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How Do We Geologically Determine the End of the Flood?
Full text linkHow Do We Geologically Determine the End of the Flood?
The primary goal of this abstract is to recommend guidelines for Flood/Post-Flood discussions and approaches to geologically determine the end of the flood.
Chronostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy are two fundamental branches of stratigraphy. Chronostratigraphy deals with the age of rock strata and is used to construct the geological time scale. It often relies on key fossils or radiometric dating techniques. For example, the Jurassic System comprises rocks formed during the Jurassic period. In the context of the Flood, geologic layers were deposited between Genesis 7:11 (fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of heavens were opened) and Genesis 8:13 (the waters were dried from off the earth). This is also a “Biblical” definition of the Flood. However, these deposits could be any geologic materials (igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rocks) deposited during the Flood period, which may not always clarify discussions.
Lithostratigraphy focuses on the physical and compositional characteristics of rock layers. Lithostratigraphic units, like formations, groups, and members, are identified based on distinct rock characteristics. An example is the Morrison Formation in the western United States, known for its red sandstones and dinosaur fossils.
A practical application of lithostratigraphy is that once marine floodwaters drop permanently below a certain elevation, the Flood is considered over for that elevation and above at that location. In North America, floodwaters drained first from the high Rocky Mountains, then lower elevation mountains, and lastly from coastal lowlands, possibly over more than five months. Lithologies deposited by sediment-laden floodwaters or geomorphic features resulting from erosion during the recession phase of the flood are good examples of this concept.
A simple diagnostic, such as when marine floodwaters have drained off the continent and stabilized at the coastline, may indicate the end of the Flood. However, most geologic studies require a more comprehensive evaluation. Whitmore and Garner (2008) proposed a quantitative methodology using 28 criteria of Flood and post-Flood processes. Although comprehensive and useful, this methodology has not yet become widespread.
Other researchers have been compiling additional geologic evidence to evaluate the Flood/Post-Flood boundary issue. Michael Oard (2025) has been evaluating criteria to support his position that the Flood/post-Flood boundary is in the Late Cenozoic (i.e., Miocene, Pliocene, and Quaternary). Tim Clarey (2020) has presented additional evidence through his work on the Column Project at the Institute for Creation Research, mapping out the sedimentary rock record of the global Flood across the world\u27s continents. Nathan Mogk (Mogk, pers. comm., 2025) is incorporating all these criteria into a draft quantitative methodology with 43 criteria in a process like Whitmore and Garner (2008).
Frequent utilization of Whitmore and Garner’s methodology and others published in the future will be beneficial in geologically determining the end of the Flood. As these quantitative methods are applied to multiple areas, refinement of the methodology will result in more accurate and definitive conclusions.
References
Whitmore, J.H., and P.A. Garner. 2008. Using suites of criteria to recognize pre-Flood, Flood, and post-Flood strata in the rock record with application to Wyoming (USA). In A.A. Snelling (editor), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Creationism, pp. 425-448. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship; Dallas, Texas: Institute for Creation Research.
Oard, M. 2025. Chapter 34 Summary of Thirty-Two Evidences. Retrieved February 28, 2025. http://michael.oards.net/pdf/PostFloodBoundary/Chp34Version3.pdf
Clarey, T. 2020. Carved in Stone, Geologic Evidence of the Worldwide Flood. Dallas, Texas: Institute for Creation Research
Developing Tools for Extraction and Sequencing of DNA from Fossil Samples
Full text linkIn recent years, the popularity of investigating biomolecules such as proteins in soft tissues from fossil samples has grown significantly. However, research on other macromolecules, like nucleic acids, found in fossil samples is relatively scarce. Schweitzer and colleagues have demonstrated the ability to stain for DNA in fossil dinosaur bones (Schweitzer 2013, Bailleul 2020), which has been repeated by other groups . Yet, published reports of sequencing attempts are scarce, which may result from assumptions about the age of fossils within the conventional old earth paradigm and whether intact DNA can be extracted from fossilized material. However, in a young earth model, it is possible that DNA could survive in fossilized materials in trace amounts and be studied. Further, any method that is used to analyze this DNA would need to reduce contamination or be able to distinguish between contaminant and original source DNA. A novel, benchtop, method of DNA sequencing has been developed in recent years: Oxford Nanopore Sequencing (ONS). This method avoids the replication of damaged or short DNA strands as it does not require PCR. This also potentially prevents the oversampling of contaminant DNA (eDNA, human contamination, etc.) by avoiding a PCR amplification step. Furthermore, ONS is also relatively inexpensive compared to traditional techniques. To test ONS on ancient samples, several fossil samples of varying ages from 500 years old and beyond were obtained through collaboration. Samples were primarily prepared through physically crushing or through core drilling to expose internal portions of the fossil. Then, after the soaking of the sample in buffer and post-soak filtering, the filtrates were examined using a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)-specific fluorescent dye. Two fossil samples have been tested so far including an ~500-year old cow femur and a ~2,000 year old pig rib bone both from England. Both samples have already been shown to have endogenous collagen present. Further, both samples were found to have dsDNA in samples that were prepared through grinding of the bone. DNA sequencing of these samples demonstrated both samples yielded DNA fragments (cow femur mean fragment length = 80-110 bp; pig rib mean fragment length = 100-200 bp). Metagenomic analysis provides evidence of some contaminant DNA fragments of bacterial, human, or plant origin. However, most of the sequence fragments were not identified. While analyses are preliminary, the evidence indicates that the extraction and sequencing of intact DNA from fossil bones is possible. In addition, this work provides the foundation for testing fossils of increasing age using additional protocol refinements with the intention of sequencing DNA from fossils formed during the Flood and the post-Flood Ice Age including dinosaurs.
References:
Schweitzer, M.H.; Zheng, W.; Cleland, T.P.; Bern, M. (2013) Molecular analyses of dinosaur osteocytes support the presence of endogenous molecules. Bone 52, 414-423, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2012.10.010.
Bailleul, A.M.; Zheng, W.; Horner, J.R.; Hall, B.K.; Holliday, C.M.; Schweitzer, M.H. (2020) Evidence of proteins, chromosomes and chemical markers of DNA in exceptionally preserved dinosaur cartilage. National Science Review 7, 815-822, doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz206
Alcott\u27s Little Men and Moral Education in Meaningful Spaces
Full text linkThis critical analysis of Alcott\u27s novel Little Men examines how a meaningful education that takes place in inhabited spaces can allow individuals to pursue truth and thereby open up new possibilities for their lives. These ideas, which are readily evident in the text, are elucidated through information about Alcott\u27s own upbringing and transcendentalist influences. Previous critical perspectives have not emphasized the insights that spatial studies and discourses of transcendentalism have to offer, leaving a gap this article seeks to fill. In addition, this article presents Little Men\u27s relevance to modern day readers in light of the ideas it communicates
Andrés Segovia: Champion of the Classical Guitar
Full text linkToday, the classical guitar is recognized as a legitimate concert instrument: it is taught in most major music schools and conservatories across the world, but it has not always been this way. Before the twentieth century, the guitar was viewed as a simple instrument, incapable of being played in more prestigious venues than bars. In the nineteenth century, a handful of guitarists attempted to change this view of the guitar, but they were all ultimately unsuccessful. Around the dawn of the twentieth century, a man by the name of Andres Segovia decided to radically turn the guitar around and make it a prestigious concert instrument that could rival the violin or the piano. He used a variety of means to accomplish this: scheduling recitals in important venues to raise the public opinion, enlisting non-guitarists to compose new music for the instrument, transcribe important works by notable composers for the instrument, and convince music school and conservatories to teach the instrument at a high level. He was successful in all of these means, but ultimately failed to make the classical guitar as prominent an instrument as the violin or the piano. Andrés Segovia is the turning point for how the guitar is viewed in classical music
2025 Scholars Symposium Event Schedule
Full text linkThe event schedule for the 2025 Scholars Symposium is posted for reference and archival purposes
2024-2025 Men\u27s Soccer Team
No full textColor photograph of a men\u27s soccer teamhttps://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/mens_soccer_gallery/1061/thumbnail.jp