Claim CC361.3:

The contorted positions of fossil animals indicate that they were rapidly buried alive.

Source:

Brown, Walt, 1995. In the Beginning: Compelling evidence for creation and the flood, 6th ed. Phoenix, AZ: Center for Scientific Creation, p. 9. http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/LifeSciences25.html

Response:

  1. As carcasses dry, ligaments contract and distort the body (Weber 1980). Also, dead animals are often disturbed by scavengers and/or water currents before their remains become buried. This can account for the contorted positions.

  2. Some fossils do form by rapid burial, but these indicate only local catastrophes, such as landslides of a river bank.

References:

  1. Weber, Christopher Gregory, 1980. Common creationist attacks on geology. Creation/Evolution issue 2, pp. 10-25.
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created 2000-9-30, modified 2003-4-28