Tapeats Sandstone Deposit (November 22)

You may have watched CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) shows on TV. These detectives use various clues left at the scene of a crime to reconstruct an event, which they were not present to witness. The same can be done at the scene of the greatest catastrophe in Earth history – the worldwide Flood. But the “crime scene” of this event is the entire Earth! How the evidence is interpreted depends on your starting philosophical viewpoint. If you are trained to believe in enormous periods of time in Earth history, evidence that supports the worldwide extent of Noah’s Flood is missed or denied. The Tapeats Sandstone deposit, as found in the Grand Canyon, is a perfect example.

This sedimentary rock layer was deposited right at the bottom rock record, on top of a scoured and often tilted layer of the Earth’s foundational rock layers. Tapeats Sandstone is a bed of sand that has been cemented together. It shows a distinct pattern of waves and cross bedding – which indicates the direction and speed with which the water deposited this sand. A clue used to identify the Tapeats Sandstone is its chemical composition. This rock layer contains a specific amount of the mineral feldspar and more potassium than any other common sandstone layers, such as the overlying Coconino Sandstone. The final clue that can be used to identify this very specific sandstone layer is its fossil content. The Tapeats Sandstone often contains an extinct creature called the trilobite, while sandstone layers further up (which would have formed later in the worldwide Flood) often contain amphibian or reptile fossils (because these creatures would have been more mobile and able to survive into the later stages of the Flood.)

The reason a scientist can reconstruct the “crime scene” of Noah’s Flood and know it was worldwide in extent is because of the characteristics of the Tapeats Sandstone- its chemical composition and fossil content. This extensive rock layer extends across entire continents (often given different names at different locations) from the Grand Canyon, AZ (Tapeats Sandstone); Chippewa Falls, WI (Mt. Simon Sandstone); Libya, North Africa (Sauk Sandstone); and Timna, Israel (Amudei Sandstone). All are identical – indicating that they are all the same deposit, laid down at the same time, by the same event. Only a world-covering Flood could explain such evidence.

Luke 19:40

KJV: And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

NIV: “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Reference

Snelling, Dr. Andrew. October 2015. “Sifting Through Layers of Meaning”. Answers 10(4) 30-36.

Learn More

Sifting Through Layers of Meaning

The meaning of the Great Unconformity and Sauk Megasequence

Recommended

Book: The Geology Book, Dr. John D. Morris