ABSTRACTS
The uniqueness of ruminants (Ruminantia) among the even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) Part II: Unique anatomical and physiological traits
Jean K. Lightner
In the creationist field of baraminology, one strategy for understanding relationships between creatures is to identify an apobaramin. An apobaramin is a group of organisms that are very distinct from all other organisms, such as chiropterans (bats) which are the only mammals capable of powered flight. In this two-part series we are proposing that ruminants form a clear apobaramin based on both molecular (part 1) and morphologic (here in part 2) characteristics. Many of the unique features of the ruminant stomach are discussed. Osseous headgear is also discussed, as well as its apparent loss from some ruminant families. Further important research necessary to determine if ruminants comprise a single or multiple created kinds is briefly outlined. Ruminants clearly reflect the glory of their Creator, who is all wise and provides for His creatures.
The Receding Phase of the Genesis Flood:Exegetical and Geological Notes on Genesis 8:1–12
Jeffrey P. Tomkins*
This multidisciplinary research paper examines Genesis 8:1–12 which describes a critical late-Flood phase of the global Genesis deluge. Johnson and Clarey had previously performed a geological and exegetical analysis of Genesis 7 which documented the immediate pre-Flood events and the majority of the progressive inundation of the Earth from Day 1 through Day 150 (the high-water mark). The present analysis picks up at the beginning of Chapter 8, immediately following the high-water mark of the Flood at the top of the Zuni Megasequence, where the Ark comes to rest in the mountains of Ararat. At this point the Floodwaters began to violently recede off the continents in an important period of late-Flood runoff that created the sedimentary layers of the Tejas Megasequence (Paleogene and Neogene). The important segment of the Flood described in Genesis 8:1–12 encompasses 135 days of significant Earth-shaping activity and is responsible for producing approximately 33% of the total volume of the fossil-bearing layers of the geological column (Phanerozoic). This segment of the Flood is also responsible for the burying of numerous amounts of mammals, angiosperms, and many other plants and creatures living at higher pre-Flood elevations that are not found in lower (pre-Tejas) layers of the rock record.
A Quantitative Assessment of the Genesis Flood Rock Record:Colorado as a Pilot Study
John K. Reed, Michael J. Oard, and Peter Klevberg
The Noahic Flood deposited and emplaced a significant amount of sedimentary and volcanic rock on the continents. Much of it remains despite appreciable Recessional Stage erosion. How much? We answer using a method in Colorado as a pilot for many other locations. The principle is simple: creating grids of the basal and upper diluvial boundaries, then subtracting the lower from the upper. In Colorado, we chose the top of the Precambrian crystalline surface as our basal boundary and digitized a Colorado Geological Survey map into a Geographic Information System (GIS). NOAA’s ETOPO1 Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of surface topography was selected as the upper boundary. Small volumes of Precambrian sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks and most of the San Juan and Thirty-Nine Mile volcanic fields were not included in the final calculation, and minor postdiluvial sediments were ignored. The total Flood rock record in Colorado totals more than onehalf million cubic kilometers, predominantly in six sedimentary basins. Our method allows recalculation for revised or alternate boundaries.
The Central and Southern High Plains Animals Likely Buried in the Flood
Michael J. Oard
The upper diluvial boundary is difficult to determine in some areas, such as the Arctic coast of North America and the fossil locations of Australian marsupials. An even more difficult area is the top layers of sedimentary rocks of the southern and central High Plains where numerous mammal and other fossils are buried. Despite evidence of a post-Flood paleoenvironment of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Park, they likely are within the Ogallala Group (two or more formations). The Ogallala Group is widespread and thin and was spread hundreds of kilometers east. About half of its top was subsequently eroded. Quartzite rocks from the Rocky Mountains are marked with percussion marks indicating torrential flow. Some quartzite cobbles and boulders have spread 800 km from their source in the southern Rocky Mountains and are found on valley interfluves in central Texas. Most of the fossils in the Group are of animals not living today or during the Ice Age. It is difficult to explain how many millions of animals were buried in the southern and central High Plains with a post-Flood scenario. It is easier to explain that the animals were buried during the Genesis Flood. The apparent post-Flood features can be explained by the BEDS Model. Grass seed fossils associated with a rhino could be because grass fossils are very abundant in the Ogallala Formation.
Towards a More Realistic Young-Earth Ice Sheet Model: A Shallow, Isothermal Ice Ridge with a Frozen Base
Jake Hebert
In 1976 M.W. Mahaffy published a basic ice-sheet model which did not make the usual steady-state assumption of constant height and which allowed for time-varying ice accumulation rates. For this reason his model should be of interest to creation researchers, who can use it to model the rapid growth of post-Flood ice sheets. This paper provides a brief overview of the theory and assumptions behind Mahaffy’s model and its solution. The model is used to simulate the rapid growth of a long but thin isothermal ice ridge. The results are then compared with the results from the Vardiman model. A suggested technique for using the Dansgaard-Johnsen and Mahaffy ice sheet models to estimate annual layer thicknesses near an ice divide is also presented.