to the Darwinist scenario—living things should have been undergoing evolution, these remains reveal that evolution never took place in any manner whatsoever.

These rocks in Newfoundland show the transition from the Cambrian to the Ordovician Period. (left) A 450-million-year-old fossil horseshoe crab, no different from those crabs of our day. (right)

The Silurian Period (443 to 417 million years ago)

As temperatures rose again, the glaciers melted and flooded some continents. There are many fossils of land plants dating back to this period, as well as fossilized echinoderms such as the sea lily, arthropods such as sea scorpions, and various species of jawless fish and armored fish, as well as a number of species of spider.

Crinoid from the Silurian Period

The Devonian Period (417 to 354 million years ago)

Countless fossil fish date back to this period. During the Devonian, a kind of "mass disappearance" took place and certain species became extinct. This mass disappearance affected coral reefs, with stromatoporoids (a form of reef-forming coral) disappearing entirely.

But there is no difference between the thousands of fossil fish that lived during the Devonian Period and many species of fish living today. This, once again, is important evidence that living things have undergone no changes over the course of millions of years, and that there can be no question of their having evolved gradually.

The Carboniferous Period (354 to 290 million years ago)

Also known as the Coal Age, this period is subdivided into two separate periods, the Lower Carboniferous or Mississippian and the Upper Carboniferous orPennsylvanian. Land rising and falling, resulting from collisions between continents, and rises and falls in sea levels linked to the polar ice caps were significant events that shaped the world during this period. Many fossils of marine and terrestrial life forms date back to the Carboniferous Period. Thecoelacanth, which Darwinists for many years depicted as a supposedly intermediate form, is still alive today, proving the invalidity of this claim. It has undergone no change over the course of millions of years and has never undergone "evolution." Contrary to Darwinists' claims that the coelacanth was a "missing link" that corroborated evolution, it is actually an example of a "living fossil" that totally refutes evolution. The coelacanth had been the subject of countless forms of evolutionist speculation, but its emergence as a living fossil presents evolutionists with a major dilemma.

Coelacanth of our day and a Coelacanth fossil, 410 million years old

355- to 295-millionyear-old spider fossil

The Permian Period (290 to 248 million years ago)

At the end of the Permian Period, another mass disappearance took place that represented the final end of the Paleozoic Era. The fossil record shows that during this huge disappearance, 90%-95% of living species became extinct. Nonetheless, some Permian life forms have survived right down to the present day. Fossil specimens from the Permian such as dragonflies and spiders prove that evolution never took place at any time in the past.

The Mesozoic Era (248 to 65 million years ago)

The Mesozoic Era is divided into three separate periods: the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. It was during this era that dinosaurs lived and became extinct.

The Triassic Period (248 to 206 million years ago)

The Mesozoic Era began with the Triassic Period. A large number of Triassic fossils from all over the world show a wide variety of both marine and terrestrial life forms. As is the case with all other periods, there appears not a single intermediate fossil of the kind that evolutionists hope for.

The Petrified Forest in Arizona—of fossilized, opalized logs—is one of the most famous structures of the plants from the Triassic Period. This forest, consisting of trees now known as the Chilean araucaria is evidence that plants have not evolved. These trees, which lived 248 to 206 million years ago, are no different from ones living today. Scientists working on fossils from the Triassic Period (middle)

The Jurassic Period (206 to 144 million years ago)

This part of the Mesozoic saw large numbers and varieties of dinosaurs. At the end of the Jurassic, some ammonites, sea sponges, oyster and mussel species had become extinct.

But many life forms have survived unchanged since the Jurassic—in other words, without undergoing any form of evolution. The fossil record is full of examples of such creatures. One of the earliest known fossil crocodiles, for instance, is around 200 million years old. There are also examples of fossilized Tuatara lizards that are more than 200 million years old. The many fossil shrimp dating back to the Jurassic Period all possessed exactly the same perfect systems and complex structures as they do today.

A 200-million-year-old tuatara lizard, and the same lizard alive today. (left) A dragonfly fossil, 150 million years old. It is the same as the dragonflies of our day. (right)

A 206- to 144-million-year-old shrimp fossil. It is no different from the shrimp living in our day.

The Cretaceous Period (146 to 65 million years ago)

A fish between 146 and 65 million years old, and a fossil bat uncovered in France.

This, final stage of the Mesozoic, is known as the age in which the dinosaurs became extinct, as did a large number of terrestrial reptiles and plant species.

On the other hand, a great many species of aquatic animals such as starfish, crabs, some species of fish, water scorpions, spiders, dragonflies, turtles and crocodiles, and various plant species managed to survive down to the present day. Fossil specimens such as a 135-million-year-old starfish, a 140-million-year horseshoe crab, and a 125-million-year ginkgo tree leaf are just a few of the proofs of this. Despite the intervening millions of years, these life forms still possess the same complex systems, totally invalidating Darwinist claims regarding natural history.

The Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to the present day)

This 54- to 37-million-year-old crocodile fossil was found in Germany.

The Cenozoic Era, in which we are still living, began with the end of the Cretaceous Period. Until recently, geologists and paleontologists divided the Cenozoic into two separate periods of unequal length: theTertiary and the Quaternary. The Tertiarycomprised a time frame from 65 million to 1.8 million years ago, and the Quaternary encapsulated the last 1.8 million years. Recently, however, the Cenozoic Era has been divided into three separate periods. Under this new system, its three components are the Paleogene, the Neogene and theQuaternary.

The Cenozoic Era's fossil record contains large numbers of specimens that, just as with other ages, show that the theory of evolution—which maintains that living things descended by chance from a common ancestor—is not true.

One distinguishing feature of the fossil specimens obtained from all these geological periods is that the species in question never underwent any changes. To put it another way, whenever a species first appears in the fossil record, it preserves its same structure for tens of millions of years, until it becomes extinct or else survives until the present day—again, without experiencing any change. This is clear evidence that living things never underwent evolution.

The fossil history of species definitively and clearly refutes the theory of evolution. It is Almighty God, with His sublime power and boundless knowledge, Who creates completely different living species out of nothing and makes the world suitable for life.