ABSTRACTS
The Origin of Trees
Tom Hennigan and Jerry Bergman*
According to Genesis, trees were created on the third day of the Creation Week. Within a Biblical worldview, this suggests that they are discontinuous with other plant forms. Naturalists posit that trees arose by random processes from simpler photosynthetic organisms. Fossil evidence for tree evolution from putative non-tree precursors is evaluated. It is concluded that the fossil record does not support an evolutionary origin for trees from non-tree plant forms. The earliest trees found in the fossil record were well developed, and no plausible explanation exists to overcome the enormous odds against their evolutionary origins from single-celled ancestors. It is concluded that when the fossil record, tree ecology, global Flood, and complex biochemical systems are analyzed within a Biblical worldview, the data are consistent with the Genesis account that God directly created trees.
The Origin of Grand Canyon Part V: Carved by Late Flood Channelized Erosion
Michael J. Oard*
Following the Great Denudation by sheet erosion, the Great Erosion ensued. Deep canyons, including Grand Canyon, were carved during this latter time by channelized currents flowing toward the west. A late-Flood channelized hypothesis is presented. The cutting through of the Kaibab Plateau was first initiated by the convergence of two currents, one from the northwest and the other from the southwest. The southeast Kaibab Plateau thus presented an obstacle in the flow, resulting in a horseshoe-shaped erosional pattern that persisted, carving Grand Canyon along the southwest edge of the Kaibab Plateau. That convergence of currents caused Grand Canyon to be cut toward the west of the Kaibab Plateau. The channelized current was diverted toward the south by volcanism on the Shivwits Plateau. Rising volcanic mountains to the south and southeast and the rapid sinking of the Grand Wash trough may have been responsible for the current turning 135° around the southern Shivwits Plateau. The Esplanade, Tonto Platform, Little Colorado River Canyon, and Marble Canyon would have been carved by narrowing currents.
The Search for Evidence Concerning the Origin of Fish
Jerry Bergman*
A review of the fossil and taxonomic evidence for fish evolution is undertaken. No empirical evidence exists for their evolution from non-fish, even though 80% of all known fossils are marine animals, mostly various types of fish. Fully formed fish appeared very “early” in the fossil record, although numerous forms have become extinct. Many fish that are claimed to be multimillions of years old are identical to those species existing today. One common theory—that fish evolved from some wormlike life-form—is critiqued, documenting that the fossil gap between worms and fish is considerable and has never been bridged by fossil or taxonomic evidence. Additional theories, such as fish having evolved from a more complex invertebrate, are also evaluated and found to lack scientific evidence
(Editorial) Guilty as Charged
Most people are familiar with the two basic kinds of symmetry, radial and bilateral, exhibited in the bodies of animals and plants (Figures 1 and 3). Other body variations (such as asymmetry and cylindrical and spherical symmetry) exist, but only radial and bilateral forms are discussed here
Notes from the Panorama of Science:
The Mighty Triangle: A Microscopic Hammer of Design
Most people are familiar with the two basic kinds of symmetry, radial and bilateral, exhibited in the bodies of animals and plants (Figures 1 and 3). Other body variations (such as asymmetry and cylindrical and spherical symmetry) exist, but only radial and bilateral forms are discussed here.
How Blind Are We? Reading a Picture
Figure 1 shows an outcrop at Grand Canyon, about a half mile along the trail to Clear Creek from Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Creek. The Vishnu Schist occupies the bottom two-thirds of the photo, and the Tapeats Sandstone the upper third, separated by the Great Unconformity (Figure 2). There is a bleached zone and an obvious cavity near the center of the picture. While outliers of Precambrian sediment occur less than a mile away, at this location they are completely eroded