Redwall Limestone Has Intriguing Fossils

Among the most amazing rock formations in the Grand Canyon is Redwall Cavern. Carved from flowing floodwaters over thousands of years, its massive expanse can leave you awestruck when standing inside it. (And a little fearful. It's very easy to picture that huge amount of rock suddenly falling down on your head!) The first western explorers to visit this cave felt it could seat 50,000 people.

Now, the redwall limestone really isn't red. It's stained red from the minerals which wash over it from above. But it is one of the thickest sediment deposits in the Canyon. Perhaps the thickest. Yet this limestone is one of the most fossil-rich layers within the grand canyon, and all of the fossils are marine organisms. That seems to indicate that the sediments were deposited in a marine environment. But the marine creatures which are fossilized are often extremely fragile creatures, such as cryazoids and bryozoans. Creatures like this disarticulate rapidly after death. The fact that they are fossilized intact indicates that they were buried rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that the creatures were still alive when they were buried. Creationists insist that the best explanation for this is that they were buried by a massive flood, such as Noah's flood.

But not so fast. There are better explanations which are selectively ruled out by the creationist mind-set. The possibility that a hurricaine occasionally swept through and buried these creatures rapidly, is not considered. Also not given consideration is that the occasional Tsunami hit what was then a much more northerly American coastline. Given that there is proof of everglade (Hermit Shale) and even desert (Coconino Sandstone) sediment deposits in layers far above the redwall, these possibilities make far more sense than the Noah's flood scenario. But they are never mentioned in videos which peddle creationism to the masses. After all, to admit that better explanations exist is to give away the game.

Eric