THE PROBLEM OF GEOLOGICAL OVERTHRUSTS: 1

Vast mountains which slide sideways for miles, immense ranges which jump out of the ocean. Welcome to the fairlyland of evolutionary theory. This is science vs. evolution—a Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia, brought to you by Creation Science Facts.

CONTENTS: Problem of Overthrusts: 1

Overthrusts: The most shocking of the evidences disproving strata evolution
Heart Mountain: It is 30 by 60 miles, yet it is supposed to have slid into place across flatland from no one knows where

This material is excerpted from the book, FOSSILS AND STRATA.
An asterisk ( * ) by a name indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000 quotations in the books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164 statements are by creationists.
You will have a better understanding of the following statements by scientists if you will also read the web page, Fossils and Strata.

OVERTHRUSTS

This is the most shocking of the evidences disproving evolutionary theories about the formation of the rock strata.

Overthrusts constitute part of the problem of physical strata, yet it is such a major issue that it deserves a section all to itself. When we consider the implications of this astonishing obstacle to evolutionary theory, we wonder why anyone can claim that the rock strata are dating tools, and that each stratum is millions of years "younger" or "older" than another one.

William "Strata" Smith (1769-1839), of England, was one of the very first people in the world to begin analyzing sedimentary rock strata. He was also one of the first to assume the most basic of evolutionary strata theories: "The older strata must be under the younger strata." He called that theory the "doctrine of superposition."

Evolution teaches that some plants and animals are long ages "older" than others and were here on earth millions of years before the "younger" ones evolved into existence. Applying this theory to the rock strata is the means of dating the strata, but it requires that each stratum have an age that is millions of years older than the next stratum above it.

"The basic chronology of Earth history was established by identifying different strata or layers in geologic formations and relating them to other layers. It is based on the assumption that lower beds were laid down first and are therefore older, while higher (later) beds are younger."—*R. Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution (1990), p. 421.

If the theory is correct, then the OLDER strata should always be BELOW the MORE RECENT strata. If the theory is incorrect, then the two will often be confused—and that is the way it is out in the field.

We go to the mountains to study the strata, for there we find them most clearly exposed. Yet in every mountainous region on every continent on the globe, there are numerous examples of supposedly "old" strata superimposed ON TOP OF "younger" strata! (An extensive listing of such areas is to be found in *Bulletin of Geological Society of America, February 1959, pp. 115-116.)

This contradiction to the evolutionary theory of rock strata and fossils is so common that it has been given a variety of names: overthrust, thrust fault, low-angle fault, nappe, detachment thrust, etc. We will here refer to them by their most common name, overthrusts.

Rather than admit the truth, evolutionists have worked out a fantastic explanation for overthrusts. At some time in past ages,—the upper strata (which are supposedly "older") are supposed to have slid sideways for many miles—and then journeyed up and over (were thrust over) the "younger" underlying strata!

"The only explanation for the [younger] buried strata is that the [older] overlying crystalline rocks were emplaced along a major subhorizontal thrust fault."—*F.A. Cook, *L.D. Brown, and *J.E. Oliver, "The Southern Appalachians and the Growth of the Continent," in Scientific American, October 1980, p. 161.

Such an explanation is incredible!

Many of the great overthrust areas occupy hundreds and even thousands of square miles! In desperation at the problems, men are trying to move mountains in order to support a crumbling theory!

"We may even demonstrate that strata have turned completely upside down if we can show that fossils, in what are the uppermost layers, ought properly to lie underneath those in the beds below them."—*A. Geikie, Textbook of Geology (1963), p. 387.

"Since their earliest recognition, the existence of large overthrusts has presented a mechanical paradox that has never been satisfactorily resolved."—*M.K. Hubbert and *W.W. Riley, "Role of Fluid Pressure in Mechanics of Overthrusting Faulting," in Bulletin of Geological Society of America, February 1959, pp. 115-117.

"The evolutionary geologists must maintain the truth of their overthrust theory, for if they do not do so they will lose the foundation proof of evolution: The fossils as datable evidence for long ages of time. Fossils constitute a proof of evolution only because more recent strata are supposed to be lying on top of older strata.

"Fossils have furnished, through their record of the evolution of life on this planet, an amazingly effective key to the relative positioning of strata in widely separated regions and from continent to continent."—*H.D. Hedberg, in Bioscience, September 1979.

HEART MOUNTAIN

Here is one of many examples of an overthrust: The Heart Mountain Thrust, in Wyoming, is a triangular area, 30 miles [48.2 km] wide by 60 miles [96.5 km] long.

One apex presses against the northeast corner of Yellowstone Park. Within this gigantic overthrust are 50 separate blocks of Paleozoic strata (Ordovician, Devonian, and Mississippian). They are resting horizontally and as though they belonged there—but ON TOP OF Eocene beds which are supposed to be 250 million years younger! Photographs of the fault line, separating the Paleozoic strata from the Eocene, reveal it to be perfectly snug and normal. No evidence of massive crushing of rock beneath the fault line is to be seen.

Searching for the area from which this gigantic overthrust horizontally slid,—the scientists could not locate it. They could not find any place where it came from!

"The Heart Mountain thrust has long been structurally perplexing because there are no known structural roots or source from which it could have been derived. Furthermore, there is no known surface fault of fault zone within or adjoining from which the trust sheet could have been derived."—*H.D. Hedberg, in Bioscience, September 1979, p. 592.

One expert, *Pierce, said the solution was "gravity" (*H.D. Hedberg, in Bioscience, September 1979, p. 598). But, as with many others, this particular overthrust is an entire mountain! Heart Mountain is a high mountain, not a plain or a low valley. It is a horizontal bed of hundreds of feet of rock resting high above the Wyoming plains, overlooking them. It would require some special type of gravity to put those billions upon billion of pounds of rock up there—and do it all so carefully that it rests there, fitted perfectly together. This 30 x 60 mile [48.2-96.5 km] triangle of very thick rock is supposed to have wandered there ("gravitated there" is how some experts describe it) in some miraculous way from somewhere else—and then climbed up on top of all the other rocks in the plains beneath it!

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