The Mystery of the Cambrian Explosion: Solved!

I've definitely had an interesting week between juggling work, writing my blogs, fanfiction, novels and all that other stuff I do. But the week's almost over and I'll finally be able to relax a bit. I'm glad! Today's article isn't as long as some of my others, but it still has a lot of interesting information. So I hope you guys enjoy it!

Days till:
It is: 45 days till Labor Day
It is: 61 days till Fall
It is: 124 days till The Good Dinosaur

In the Spotlight:
Jurassic World is a huge theatrical success. In fact, it was just reported that it is the third-highest grossing film of all time!!! Grossing $1.520 billion (and counting), it's only third behind Titanic ($2.186 billion) and Avatar ($2.788 billion). That's incredible! With all the movie finally released in theaters, it looks like the hype for Jurassic World is nearing its end...or is it?

NOPE! In fact, Variety just reported that the Jurassic freight train has only just left the station: Jurassic World II (or is it Jurassic Park 5?) is officially in the works!!! Exciting, right? It even has a release date of June 22, 2018, only 1064 days away! OK, I know that's a bit of a wait, but it'll fly. Especially if you're over the age of 15. Trust me.

In addition to this news, Variety also reported (in the same article) that Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are returning for the upcoming film! Will we see Rexy and Blue return as well? Who knows? However, I suspect we'll also be seeing Dr. Henry Wu in the next film, as his exit was a bit inconclusive in Jurassic World. In any case, I'm so excited!

If Jurassic World II is too long of a wait for you, perhaps you can get excited about Pixar's latest movie, The Good Dinosaur. A new trailer was just released and it is awesome! Check it out:

Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan

The Cambrian Explosion is one of the most unexplained mysteries in the history of paleontology...for evolutionists anyway! (IMAGE CREDITS)

According to evolutionists, the process of evolution is generally a slow one, generated by natural selection and mutation. Over long periods of time and countless generations, new animals develop from older ones that are either fit enough to survive in the ecosystem they live in or they perish and become extinct. As time moves on, the fittest animals survive to give rise to new kinds of animals. But is this view really supported by the fossil record? Allow me to introduce to you: the Cambrian Explosion!

Trilobites are one of the most common fossil discoveries in Cambrian rocks.

The “Cambrian Explosion” is a term used to refer to the “explosion” of new life forms that appear in the deepest rocks that commonly bear fossils called the Cambrian, and the rocks beneath it, appropriately called the Precambrian. Geologists and paleontologists who subscribe to the evolutionary worldview believe that 530 million years ago or so (that's over 200 million years before dinosaurs allegedly appear), about 40 major marine animal phyla appear to pop into existence over a period of somewhere around 10 million years. Now do bear in mind, the appearance of 40 animal phyla in 10 million years isn't exactly an “explosion”, and some animal fossils have been found in Precambrian rock layers, but this period of time is still relatively quick for so many different groups of animals to arise.

Hallucigenia was one of the many creatures that allegedly evolved during the Cambrian Explosion.

The fossilized remains of many strange and wonderful creatures have been discovered in Cambrian rocks all around the world and include critters we would be familiar with today such as mollusks, sea stars, crustaceans, sponges and worms. Less familiar creatures have also been found, like the pillbug-like arthropods known as trilobites and a three-foot long, shrimp-like predator with large compound eyes and flexible arms for grabbing food called Anomalocaris. What brought about all these new animals?

The bug-eyed Anomalocaris was a top predator of Cambrian reefs.

Well, scientists have puzzled over this mystery for hundreds of years. Even Charles Darwin knew about the Cambrian Explosion over 150 years ago, and he admitted it cast several problems with his concept of evolution. You see, with animals as unique and diverse as the ones of the Cambrian, longer amounts of time and many, many more generations of animals would be required to bring forth those we find regarding the Cambrian Explosion. But not only is there not enough time given, but we also don't find the fossilized ancestors needed to support this idea. (As I said before, we have found creatures in Precambrian rock layers, but they are too different from those of the Cambrian to be related). I mean, the best ancestors evolutionists have been able to come up with closely resemble the animals they are supposed to have evolved into and no great evolutionary change is present.

The problems with the evolutionary view of the Cambrian Explosion don't end here. Evolutionists believe that creatures from these rocks descended by a common ancestor sometime during the Precambrian eon. If this were true, than we should expect to find a multitude of closely related species in the Cambrian; but this isn't what we find. In fact, not only are many of the animal species unrelated, but we don't find enough of them. And as if there still weren't enough problems, another one that has been pointed out is the amount of differentiation between animals in the Cambrian rock layers and those found in rock layers higher up. These creatures seem as different from fossils found in the Cambrian rock layers as those found below them! Yet, the creatures found above the Cambrian are supposed to be over 100 million years older. In other words, 100 million years of evolution (which is a more normal rate for the process, if it had occurred) happened in roughly 10% of the time during the Cambrian Explosion! Surely there is a better way to explain the Cambrian Explosion.

Certainly there is a better way to explain the Cambrian Explosion than the theory evolutionists have come up with!

In fact, there is. When we look at Cambrian fossils buried in the ground, we notice they are of global extent...as if a global catastrophe had buried them. There's one event in history that we know was capable of this feat: the Genesis Flood of Noah's time. Using the only history book that accurately describes the events of the Flood, we can find answers regarding the Cambrian Explosion.

Before the Flood, fossil evidence suggests that the flora and fauna contained within the Cambrian rock layer represents a single ecosystem. This Cambrian Ecosystem was a hot-water reef near the edge  of the continental shelf in the pre-Flood world and was home to a variety of different forms of marine life. Imagine swimming through this reef, with shoals of ancient fish swimming past you, strange squid-like creatures with shells called ammonites drifting above you and on the seafloor, dozens of trilobites are sifting their food out of the sand. Among these creatures, predators stalk the water; an Anomalocaris or two might be seen nearby, swimming through the reef on the lookout for their next meal. What happened to what must have been a beautiful, thriving ecosystem and how did these creatures become deposited near the bottom of the geologic column?

Anomalocaris, trilobites and other creatures from these rocks lived in the hot-water reefs near the edge of the pre-Flood continental shelves.

The Bible reveals in Genesis 7:11 that “fountains of the great deep” broke apart, spewing hot water from the earth's crust and creating violent tectonic movements. Creation paleontologists and geologists believe these forces would have eliminated any pre-Flood fossils (therefore creating mostly empty Precambrian layers). But it didn't stop there! Tectonic forces caused the edges of the continental plates to crumble and form underwater landslides which dragged loads of Cambrian animals and plants to their doom where they were deposited in water-lain sediment and later fossilized.

When we use the Bible as our guide to the past, the cause for the Cambrian Explosion in the fossil record becomes clear. But as creation scientists find answers to questions, more will undoubtedly come to replace them, so our quest for answers about our past is far from over. Isn't it wonderful that God gave us curious minds that want to investigate and learn more about the exciting world we live in?

Using the Bible as a history book (rather than merely as a cute bedtime story), we can learn a lot about trilobites and the Cambrian world that they lived in.

References:
www.answersingenesis.org/fossils/fossil-record/one-lifes-unexpected-explosion
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion
www.evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VIIB1cCambrian

Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.