Scientific Evidence for a Worldwide Flood: Polystrate Fossils

One of the strongest pieces of evidence for a worldwide flood is the existence of what Rupke termed "polystrate fossils."  Such fossils are found all over the world.  They usually consist of fossil  trees that were buried upright, and which often traverse multiple  layers of strata such as sandstone, limestone, shale, and even coal beds. ^1,2,3,4  They range in size from small rootlets to trees over 80 feet long. ³   Sometimes they are oblique in relation to the surrounding strata, but more often they are perpendicular to it.  For example, at Joggins, Nova Scotia, polystrate  tree (and root) fossils are found at various intervals throughout roughly 2,500 feet of strata. Many of these are from 10-20 feet  long,  ^5,6 and, at least  one was 40 feet long. ^5,6,7  

Very few of these upright fossil trees have attached roots, and only about 1 in 50 ⁸  have both roots and rootlets attached.  Such trees, and their -- more often than not -- missing roots, are discussed in much more detail in The "Fossil Forests" of Nova Scotia. ⁹  Likewise, many (if not most) of the large, fragmented, and  broken-off  Stigmaria roots are also missing their rootlets. ⁹ 
Many of these roots and rootlets, are also buried individually. ⁹  This strongly  suggests that these trees did not grow in the same places where they were buried, but rather were  uprooted and re-deposited there.  

Similar circumstances occur at various other places in Nova Scotia, as well as in the United States, England, Germany, and France.  Another place where large tree stumps are preserved without their roots attached is Axel Heiberg ^10,11 Island in Northern Canada.


And although there is much data on buried trees in the geological literature, most of it is over 100 years old, and difficult to access.  One of the few articles on this subject was by Rupke, and in it he comments that:

“Personally, I am of the opinion that the polystrate fossils  constitute a crucial phenomenon  both to the actuality and the mechanism of cataclysmic deposition.  Curiously  a  paper on  polystrate fossils appears to be a  'black swan’  in geological literature.  Antecedent to this synopsis a systematic discussion of  the relevant  phenomena was never published.  However, geologists must have been informed about these fossils.  In view of this it seems unintelligible that uniformitarianism has kept its dominant position." ¹²

With regard to Rupke's observation, I suspect the reason why such is (still) the case has more to do with one's personal bias against the concept of a Creator / God to whom we might very well have to give account than to the ever-mounting evidence against the theory of evolution and the millions of years old Earth that it requires (to appear plausible).  However, T-I-M-E is simply not enough: not even BILLIONS of years of it.


See also The Organic Levels of the Yellowstone Petrified Forest ¹³ and  The Yellowstone Petrified "Forests"  ¹⁴ by Harold Coffin.


Tomorrow: Fossils themselves and clastic dikes


Footnotes:

1. Berg, Randy S., Upright Trees in Coal: www.earthage.org/What%20is%20Wrong%20with%20this%20Picture.htm
2. Berg, R S., The 'Fossil Forests' of Nova Scotia, Pt. Two: www.earthage.org/polystrate/Fossil%20Forests%20part_2.htm
3. Rupke, N.A., “A Study of Cataclysmic Sedimentation,” Creation Research  Society  Quarterly,  Vol. 3, 1966,
   p. 23.  
4. Bölsche, W., 1918, Im Steinkohlenwald, Stuttgart, Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, 16th impr. P. 34;  See also
   Price, George M., 1923,  The New Geology, Mountain View, Pacific Press, p. 462.
5. Dawson, John W., 1868, “Acadian Geology,” 2nd ed. Macmillan & Co., London, pp. 150-202.
6. Berg, Randy S., The "Fossil Forests" of Nova Scotia: http://www.earthage.org/polystrate/Fossil%20Trees%20of%20Nova%20Scotia.htm
7. Gessner, Abraham, 1836, Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia. 272 pp.  See also: http://www.earthage.org/polystrate/slightly_modified_version%20of%20online%20post.htm
8. Berg, Randy S., The "Fossil Forests" of Nova Scotia, Part One: Extensive Root Systems, or Root Systems Extensively
   Missing? Or go to: www.nwcreation.net/wiki/index.php?title=Joggins%2C_Nova_Scotia and click on the 1 out of 50 Link.
   See also: http://www.earthage.org/polystrate/Early%20Mississippian%20lycopsid%20forests.htm
9. ibid. ref. 5 and 6.
10. Berg, Randy S., Evidence for a Young Earth, #10: Axel Heiberg Island, www.earthage.org/youngearthev/evidence_for_a_young_earth.htm#Axel%20Heiberg%20and%20Ellsemere%20Islands:
11. Oard, Michael J., A tropical reptile in the 'Cretaceous' Arctic, https://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v14/i2/reptile.asp
12. Rupke, N. A., Creation Research Soc. Quart.,  Vol. 3, 1966, p. 25.
13. Coffin, Harold, G. The Organic Levels of the Yellowstone Petrified Forests,  www.grisda.org/origins/06071.htm.
    For a summary see www.grisda.org/origins/06055.htm#Coffin
14. Coffin, Harold, G. The Yellowstone Petrified "Forests", http://www.grisda.org/origins/24002.htm