Figure 4. The ICR conceptualized sea level curve based on the volume and extent of Phanerozoic sedimentation across four continents (modified from Johnson and Clarey 2021). flood as proposed by Johnson and Clarey (2021) (Figures 7 and 8). Questions about why distinctly different fossil assemblages are found in the Sauk, Tippecanoe and Kaskaskia Megasequences remain, even though all are dominantly marine. Are these distinct fossil differences the result of larger and larger waves bringing in different depths of water-borne animals? And how does catastrophic plate tectonics explain these differences, yet all three megasequences show a similar extent? More research is needed on these issues. D. Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) (Lower Absaroka Megasequence) fossils In addition to the continuation of the burial of marine ecosystems, the Upper Carboniferous marked the burial of massive volumes of land animals and plants from apparent coastal tropical ecosystems, especially in the Pennsylvanian or Upper Carboniferous as the tsunami-like floodwaters rose higher and started to inundate the edges of the supercontinent land masses. This coincided with the beginning of the formation of an entirely new seafloor through catastrophic plate tectonics (Austin et al. 1994). In fact, the oldest seafloor today is dated as Absaroka. The result of so much new, hot seafloor pushed the ocean water up from below, raising the elevation of tsunami waves, and inundating large portions of the land for the first time (Clarey 2020). To represent this aspect of the progression of the Flood, we queried the Carboniferous in PBDB with representative filters for land plants, Archosauria, and insects, with Lepidodendron, Archosauria, and Insecta as filters, respectively (Figure 9). By choosing terrestrial fossils, we were more likely examining the fossil assemblage from the Upper Carboniferous. Recall, the Kaskaskia (Lower Carboniferous) is dominated by marine fossils. The Lower Carboniferous, as noted above, is represented by the end of the Kaskaskia megasequence while the Upper Carboniferous is represented by the beginning of the Absaroka. The Lower Absaroka Megasequence fossils and rocks likely represented lowland and coastal environments in the pre-Flood world (Clarey 2020). The uplands were still not being flooded, and this is reflected in the types of fossil animals and plants found in the Absaroka. Nearly all angiosperms are found in higher level rocks that apparently had not been inundated at this point. It remains a mystery why no undisputed pollen has been found in the earliest megasequences. In the Flood model, flowering plants would have existed on Earth in the pre-Flood and in the earliest moments of the Flood year. And likewise, pollen also, even if the plants themselves were still not flooded. E. Permian – Lower Jurassic (Absaroka Megasequence) fossils Permian rock layers contain several of the fossil record’s greatest evolutionary enigmas which are found within strata of the Absaroka Megasequence. These rocks are found directly above Carboniferous strata. One enigma is the famous and hotly debated Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) mass extinction event that is exhibited by a dramatic shift in plant fossils and a huge change in marine life in the fossil record and, to a lesser degree, terrestrial creatures. Many evolutionary geologists have suggested causes for this claimed extinction event, but no cause seems to be largely agreed upon. The other enigma is the sudden appearance at this level in the Flood of a whole host of now extinct strange creatures that defy evolutionary explanation, along with others that are still alive today. However, these evolutionary enigmas dissolve away when we place these plants and animals within a global Flood model of burial by ecological zonation. Land life that is buried in Permian sedimentary rock units include a diverse array of land plants, arthropods, and an equally diverse appearance of highly specialized and unique Archosauria that are no longer living today. A query of PBDB for Permian Archosauria and Insecta illustrates the continuing inundation of land as the floodwaters progressed to higher elevations (Figure 10). Again, this increase in water levels and the increasing extent of flooding of the land was caused by runaway subduction (Baumgardner 1994) and the catastrophic plate tectonics process of making new, hot and buoyant seafloor. This is the likely mechanism that continually pushed the tsunami waves higher and higher (Clarey 2020). Evolutionists have claimed that many Permian creatures lived in a massive arid desert environment simply because they were buried in massively cross-bedded sandstones. But other research has demonstrated that these sandstones were likely deposited under marine conditions (Whitmore et al. 2014). Evolutionary scientists have claimed that many cross-bedded Permian and Pennsylvanian deposits represent ancient wind-blown sand dunes, such as the Coconino Sandstone in Grand Canyon region, despite the fact that they contain features that could only have formed by water, such as the presence of dolomite ooids (Cheung et al. 2009). In recent years, researchers have analyzed these rock layers and sedimentary structures (cross-bedding) using microscopic thin sections, looking at sediment particles within the rocks and comparing these data to present-day sand dunes (Whitmore and Garner 2018). The implication of these studies is that these cross-bedded Permian sandstones were most likely formed as massive catastrophic water deposits. TOMKINS AND CLAREY Paleontology of the Global Flood 2023 ICC 566
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