The
first basic information regarding the Earth's crust began
to be acquired in the late 18th and early 19th centuries,
during the buildings of railways and tunnels. William
Smith, a British tunnel builder, saw that there were rocks
along the North Sea coast similar to those unearthed in
Somerset during building work that dated back to the Jurassic
period (206 to 144 million years ago). With the rock and
fossil specimens he collected from one end of the country
to the other, Smith produced the first geological surface
map of England. In addition, based on rock specimens in
his possession, he also drew underground geological maps
for some regions, which made a major contribution to the
advancement of modern geology and to determining the Earth's
geological time frame. Thanks to the information contained
in his maps, the nature and contents (iron seams, coal,
etc.) of the strata immediately beneath the surface could
be known, even if the rocks themselves were covered in
vegetation.
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Fossils played a vital role in the acquisition of all
his information. The geological time frame from the Precambrian
Period to the Quaternary period was drawn up using the
data indicated by fossil beds, and is still in use today.
Thanks to investigations of rock structures, the stages
undergone by the Earth at different periods were identified,
and the fossils inside rocks provided information about
the organisms that had existed during different periods.
Combining these two together produced a chronology, according
to which the history of the Earth is separated into two
eons, with those eons being subdivided into eras and eras
into periods
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1. The Precambrian Eon (4.6
billion to 543 million years ago)
The Precambrian is regarded as the oldest and also the
longest period in the Earth's history and is subdivided
into various eras. The period between 4.6 and 3.8 billion
years ago is referred to as the Hadean Era. At this time,
the Earth's crust was still forming. The Archean Era was
between 3.8 and 2.5 billion years ago, followed by the
Proterozoic Era, between 2.5 billion to 543 million years
ago. In the fossil record, there are various traces of
single- and multi-celled organisms from these periods.
2. The Phanerozoic Eon (543
million years to the present day)
Phanerozoic means "visible or known life."
The Phanerozoic Eon is studied under three separate eras:
the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic.
2A. The Paleozoic Era (543 to
251 million years ago)
This era, which lasted some 300 million years, is the
first and longest part of the Phanerozoic Eon. Throughout
the course of the Paleozoic, the climate was generally
humid and temperate, though ice ages did take place from
time to time.
The Paleozoic Era is studied under five distinct periods,
the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous:
The Ediacara Hills in Australia contain rocks from the
Precambrian Era. The 570- to 543-million-year-old jellyfish
fossils pictured are also found in Ediacara. These fossil
records dating back to hundreds of millions of years deny
the claim of "evolutionary process." According
to the unscientific claims of evolutionists:
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1- The fossil record should present many transitional
forms.
2- The transition in these records ought to be slow and
gradual, and should show a development from simple to
complex.
3- After the first imaginary cell evolved, new species
have to emerge.
Also, the traces of these species should be seen in fossils.
However, fossil records have never verified the claims
of evolutionists. Fossils have revealed some certain facts:
With their specific structures, living beings have distinct
and distinguishable qualities. These qualities were not
gradually acquired over time, and there exists no traceable
evolutionary connection among the groups of presently
living organisms. This is one of the most important evidence
revealing that all living things were created flawlessly
by God, with all their characteristics. This article is based on the works of Harun
Yahya
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INTRODUCTION
 Some
150 years ago, the British naturalist Charles Darwin
proposed a theory based on various observations
made during his travels, but which could not be
supported by any subsequent scientific findings.
In essence, his theory of evolution consisted of
various scenarios, ... MoreWHAT IS A FOSSIL?
 In
the broadest definition, a fossil is the remains
of a living thing that lived long ago and that has
survived down to the present day by being preserved
under natural conditions. The fossils that come
down to us are parts of an organism, or remains
left behind when the living thing concerned was
still alive ... More |
Fossil Specimens Discovered in The USA