Changes

In analyzing these sources, it is noted in ''Reasons'' that the 2,600 feet of shale in the Green River formation contains 6.5 million bands, each of which is typically believed to have taken one year to deposit, making for a 6.5 million year depositional period. However, the fossil fish are pressed flat between the bands, the flesh outline of the fishes can be seen not just the bones, and the thickness of each band would make it difficult to preserve the fish. ''Reasons'' concludes that (a) the flesh outline indicates the fish were buried so rapidly they hadn't undergone decay, (b) deposition occurred with considerable pressure from above given the compression of fossils between bands, and (c) bands of just 1 mm or 5/1000 of an inch per year would make it virtually impossible to preserve the fish from bacteria and scavengers, and certainly not leave the flesh intact.

In analyzing these sources, it is noted in ''Reasons'' that the 2,600 feet of shale in the Green River formation contains 6.5 million bands, each of which is typically believed to have taken one year to deposit, making for a 6.5 million year depositional period. However, the fossil fish are pressed flat between the bands, the flesh outline of the fishes can be seen not just the bones, and the thickness of each band would make it difficult to preserve the fish. ''Reasons'' concludes that (a) the flesh outline indicates the fish were buried so rapidly they hadn't undergone decay, (b) deposition occurred with considerable pressure from above given the compression of fossils between bands, and (c) bands of just 1 mm or 5/1000 of an inch per year would make it virtually impossible to preserve the fish from bacteria and scavengers, and certainly not leave the flesh intact.

===Fossilized Footprints===

===Fossilized Footprints===

In the chapter "Are footprints evidence of the flood?" McDowell & Stewart question how gradual depositional rates can possibly preserve the the numerous footprints found in the fossil record. While in some cases like mud, hardening might be a possible explanation, in others like sandstone where it is sand being hardened, it is difficult to explain how footprints could be fossilized before erosive forces like waves or wind could erase them. The only way to preserve them is to cover them rapidly with another substance from above, perhaps something which will harden rapidly such as lava. Particular emphasis in the chapter is made upon evidence of raindrops seen in footprints which indicate particularly rapid fossilization. Sources provided in the chapter include the following:{{cquote|"Of vertebrates higher than fishes, the only evidence rests upon one foot imprint (thinopus Antiquus) nearly four inches long, which was found near the top of the Upper Devonian of western Pennsylvania. This indicates the presence of a salamander-like animal (stegocephalian) with a probable length of nearly 3 feet. The track is from a marine sandstone of the littoral or beach area over which the animal walked, probably in search of dead marine life. This stratum is associated with others that are ripple-marked and sun-cracked, and bear rain imprints... Lea in 1849 collected a most interesting slab, a little over 5 feet long, with six successive series of foot impressions made by an amphibian (Paleosauropus) with a 13 inch stride. This slab is ripple-marked and has rain imprints, indicating a mud flat of land origin, over which the animal walked when the deposit was yet soft and wet... Fig. 461 - Slab of Trassic sandstone 6 x 3.5 feet, pitted by rain. A large dinosaur (Steropoides diversus) walked over the muddy ground before the storm, and a much smaller one (Argoides minimus) afterwards."

In the chapter "Are footprints evidence of the flood?" McDowell & Stewart question how gradual depositional rates can possibly preserve the numerous footprints found in the fossil record. While in some cases like mud, hardening might be a possible explanation, in others like sandstone where it is sand being hardened, it is difficult to explain how footprints could be fossilized before erosive forces like waves or wind could erase them. The only way to preserve them is to cover them rapidly with another substance from above, perhaps something which will harden rapidly such as lava. Particular emphasis in the chapter is made upon evidence of raindrops seen in footprints which indicate particularly rapid fossilization. Sources provided in the chapter include the following:{{cquote|"Of vertebrates higher than fishes, the only evidence rests upon one foot imprint (thinopus Antiquus) nearly four inches long, which was found near the top of the Upper Devonian of western Pennsylvania. This indicates the presence of a salamander-like animal (stegocephalian) with a probable length of nearly 3 feet. The track is from a marine sandstone of the littoral or beach area over which the animal walked, probably in search of dead marine life. This stratum is associated with others that are ripple-marked and sun-cracked, and bear rain imprints... Lea in 1849 collected a most interesting slab, a little over 5 feet long, with six successive series of foot impressions made by an amphibian (Paleosauropus) with a 13 inch stride. This slab is ripple-marked and has rain imprints, indicating a mud flat of land origin, over which the animal walked when the deposit was yet soft and wet... Fig. 461 - Slab of Trassic sandstone 6 x 3.5 feet, pitted by rain. A large dinosaur (Steropoides diversus) walked over the muddy ground before the storm, and a much smaller one (Argoides minimus) afterwards."

-Pirrson & Schuchert, ''Text-Book of Geology''<ref>Louis V. Pirrson and Charles Schuchert, ''Text-Book of Geology'', New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1920, p. 711, 712, 739, 826.</ref>}} {{cquote|"Often they record tragedies of the past, such as that found near the German city of Nierstein on the Rhine. Here in the sandstone, which was once a desert sand, are the small tracks of an insect. Death stalks the unwary insect in the form of lizard tracks which converge upon the insect tracks. Soon the two trails come together - and beyond, the lizard walks alone."

-Pirrson & Schuchert, ''Text-Book of Geology''<ref>Louis V. Pirrson and Charles Schuchert, ''Text-Book of Geology'', New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1920, p. 711, 712, 739, 826.</ref>}} {{cquote|"Often they record tragedies of the past, such as that found near the German city of Nierstein on the Rhine. Here in the sandstone, which was once a desert sand, are the small tracks of an insect. Death stalks the unwary insect in the form of lizard tracks which converge upon the insect tracks. Soon the two trails come together - and beyond, the lizard walks alone."

-Twenhofel & Shrock, ''Invertebrate Paleontology''<ref>William H. Twenhofel and Robert R. Shrock, ''Invertebrate Paleontology'', New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1935, p. 19.</ref>}} {{cquote|"An intriguing feature of the Coconino footprints is that they almost always run uphill on the steeply inclined bedding planes of this dune sandstone."  

-Twenhofel & Shrock, ''Invertebrate Paleontology''<ref>William H. Twenhofel and Robert R. Shrock, ''Invertebrate Paleontology'', New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1935, p. 19.</ref>}} {{cquote|"An intriguing feature of the Coconino footprints is that they almost always run uphill on the steeply inclined bedding planes of this dune sandstone."