Dinosaurs and Humansby Barry & Helen Setterfield December, 2022 Introduction: There has been some debate about the significance of the 4 main Eras of geology, the rock record, and the various environmental conditions they point to. In regard to this paper, if mankind was there from the beginning of Creation, why is it that humans and dinosaurs are not buried together or at least have left some sort of record of their coexistence? What appear to be human and dinosaur tracks side by side near the Paluxy River in Glen Rose, Texas, rightly or wrongly, are disputed and controversial, even in creationist circles, so we will set these aside for right now. Nevertheless, among creationists, this lack of evidence for the expected coexistence is a real problem, especially since the favored model of many creationist organizations has most of the geologic column being formed in the year of Noah’s Flood. There are other problems with the ‘one Flood did everything’ approach, so in response, we want to discuss an entirely new outlook in geology that comes from recent developments in two other areas of science which have a strong bearing on how we look at the geologic column. First, is plasma physics as applied to astronomy & planetology, and the second involves the Zero Point Energy. First Some Basics: The standard physics model, which is still taught and supported, states that gravity is responsible for the formation of galaxies, stars and planets. Gravity is rightfully called a weak force – you defy it every time you pick up something. That weakness is one reason it is considered that millions and even billions of years were required for what we see in outer space to have come together. The second thing predicted by a gravitational cause is that things started out very hot and then cooled down; and so we are taught that the earth was molten at first. Plasma interactions in space can be up to 1039 times stronger than gravity. What if the galaxies and stars and planets were formed as a result of plasma interactions rather than gravity? The processes would certainly be a lot faster! In fact, when all the data are put together, we also end up with planets like earth starting with a cool surface and a hydrological cycle in operation – with rain, running waters and an ocean. The most ancient rocks on earth from the Jack Hills in Western Australia show that these were the exact conditions on the surface at the time when the old gravitational approach expected the surface to be extremely hot or molten. A book by astrophysicist Anthony Peratt does a good job of putting this all together (Physics of the Plasma Universe; 2015). In this book, he details the experimental results which pointed to an original plasma universe which was responsible for the formation of galaxies, stars and planets. The plasma model is, therefore, more in accord with the actual data, including the recent Webb discoveries, than the gravitational approach. Interestingly, it is also in agreement with the Biblical account of creation.
The Zero Point Energy and Cosmic Expansion: No matter what model of origins is being discussed there is general agreement that at first all matter existed as a super-hot plasma, which then rapidly expanded. Gravitational folk refer to this as the Big Bang. However, in the Bible there twelve times when it refers to God stretching out the heavens. This expansion, or stretching, resulted in something called the Zero Point Energy, or ZPE. This energy has been found to exist in massive amounts today all through space, and it is there even at absolute zero temperature – thus its name. It has been shown that the ZPE controls the electric and magnetic properties of the vacuum of space. As the expansion of the universe continued, the strength of the ZPE built, resulting in the changing of the electromagnetic properties of space. This may be envisioned in a somewhat similar way using some everyday examples. If a rubber band is stretched or a balloon is inflated, the more the stretching occurs, the more energy comes to reside in the fabric of the rubber band or balloon. In an analogous way, the longer the cosmic expansion went on, the stronger the ZPE became universally. We currently do not see the ZPE building, so that may mean the universe is not currently expanding. Because of this stretching and the resultant increase in the strength of the ZPE, the electric and magnetic properties of the universe changed in such a way that these processes slowed down. This included the rate of ticking of atomic clocks since atoms function by electric and magnetic processes, not gravity. This is discussed in much more detail in the YouTube session “Lightspeed – A Journey of Discovery,” which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYodNsyIKJ4
ZPE Behavior & Atomic Clock Rates: The behavior of the ZPE is known from astronomical observations, as is the rate of ticking of all atomic clocks. From our observations in space, we can trace these back to the origin of the cosmos. From these observations, we have found that the strength of the ZPE and the rate of atomic processes are inversely proportional to each other. That means that if we have data from one, a bit of math gives data for the other. The basic information regarding atomic processes comes from the color of light emitted by atoms of specific elements, such as carbon or oxygen. Starting in 1987, Hal Puthoff, of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas, demonstrated that this characteristic of atoms is dependent on ZPE strength. This points directly to something called the red shift which we see increases with distance from our local group of galaxies. The classic signature for yellow, for example, here on earth, shows the exact same pattern, or signature, far out in space, except that it is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. Every color shows the same shift. The standard explanation is that this red shift is due to a Doppler effect caused by an increasingly expanding universe. However, the result of that explanation is that the outermost galaxies should be disrupting due to the incredible speed of the expanding universe. But they are not. The option is that something out there has changed the rate of atomic processes through time. Red wavelengths are longer and less energetic than blue wavelengths. The increasing redshift as we look farther back in space, and thus further back in time, means that light energy was somehow ‘lazier’ then now. If this is related to a change in atomic processes, then the logical deduction is that the electric and magnetic properties of space increased for some amount of time, starting at the beginning. This would correspond directly with the building of the ZPE. If atomic rates were faster in the past, then there are two ways of measuring time: atomic and orbital. Atomic time is measured by the rate of atomic processes and assumes those processes have been constant since the beginning. Orbital time is measured by the movement of the earth around the sun, the moon around the earth, etc. It is gravitational in origin. Genesis 1:14 states that the sun, moon & stars, not atoms, were to be our clocks. Even with a changing ZPE, it can be shown that gravitational interactions proceed at a constant rate as all variable terms cancel out [1]. We have the timing of events in Genesis from the LXX data (see insert below). In addition, we have the geological data which gives us the timing of events using the atomic clock.
This diagram shows the results, with orbital time progressing at a constant rate on the horizontal axis (red arrow), while atomic clock rates on the vertical axis started off being fast, but soon slowed and leveled out as the ZPE strength built towards today’s levels:
Atomic Time or Orbital Time? The known behavior of the ZPE is graphed above. This allows a correction to be applied to atomic clock data so that we obtain actual, or orbital or calendar time from it. When this is done, it turns out that Noah’s Flood, 2256 years after Creation in orbital time, corresponds with the so-called ”Snowball Earth” catastrophe ending about 620 million atomic years ago which essentially closed the Pre-Cambrian Era. The Babel disaster, some 235 actual years later, closely corresponds with the Permian Extinction which closed the Paleozoic Era about 251 million years ago in atomic time. Finally, the Peleg continental division some 296 actual years after Babel on the LXX chronology, occurs almost simultaneously with the K/T extinction of the dinosaurs some 66 million atomic years ago. The ZPE-Plasma Physics approach is summarized by the following Chart & detailed in the YouTube sessions “The Bible and Geology” and also “Time, Life and Man” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iUWmbClu5s and here: https://youtu.be/4yme4-5NS-k
The Human Population in the Pre-Flood Age: With this data analysis and explanation, we can now come to the main point of this article -- an assessment as to why there is very limited, if any, evidence in the rock record for mankind coexisting with dinosaurs or life-forms from a geological Era other than the Cenozoic. One key item for consideration here is the human population at close of the various Era ending catastrophes &/or soon thereafter. The Archaeozoic, or Pre-Cambrian, Era corresponds with the biblical Pre-Flood age. One standard formula is often used in population statistics if the number of generations is known. The population is then assessed by the formula 2(x)^n. Here, “n” is the number of generations. Then, the average number of children per generation is halved (half being boys and half being girls) and is given by “x”. Thus 2(x) is the average number of children per generation. The Bible indicates there were 10 generations from Adam to Noah, so in this pre-Flood case we have n = 10. The question left is to find the value of “x.” This translates into seeking the average number of children born to each couple in the Pre-Flood Era. Genesis 5 indicates at least 6 children were born in each of 10 generations prior to the Flood, so this is a minimum figure. By way of contrast, in the Works of Josephus, the Jewish historian states that according to rabbinical tradition, Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters. Given the fact that they lived to about 900 years, and may have maintained their fertility several hundred of those years, then we still have a lot of children. This is therefore not impossible given the Divine command was to “be fruitful and multiply.” However, it would seem that something between these two suggested data points may be appropriate. If so, then the average value we seek for the value of 2(x) may have been approximately 16 children per generation or 2(8)^n where n = 10. The world population would then be in excess of 2 billion at the time of the Flood, as several generations were alive simultaneously. Also in agreement with scripture is the generally accepted conclusion from the data that the earth originally had one supercontinent which later split up to its present distribution of land masses. A likely arrangement is on the right – the north part was Laurasia, the South Gondwana. Along with all of this, plasma physics and astronomy indicate that planets indeed started cool, but then heated up from their cores by radioactive means. Then the overlying layers of the mantle up to the crust progressively heated up and eventually became plastic. This is different from the standard approach to geology & planetology, but is more in accord with the data available to us. the likely arrangement of the original super-continent
The Archaeozoic strata form an era that lasted over 2000 orbital years. Why are no plant or animal or human fossils found it in if the Bible is true? The layers we see are quite distinctive and marked with Banded Iron Formations. These formed under water, due to the action of a large algae population on hot, mineral-rich and huge pulsing geysers (right image). These were associated with large bodies of water. Today, these extensive strata are mined for iron ore. A small part of a massive outcrop is shown in the middle image. Even today, water with an abundance of algae is described as toxic. Humans and most animals do not live underwater, especially near boiling hot extrusions and their associated earthquakes. Clearly there is no need to look for fossils there.
The fossils which do occur from this Archaeozoic Era were primarily algal mats called stromatolites (above left). These take a significant time to form in a sea-shore environment. We see the same thing happening in the beaches of the Shark Bay area of Western Australia (above right). It would be extremely unusual for a human or animal to be trapped in that environment, as it is not a catastrophic process.
What about fossils over the rest of the earth from that time? The answer lies in what closed the Archaeozoic Era. The Bible says there was a world-wide flood which destroyed almost all living things. Standard science looks at the same strata and declares the cause of it to be glaciation all over the earth, otherwise known as “Snowball Earth.” Trying to figure out what would cause that enormous glaciation is a problem, although several ideas have been presented. However, the cause of the Flood is much more easily determined. Although the gravitational explanation of the earth’s beginning states the earth was molten and gradually cooled down, ancient rocks tell a different story. The most ancient rocks found are metamorphic, which means they were first laid down by water and then transformed by heat. This means that the earth had a cool surface in the beginning. Plasma processes operating in planet formation meant that planetary bodies were formed already layered and cool. The core and mantle, with its variety of layers, held higher concentrations of selected elements in certain layers. The name of the electromagnetic process is Marklund Convection. This process caused many radioactive elements to be concentrated in the core and lower mantle. A low initial ZPE also meant that these atoms decayed to their daughter products and supplied heat more rapidly than now. The increasing pressure as you approach the core would also increase the heat. The cause of the Flood can be traced to the increasing amount of internal heating of the earth’s core and surrounding regions.
Radio-decay heat drives off water. Massive PreCambrian Impact Structure. Water Explosion & Tillite As the core and mantle heated up (left image above), the water in the form of crystals in mineral lattices was released and driven off towards the surface. It collected in large quantities beneath the crust, primarily in the water-rich asthenosphere. As the Era went on, the pressure grew, and geysers, fountains and springs would have become prominent. Even as early as the Garden of Eden, there was a massive extrusion of water which supplied the headwaters of 4 river systems. Eventually, the pressure grew so intense that when an asteroid impact occurred in Australia, forming the MAPCIS structure (center image) it acted to release the pressure like a pricked balloon. Then the “fountains of the deep” burst out with a hot chemical mix of minerals and a lot of rock debris (right top). The initial tsunami-like rush of these waters caused a debris layer of rock to form called a diamictite or tillite (right bottom). The rush of water was so strong that some rocks from over 200 miles away were washed into a new location. Because this happened all over the earth, and because geologists were used to dealing with glaciers transporting rock over large distances, the conclusion was that the whole world was covered by ice. Consequently, it was called “Snowball Earth” strata.
By way of contrast, the bursting out of the waters from earth interior as a series of curtain eruptions along lines of crustal weakness, would have jetted to heights of over 10 miles and cascaded down as hot rain with much debris. In areas, such as South Australia, this initial flood layer is 1000 feet thick, and interspersed with boulders that sometimes come from over a hundred miles away. Part of that debris layer in Namibia is shown in the above left picture. The flood strata found over the tillite are over 2 miles thick in parts of the world. Because the chemically rich waters were so violently turbulent, all flesh and bone were pulverized and then dissolved. That is why all that is left in these strata are multiple compressed layers of carbon which are rich in kerogen – the breakdown product of muscle, tissue and bone -- as shown in the right hand image. That is why so few fossils are found there. (We see evidence that such an event also occurred on Mars and Venus as their interiors also heated up from an initially cool beginning.) At this point, if the Bible is correct, only eight people survived this catastrophe. Interestingly, legends from around the world record a time when just a boatload of people with some animals survived a flood catastrophe. Introducing the Paleozoic (Early Life) Era The time immediately following the Flood process was the Paleozoic Era of geology. This time corresponded with the 235 years between the Flood and Babel. The first life forms we see in the fossil record from this time are those in what is referred to as the “Cambrian Explosion.” Whereas evolution theory tries to explain this vast variety of life suddenly appearing in the fossil record in their own terms, if we look at what and where these fossils are found, it becomes quite clear. They are all from plants and animals that can be found on continental shelves – the relatively shallow areas adjacent to continents before the sea floor drops off to its depths. After the Flood there would have been an enormous amount in the way of shifting earth, as areas near the coast slid down into the waters. This is what covered, and then fossilized, the flora and fauna living or visiting there. No humans, or dinosaurs, or even reptiles or amphibians should be expected in those strata. The predominant land life forms in this Era were those that thrived in warm, wet conditions: algae, mosses, ferns, insects and amphibians. The low-lying valleys would have been very marshy until the waters either dried up or were absorbed back into the ground. This image gives a general impression of the environment with spiders, giant millipedes & giant dragonflies both about 3 feet long. The land settling after the Flood would have sent landslides into the low, marshy places, which explains the predominance of these fossils. And, again, humans do not live there, and although dinosaurs may have, the populations of larger animals and humans would have increase much more slowly after the flood than the populations of insects, mosses, and the like.
The relatively few survivors from the Ark were greatly out-numbered by the insects and amphibians that survived the Flood on vegetation mats and quickly re-established themselves in the new environmental conditions. Vegetation mats can still be seen ripped away from the land in Southeast Asia after heavy monsoons. The life forms on these mats quickly spread onto land after the Flood. The warm, wet conditions were ideal for them. The Population Between the Flood and Babel The Bible gives very good details as far as the sons and grandsons of the 8 Flood survivors are concerned. From the data in Genesis 10 and 11 we find that the Babel catastrophe happened sometime in the second or third generation after the Flood. Nevertheless, there is confusion about the timing of it all, as noted earlier and explained in detail in the YouTube session on “Our Old Testament and Rabbi Akiba” linked above. Since the LXX text was closer to the original documents than most current texts, we prefer to follow the LXX data here. Our aim in this section is to find the most likely size of the population by the time of the Babel catastrophe, while still being consistent with the LXX Biblical data. Let us use the same mathematical equation to calculate the population in this section of our analysis as we did initially. That equation is 2(x)^n where “n” is the number of generations and “x” is half the average number of children born per generation. If we include the surviving generation from the Flood as well, that makes an absolute maximum of 4 generations for “n.” The difficulty is again the average number of sons per generation. Biblically, this ranges from 4 to 11 which are the extreme limits. However, there was an apparent trend that gave both 7 sons and 7 grandsons. Let us take this as our minimum data point and take the 11 grandsons of Ham as our maximum datum. In this case, the total population at the time of the Babel catastrophe ranged from a minimum of about 5200 people to a maximum of about 30,000. However, these data also show that the human population was so sparse between the Flood and Babel events that the mathematical probability of any appearance in the Paleozoic fossil record would be negligible. This is also coupled with the fact that most humans would want to avoid the active geological areas with associated earthquakes, and all the down-warping areas with their ongoing deposition after the Flood. We do not know how long dinosaurs took to reach maturity and, thus, time to produce a new generation. Different species certainly required different amounts of time. Nevertheless, in just a few hundred years, they certainly would not be outnumbering the human population, so both numbers are low at the time of the Permian Extinction. The Permian Extinction Closing the Paleozoic Era The Mesozoic Era followed the catastrophic Permian extinction, which closed the Paleozoic Era. The fossil record suggests that the world was different from before. The Mesozoic Era was hotter from a high carbon dioxide content, due to volcanism. There were strong winds, especially near the ocean, giving huge sand dunes (bottom left). A number of fossils suggest that some dinosaurs were overwhelmed in the dune sandstorms. Elsewhere, there was a semi-desert environment (top right), where the predominant flora were palms and pines, (or gymnosperms generally), which fertilize by wind-blown pollen. The ongoing heating of the earth’s interior meant that geological activity was continuing throughout the Era. The fossils formed in these active areas, so only those life-forms present in those regions became preserved for us. Other aspects of the Era are found in the YouTube sessions “The Bible and Geology” and also “Time, Life and Man” which are linked above. So what catastrophic event caused the Permian extinction? We know it was catastrophic not only from the change in geological strata but from the evidence in the fossil record that 90% of some animals were wiped out and others were wiped out altogether. When the orbital and atomic dates are correlated, we find the answer. In the Antarctic, there is a 300 mile wide crater. It is in Wilkes Land, Antarctica. This was in the most southern portion of the original supercontinent shown on the left below. The exact site of the impact is shown in the middle panel. Giant impacts like this have their pressure wave focused by the planetary core so that there are very significant effects at the antipodal point. The way this works is shown on the right hand diagram below.
We see this same effect on other bodies in our solar system. For example, on Mercury, the Caloris Basin impact caused the extensive “weird terrain” at the antipodal point. For the Antarctic impact, the earth’s core focused the high-pressure impact wave on the antipodal region in Siberia. The pressure pulse and its sudden release, caused hot rock just under the crust to liquefy and be outpoured on the surface as a mile thick layer of basalts. By the close of the Paleozoic Era, the massive Siberian Traps vulcanism had outpoured 3 million cubic miles of magma as shown below.
They were poured out under air, not under water, so they were not Flood related. This combined planet-shaking event is called the Permian extinction geologically. Permian Extinction Events and Humans There were about 250-300 years between the Flood and the Permian Extinction (Tower of Babel) event. Something important to remember here has to do with generation times. That is how long an organism must be alive from its beginning until the time it can procreate. Bacteria can take as little as 20 minutes, while people take a minimum of about 12 years (and we don’t want our girls procreating that early!). This means that things like plants, insects, amphibians, and even birds, will increase in population numbers much more rapidly than the larger animals. That would include dinosaurs. Thus, the simple mathematical probability of what was fossilized after the extinction event would point to plants, insects and fish at first, and that is exactly what we find in the first strata laid down after the catastrophe, the early Triassic. Mineralization fossilization requires moisture. Water is needed to provide the minerals which will gradually replace the organic material, giving us a fossil. This is one reason why so many fossils are water-associated. However, while the time between the Flood and Babel was warm and wet, the time after Babel was very dry, as the geological column indicates. The only places that land animals who were not near water would be fossilized, then, was near volcanoes, where the ash would bury them, also providing the chemicals for fossilization when the rains came. So, were humans and dinosaurs living in areas prone to the kind of earth movement which might promote fossilization? Probably not. The time before, when the lowlands were warm and swampy, was not conducive to life for either dinosaurs or humans. Humans especially would be sticking to the higher elevations where it was dry and there was little to no danger from slides due to the earthquakes. There were earthquakes, since the waters of the Flood had erupted from under the crust and thus left areas where the land would sink down after. These downwarped areas would be dangerous to live in or near. This mindset would have been just as prevalent after the asteroid hit. Keep away from the low-lying areas where earthquakes produce massive slides. The truth of this idea can be found in the types of fossils we find in the early Triassic: ferns, insects, horsetails, cycads, and some conifers. As we go higher in the geologic column we find more land animals, including some small dinosaurs and some amphibians. Amphibians would live near water. Dinosaur fossils of all kind are generally associated with water as well. In short, there is no reason we should find human or large dinosaur fossils in these strata. The large dinosaurs mainly lived in lush river valleys that emptied into the ocean. This is also in accord with what the Bible indicates in Job.
Comparing the Babel & Peleg Events Biblically: Many Bibles contain contracted generation times for the period between Babel and the Peleg continental division. Indeed, they give the impression that these two disasters are one and the same event. In contrast, the most ancient LXX text indicates that over 250 years and at least two, or probably three generations separated these two catastrophes. Linguistically, two different Hebrew words are used in the Bible to describe the migration or dispersion from Babel, and then the division of the land mass making up the original super-continent in the time of Peleg. In the old English and KJV Bibles, these different words are both translated ‘divided.’ This has given a misleading impression to many. In actual fact, for the Babel event in Genesis 10:5, the word ‘divided’ translates the Hebrew word “PARAD” meaning ‘to break through, to spread, disperse or scatter’ as in Strong’s 6504. It may therefore be better to translate this as “disperse” or “scatter,” as some other versions do, rather than “divide.” The start of the dispersion, due to language, on the original super-continent of Noah’s 3 sons is suggested on the left image. When the supercontinent split, some 200 years later, these groups had already traveled to their new locations in what was to become at least 3 new continents, and they were then trapped. This leads to the word used in Genesis 10:25 to describe the land or earth being divided. This was the Hebrew word “PALAG” (the root being PLG) which means ‘to split apart or divide by a channel of water.’ So Babel involved a dispersion or scattering, while the Peleg division involved a splitting apart of the original land mass by channels of water coming through as the right hand image suggests.
The Human Population Between the Babel and Peleg Disasters. In the ancient LXX version of Genesis 10, there were 6 generations from Shem to Peleg. The same chapter also notes 3 generations from Ham to the Babel event, but only two generations from Japheth to Babel, which means the Babel event and Peleg are some 3 generations apart. We have no idea how many people were killed in the Babel catastrophe. For the sake of argument, let’s assume none. Using the population formula given above, the same criteria can be applied. By the time of Peleg, we have 6 generations from the Flood, with the number of male children ranging from 7 to 11 per generation. This gives a population estimate which ranges from 250,000 up to 3.6 million at the time of the Peleg continental division. Very roughly, therefore, we could estimate that Shem, Ham and Japheth had a million descendants each by the time of the Peleg catastrophe. It should be noted that this population density is the highest since the Pre-Flood age. In the time before the Flood and in the Flood process itself, we have seen that human and animal fossils were unlikely to form in the geologically active regions. From these considerations, it seems that if any evidence of humans in the fossil record was going to occur at all, it is more likely to occur in this Era, even though the human population is still sparsely distributed. The Prelude to the K/T Extinction Event. Earlier, we pointed out that plasma physics when applied to astronomy indicated that planetary bodies started out layered and cool with many radioactive elements residing in the core. This meant that radioactive heating originating in the core eventually caused the mantle to partly melt and become plastic instead of solid (left image). Geochemistry notes that when rocks melt, they gain up to 10% in volume. Thus, with the mantle rocks becoming plastic and able to flow somewhat, some very significant pressure was put on the crust from the earth’s interior by the end of the Mesozoic Era.
The layer of the mantle immediately below the earth’s crust which was affected most was the Asthenosphere (right image). Because of the ongoing heating, the Asthenosphere was now the hottest since earth had formed. In addition, it had the highest water content since the Flood, as the heating continued to drive off the water molecules from minerals in the mantle. The result was that this layer, on which the crust was effectively floating, had the lowest viscosity since the beginning. This meant it was very “slippery”and a good lubricant. It was into this situation that the next event occurred. The K/T Extinction Event Closing the Mesozoic Era. The Cretaceous/Tertiary or K/T extinction event closed the Mesozoic Era. (The Cretaceous was the last period in the Mesozoic Era and the Tertiary was the first period in the Cenozoic Era which followed). This is the event which is dated at 65 million atomic years ago and is recognized as killing the dinosaurs. A series of at least 8 major pieces of asteroidal material impacted the earth in the locations shown in the left image. Note on that image, the blue regions are where there were sea-ways cutting the supercontinent. As will become apparent shortly, it is important to note that 7 out of these 8 known impacts were in these blue or shallow ocean areas. The largest was in the Yucatan. That asteroid was at least 5 miles across, and formed the 120 mile wide Chicxulub crater with a double ring as imaged in the center, below. This impact, coupled with all the others, left a layer of unique strata around the world. On the right, a close-up of this strata is shown with the layers of impact generated glass; minerals changed by intense pressure from the explosion; the metal iridium which is unique to asteroids; and the ash and dust layer. eight known impact sites
The Effects of Asteroid Impact The top layer in the strata shown above is an extensive layer of carbon ash found worldwide from the flash wildfires ignited by the impactors heat of entry and their subsequent impact explosions. The ash and dust-darkened skies resulted in an “impact winter” lasting several years. The diminished sunlight killed off many of the basic microscopic phyto-plankton on which the food chain depends. This is one suggested reason for the demise of the dinosaurs. Another is the dropping temperatures that led to the ice-age as the dinosaurs were built for warm to hot conditions. However, the third was the impact-generated tsunamis. Some scientists suggest they exceeded 1500 feet high, and went like express trains over the land and up the river valleys from the oceans where prominent Mesozoic life forms were concentrated. Debris from the impact sites were also carried far inland by the tsunamis. Thus, Yucatan impact debris has been found in central L.ouisiana. For more details, see these URL’s : https://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Chicxulub/regional-effects/ The Yucatan impact, as well as the other seven, suddenly relieved the pressure on the crust. The asthesosphere became liquid instead of plastic. Furthermore, the extensive lines of weakness in the crust from previous geological events were activated and became the spreading centers for the outpouring of the excess magma to give new ocean floors, of which the primary one was the Atlantic. The result was sea-floor spreading from the mid-ocean ridges and continental drift. The initial catastrophic earth movement took about 200 years. However, that movement is still going on today at the rate of a couple of inches a year. This is one of the reasons for the continuous volcanic eruptions in Indonesia and the surrounding areas.
The left image shows the dark band of impact strata on highway I-25 in the Raton Pass, Colorado. The center image shows the mid-ocean ridge for the Atlantic where what is now Africa and America separated. On the right is a map of the mid-ocean ridge system which now defines the tectonic plates and the new ocean floors. More details explanations can be found in the YouTube session “Earth Catastrophes and the time of Job” found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8JEsD4DdNU as well as “The Bible and Geology” and “Time, Life and Man” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iUWmbClu5s and here: https://youtu.be/4yme4-5NS-k The Cenozoic Era begins As a result of this catastrophe, the fossil record indicates that the environmental conditions changed considerably. First, the impacts resulted in a higher axis tilt than we have today. In fact, it may have been up to 27 degrees compared with today’s 23½ degrees. This would cause temperatures to drop. When coupled with an excessive amount of water vapor in the atmosphere from the impacts in ocean areas, not only fierce jet streams, but massive storms would be expected. As the vapor circulated into the polar areas, it precipitated as rain snow and ice. Each successive storm surge gave a new layer which built up on the previous layers. Multiple storm surges would occur in the same winter. As temperatures continued dropping, the ice-age had started. In atomic time this is usually dated as starting about 1.8 million years ago. In orbital time this was about 2850 BC. Scripturally, this was the time of Jobab who was also called Job, the 7th son of Joktan, who was Peleg’s brother in Genesis 10. More details can be found in the YouTube session on the patriarch Job linked above. The predominant flora changed to those types which could handle the severe winters. These were the flowering plants and those which have hard-shelled seeds which could survive the cold and wet conditions. This would include the fruit-trees and other trees, whose leaves change color and then drop, showing that these trees have effectively shut down for the winter, but revive in the spring. Generally speaking, the favored flora are called the angiosperms. The giant life-forms shown in the images above had survived the K/T extinction and became prominent because they thrived in the much cooler conditions. The catastrophe which was ongoing for about 200 years destroyed much of human civilization. When homes and other existing structures were destroyed, people needed shelter from the severe weather. A cave or something similar would provide this protection, so this is the time of the cave-men (bottom right) referred to in Job 30:3-7 and 24:7,8. Even as late as the time of Abraham the Horites (literally cave dwellers or rock dwellers) of Genesis 14:6 and 36:20 were still in the land. As population numbers grew, a more structured society could develop. One of the first of these was Egypt, whose 1st Dynasty started around 2767 BC. The ice-age conditions continued until the earth received another series of smaller asteroid impacts around 2345 BC which caused the earth’s axis to become more upright, eventually reaching its present tilt. This closed the ice age, as the lessened tilt allowed the sun to warm and melt so much of the ice. The late Government Astronomer for South Australia, George Dodwell, examined the data in detail, and a research report can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8JEsD4DdNU as well as “The Bible and Geology” and “Time, Life and Man” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iUWmbClu5s and here: https://youtu.be/4yme4-5NS-k Fossilization is not common. Human fossils are quite rare. Dinosaur fossils exist primarily in the ancient river valleys which were inundated during the third, or K/T extinction event, which involved the series of asteroid impacts. Given all of this, there is no reason to expect to find dinosaur and human fossils together. The last question remaining regarding humans and dinosaurs together is “are there any dinosaurs still around today?” This must necessarily discount the evolutionary idea that birds are a form of evolved dinosaur, which is, biologically, impossible. But what about the real dinosaurs? Remembering that the word ‘dinosaur’ is relatively recent, and the older word was ‘dragon,’ it has to be admitted that stories and legends abound of people and these animals. Are they purely made up? Probably not, although mythological elements may have been added. In our time now, there are still reports of what might be dinosaurs. A number of reports have come out of China, Egypt, and France. Roy P. Mackal, who explored in the Congo in Africa, wrote A Living Dinosaur? In Search of Mokele-Mbembe (E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1987). He feels sure that Mokele-Mbembe is a sauropod dinosaur. Having been searching in the Congo several times, he writes that he would “‘not endure extreme hardship and danger, even risk my life, to pursue a dream with no basis in reality.” So whether it is Beowulf, St. George and the Dragon, the Loch Ness monster, the American thunderbird, or any one of a large number of stories and/or sightings, the idea that some dinosaurs might have escaped extinction and be living contemporaneously with us remains.
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