The “Canyon”, Monday
Posted on July 12, 2008
Filed Under Science |
The road from the Marble Canyon Lodge dropped us 467 feet, the height of Navajo Bridge, down to Lee’s Ferry and water-level. It was here that we met our WWII-vintage rubber rafts and the 46-degree Colorado River, both of which were going to take us from mile zero, as marked on our water-proof river guide maps, to mile 187. We also assumed that these baby-blue boats would get us safely through the 150 white-water rapids that waited for us between here and the end of our trip, where a helicopter would drop deep into the canyon and take us back to the “rim world”.
All of that seemed a long way off as we awkwardly waded into the water and tried various gymnastic techniques to climb aboard these huge “tubes” for the first time. It would soon become second nature, however, as we would embark and disembark numerous times during the day for side trips up the canyon wall or into tributary ravines and gulches to view rock formations, fossils, and unspeakable beauty.
After a near comical chore of successfully getting everyone in the boat and making sure our life vests were on with their four “snaps” secure, we finally launched…only to travel across the river and after “a little bump, men”, tied up on the opposite bank and stumbled off for a little classroom trek up the steep “talus” sides of the canyon. This was fitting, for it set the tone for the purpose of our trip and the many hikes and “lectures” concerning what we were seeing. We weren’t here merely for the awesome beauty or the thrill of the rapids, we were here to learn about what the “Canyon” had to teach us.
This first hike took us up to a large fossilized tree, 
perfectly preserved in one of the many, many sedimentary layers that are fully exposed at various places throughout the length of the Grand Canyon. It took me several days to begin to realize what a unique opportunity this canyon provides, revealing a full view of geological time, virtually all of it, right before our very eyes.
As we stood by this ancient tree, Dr. Andrew Snelling gave us a lecture on the requisite conditions under which things get “fossilized”. This was important because all of the layers above the “great unconformity” (I’ll talk about that later) contain millions and millions of fossils. Creatures and plant-life both buried and preserved in the rocks. How does this happen? Typically, when living things die, they quickly decompose…if they are not eaten first.
So, how does something become fossilized?
Well, the story I was told in school was that a fossil was created when something died and sediment would slowly cover it up over a long period of time. I believed that, but it never really made any sense to me. Growing up on a farm, I had seen things die. But it didn’t take long for them to soon smell bad and if they weren’t eaten or dragged off somewhere, they rotted. So, long periods of time spent waiting to get “covered up” by slow deposits of sediment, raised sticky questions of decay or the food chain issue in my mind. And, evidently, those same issues are causing some geologists now to move more to the notion that fossils are created as the result of some catastrophic event…like a flood, which rapidly buries “living” things under a load of sediment. Over time and pressure, that sediment turns to rock and the plant or creature’s parts are mineralized…and presto…we have a fossil. That certainly made more sense as we were standing before this huge tree that appeared to be fossilized without much hint of decay or rotting.
This thought would linger in our minds for the rest of the trip as we examined numerous fossils and were constantly viewing the exposed sedimentary layers of the canyon walls. 
If each layer, filled with millions of fossils, were laid down quickly, then the possibility existed that the canyon was not nearly as old as conventional geology had taught. Though current geologists are beginning to recognize and acknowledge the necessity for rapid burial, they still maintain that the Grand Canyon is millions of years old. But if the ancient writings of Moses are correct, and a massive, global flood did occur some time in the past, then we would expect to see vast numbers of plants and living creatures rapidly buried in immense layers of sedimentary rock—strata in which we would find their fossilized remains.
Is that what we would find here?
I was excited to see what the rest of the day would hold and the opportunity to discuss these issues further as we floated in this historical museum of intense and awesome beauty.
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8 Responses to “The “Canyon”, Monday”
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Great description, Del.
I was transported back to what seemed to me to be an awkward time when we got on board our rubber rafts at Lee’s Ferry and to the excitement of seeing the fossilized tree in the Coconino Sandstone strata along with hearing Andrew’s discussion about the necessary prerequisites for fossilization to occur.
Kudos
Bob
Mr. Tackett -
I have really been enjoying your journal entries about the canyon and can’t wait to see more. I can’t tell you how much The Truth Project has really changed my life and that of my husband. We’re in a small group with Niceville First United Methodist Church in Niceville, FL and next week is our last video. There are already talks underway to launch a church-wide small group event with The Truth Project similar to what we’ve done with the 40 days series… Thank you so much for making something like this available to all - as young parents of young children - it’s even more important.
Thank you.
Dr. Tackett,
I just finished going through ‘The Truth Project’,
extraordinary work and I love your thought processes.
This thought is an old one which reading your journal entries about the canyon brought back to the front of my mind again. Your notes on fossilization related to the flood I agree with whole-heartedly. The question which keeps coming back, without what I would call good explanation, is related to time. A fossil forms over a very long time, not in a few years. My question is simply, has God actually been shortening, speeding up, time since the beginning? For example what we would see as a thousand years now, was back in the time of the flood only a few decades.
Anyway, God bless you and your work and keep both covered. You and your work are in my prayers.
Again, thank you for The Truth Project, and this blog which I have found most interesting.
Joe
Del,
Keep the pictures coming. They are absolutely peaceful and stunning! Nice photography too…hobby? You are so descriptive when you write that if feels like we’re actually taking the trip too…Thanks!
Thank you Dr. Tackett,
your uncompromising style is what Christians need to hear. You dont waiver on God’s word like som many celebrity Christian leaders. and you clearly point out what is said to us in scripture (Exodus 20), “11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is . . .”
Thank God for you and ministries like ICR who do not compromise the Word of God.
God Bless you.
The water looks like glass! It’s so beautiful. God is quite the artist. Nature never fails to stop me in my tracks so I can take it in.
Dr. Tackett,
Thanks so much for your commentary and your gorgeous
photos! As Gary Parker has said, ‘What we see in God’s world agrees with what we read in God’s Word’.
One of my dreams is to one day visit Grand Canyon.
Thanks to you, I have had a great pre-trip briefing!
Greg B.
An interesting note: We have evidence of a “catastrophic event” in our own lifetime, which resulted in the near instantaneous fossilized trees, etc. It’s just that scientists don’t want to correlate it to statements about the Grand Canyon. In 1980, when Mt Saint Helens erupted, it resulted in the “perfect environment” for fossilization of trees near Spirit Lake. They were fossilized within seconds. Need more evidence? Check it out yourself!