Creation Science Reviews
Creation Ministries International Daily Feature
Swedish Fossil Foolery
29 October 2014
Review by Greg Neyman
Old Earth Ministries
Review Published 29 October 2014
Creation Ministries International's daily article for 28 October 2014 was titled "Swedish fossil fern preserves chromosome detail, pointing to catastrophic burial."1 This article by Tas Walker discusses a recent scientific study on a well-preserved fossil fern.
CMI makes the following claims:
1 - It was buried instantly, so it was buried by Noah's flood.
Yes, burying something rapidly aids in its preservation. If CMI wants to claim this was buried catastrophically, that's ok. However, throughout the geologic record there are many examples of distinct, separate local flood events that bury organisms catastrophically. There is no proof that this fern was buried by the young earth version of Noah's flood...but they are eager to assume it was so without any scientific proof. If Walker claims it was Noah's flood, I would ask him "Were you there to see the fern get buried?" YEC'ers frequently use the "were you there" argument against old earth believers...it works against YEC also.
2 - It was preserved instantly before it started to decompose.
Walker gives the impression from the article that almost everything is preserved. He doesn't go into details about what is and isn't present in the fossil. In reality, after it was instanstly preserved, the fossil was permineralized. This is where the spaces in the cell are filled in with mineral deposits. The cells walls themselves can remain. In fact, the fossil is almost 92% Calcium, which is the calcite cement that filled in the fossil. Silica represents another 3 percent, and Phospherous another 2 percent, leaving 3 percent for other matter, including organic remains.
3 - CMI says "Evolutionary Stasis wipes away millions of years."
Not really. There are many examples of evolutionary stasis. Just because something does not evolve, does not disprove millions of years or evolution...it just proves it didn't evolve much. Evolution sometimes follows the principle of the popular saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it."
Conclusion
The author (Walker) has told a great tale to his young earth followers, by making great assumptions with no scientific proof (the Flood did it), by omitting key information about what is actually preserved, in order to make his claim carry more weight, and by misrepresenting evolution. We agree that this fossilized fern is a great find, but it does not provide any evidence in support of a young earth. If you are more interested in this fossil, here is a link to the scientific report.
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1 http://creation.com/swedish-fossil-fern
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