Depositional Features of a Worldwide Flood

Presence of Cross-Bedding and Fragile Surface Features

Contrary to evolutionary, old earth doctrine, evidence indicates that cross-bedding Cross-bedding is an arrangement of beds at an angle to the main sedimentary layer. typical of Coconino Sandstone is not indicative of desert sand dunes, but rather, “underwater” sand dunes. Sand dunes in deserts rarely, if ever, result in cross-bedding that hardens or becomes “frozen” into rock. Why?

Desert dune features are fragile and will soon erode and disappear because of wind erosion—fragile features will be covered and quickly uncovered. Preservation of delicate features requires immediate burial, moisture and cement (dissolved calcium carbonate, silica and iron). Such necessities are not available in desert environments.

Most geologists agree that almost every sediment layer we observe today was deposited by water and gravity—that is, by water currents as stream or floodplain deposits, lake deposits, or lagoon or delta deposits.

Cross-bedding, Coconino Sandstone, Grand Canyon, Arizona
Photo by Roger Gallop

Another common feature found in many sedimentary rock strata is the presence of surface features (sometimes referred to as “sedimentary structures”) such as ripple marks, animal tracks, and fossil impressions which have been “frozen” into solid rock. How can such surface features be preserved? If such features are exposed to dry conditions on any surface (such as dry, windy desert conditions), they will quickly erode and disappear because of bioturbation or wind erosion.²⁹

There is no possibility that delicate surface features will last for days, not to mention millions of years, without immediate preservation. Such surface features can be preserved only if they are quickly buried in the presence of moisture and cement (dissolved calcium carbonate, silica, or iron). If surface features are found between two layers, one can reasonably conclude that little time, if any, has passed between the two layers or strata.