Creation Science Rebuttals

Answers Magazine

Ancient Fossil Reefs

Volume 8, Issue 1 (Jan-Mar 2013)

"Ancient "Fossil Reefs" - Formed in the Flood?" That's the question posed by this article from Answers Magazine in 2012. It was also featured online as the daily article on the Answers in Genesis website, on 23 April 2014.¹

Ancient fossil reefs found in the rock layers of the world present a problem to young earth creationists. Reefs take time to build...many thousands of years, but YEC's must account for their formation during the year long flood of Noah. Snelling tackles this problem by claiming that five examples of fossilized reefs were not 'framework' coral reefs at all, but consist of fragmentary pieces, possibly torn apart and deposited by the flood. Here is a short summary of these five examples.

Redwall Limestone-claims the reef structures are jumbled broken debris of corals, clams, crinoids, and other fossils. Scientists already know this, so this is nothing new.

Capitan Reef - Claims research has cast doubt on the claims that it was once a reef. Very misleading. Scientists know this was not a framework coral reef, but was formed by the growth and accumulation of invertebrake skeletons, which were then stabilized by encrusting organisms that grew over and cemented the reef.² Since we are talking a very large reef complex, it takes time to encrust and cement the reef...much more than a year-long flood.

Nubrigyn Reef - AiG's claim is true, these so-called reefs are actually formed from debris flows from an algal reef structure...but what about the time it took for the algal reef structures to form, before they were broken away and deposited here? These are no small structures, and algae doesn't grow quickly. By the young earth model, there was less than 2,000 years from Adam to Noah...not enough time for the algae to form these reef blocks, which are contained throughout a 400 meter thick rock sequence. (Modern coral reefs can grow up to 20 cm per year, enough time to create a good sized reef in 2,000 years. The Nubrigyn reef is an algal reef. A modern equivilent, found in St. Croix, has a growth rate of 5.2mm/year. At this rate, 2,000 years of growth would equal only 10.4 meters).

Canning Basin Reefs - Similarly, contains broken blocks of reefs.

Judea Group - Snelling claims the supposed reef structure is simply a jumbled mass of clams, shells, and corals, in a mixture of fine biological debris. The article contains some pictures that he took. There is not much information on this formation online, but what I found referred to the reef as dolomitized. Clearly, the pictures he took are not of the supposed reef structure, as these fossils would not be apparent if they were dolomitized. Dolomites may contain fossils but they are usually poorly preserved. Most of the fossils become obliterated during the dolomitization.³While Snelling did visit the site of the Judea Group, his pictures are not of the dolomitized reef structure.

You may have noticed one trend. Three of the examples were made of reef debris. While these rocks do not contain large 'framework coral reefs,' like we see in our oceans today, it did take many thousands of years to form the material from which the debris came from. Yet there was less than 2,000 years from the time of Adam to Noah. Some coral reefs can grow to a good size in 2,000 years, but others, such as those formed from algae, grow much too slowly (such as the Nubrigyn Reef mentioned above). Snelling ignores this issue completely, and presumes that 2,000 years is enough time to build all the reef structures in the five examples he gives.

What the AiG article is attempting to show is that since we see reef structures today, we should see them in the rocks of the past...but since we don't, that means the rocks are not old. In reality, it means the rocks of the past, in these locations, have eroded, and in some cases redeposited elsewhere, and do not resemble a solid reef structure. However, at one time prior to the deposition of the rocks in question, a reef had to exist for them to be eroded from and redeposited, so the jumbled blocks of reef material are still proof of a reef.

This article demonstrates a common young earth tactic...the omission of certain data that would invalidate the claim. Snelling focuses on five specific locations. However, there are other reefs in the world's rocks, that are clearly framework reef corals, that date back millions of years. Rather than include these in his article, he omits them. Reefs are apparent in the fossil record from the Middle Cambrian (513-501 Ma (million years ago), Devonian (416-359 Ma), Carboniferous (359-299 Ma), Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma), and from 23 Ma to the present. Examples include Windley Key Fossil Reef (a State Park in Florida), which is relatively young at 125,000 years, and Fossil Coral Reef in LeRoy, NY, which contains a well preserved Middle Devonian coral reef, and is often used by paleontology classes.

As with many young earth articles, this is not meant to convince scientists that they are wrong, and that the earth really is young. Most YEC articles are meant for a YEC audience, to shore up their faith in a young earth. By giving five specific examples, and omitting others that would invalidate a young earth claim, Snelling has given his YEC readers what they want...proof from a YEC scientist that their beliefs in a young earth are right.

¹ Ancient "Fossil Reefs" - Formed by the Flood? by Andrew Snelling, Answers Magazine, V8, N1, Jan-Mar 2012. Pages 68-71. On the web at

² http://www.nps.gov/gumo/naturescience/geologicformations.htm

³ http://www.sandatlas.org/2012/09/dolomite-rock/

If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.

Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.

Answers Magazine 2013 Index

Answers in Genesis 2013 Daily Features Home

To learn more about old earth creationism, see Old Earth Belief, or check out the article Can You Be A Christian and Believe in an Old Earth?

Feel free to check out more of this website. Our goal is to provide rebuttals to the bad science behind young earth creationism, and honor God by properly presenting His creation.