Pages of Geologic History
A part of historical geology that especially attracts our interest is called paleontology. This is the study of the fossils of once living things that are found in many sedimentary strata. Where one stratum lies above another, the lower one must have formed first and is therefore older. A series of strata may form a vertical column that is like a book of the history of the earth.
Some of the longest chapters in this history are found in deeply eroded canyons, such as the Grand Canyon in Colorado and Arizona. There is no one place on earth where the column is complete, but geologists compare the sequence of strata in one place with that in another and try to assemble the various chapters into a whole book.
The chapters in this book are called geologic periods, and these are grouped into larger sections called eras. The first geologic era has been called the Azoic because no fossils are found in it. Then comes the Paleozoic era, starting with the Cambrian period, where we find the first fossils. In the Mesozoic era we find the dinosaur skeletons, as well as the first birds and small mammals. In the last era, the Cenozoic, the large mammals predominate. Finally, in the Pleistocene, human artifacts and fossil bones are found.
It is intensely interesting to Bible readers to note that the order in which living things appear in the geologic column corresponds closely with the Genesis record of the order in which God created them. For example, the small crustaceans, a few inches long, which appear in such variety and abundance in the Cambrian layer, are not mentioned in the Bible. The geologist tells us that these sea creatures came before land vegetation, but since they are not included in the Bible record there is no conflict.
However, those who reject the Bible account of creation and support evolution discount this evidence. Instead of seeing that paleontology is in harmony with the Bible, they appeal to the fossil record for proof of evolution of one species into another.
[Picture on page 19]
However evolutionists interpret the record of the rocks, different life forms appear suddenly