Addresses of All Authors
John H. Whitmore, Cedarville University, 251 N. Main St., Cedarville, OH USA 45314
Paul A. Garner, Biblical Creation Trust, P.O. Box 325, Ely, CB7 5YH United Kingdom
Author's Biography
John H. Whitmore is senior professor of geology at Cedarville University where he has been teaching since 1991. He has a B.S. in Geology (Kent State University), M.S. in Geology (Institute for Creation Research) and a Ph.D. in Biology with a Paleontology emphasis (Loma Linda University). He is widely published in both the conventional and creation literature. His primary interests are fossil fish taphonomy, the Green River Formation, the Flood/post-Flood boundary and Grand Canyon geology. He has been studying the Coconino Sandstone since 1998. He is a coauthor of The Heavens and the Earth, a college-level earth science text.
Paul A. Garner is a full-time Researcher and Lecturer for Biblical Creation Trust in the UK. He has an MSc in Geoscience from University College London, where he specialised in palaeobiology. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of several other scientific societies. His first book, The New Creationism: Building Scientific Theories on a Biblical Foundation, was published by Evangelical Press in 2009.Paul A. Garner is a full-time Researcher and Lecturer for Biblical Creation Trust in the UK. He has an MSc in Geoscience from University College London, where he specialized in palaeobiology. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of several other scientific societies. His first book, The New Creationism: Building Scientific Theories on a Biblical Foundation, was published by Evangelical Press in 2009.
Proposal
The Permian Coconino Sandstone is one of the most prominent layers of rock in the Grand Canyon and is important to creationists because it has often been used by conventional scientists to discredit the Bible since it is a supposed wind-blown (eolian) deposit. Their argument is that deposits like this would be impossible to form in the midst of a global flood as described in Genesis. Over the past forty years, new data has been collected by us and others that we believe indisputably identifies the Coconino as a subaqueous sandstone--data that will be difficult for our critics to counter. These data include evidence from petrology, fossil footprint studies, sedimentology, regional stratigraphy and soft sediment deformation features. In our studies we found that there are many misconceptions or “urban myths” about the Coconino Sandstone including its grain roundness, grain sorting, grain frosting and angle of cross-bed dips. There are no modern analogs that match the precise sedimentology of the Coconino, but we believe that subaqueous sand waves may be a start in the right direction to understand how the Coconino was deposited. Instead of the Coconino being a problem for creationists, it can be one of our most powerful arguments in support of the biblical account of the Flood. There are many other similar cross-bedded sandstones around the world; the Coconino may be the key to unlocking their origin as well.
Keywords
Coconino Sandstone, Permian sandstones, vertebrate trackways, cross-bedded sandstones, sand waves
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15385/jpicc.2018.8.1.42
Print Reference
Pages 581-627
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Recommended Citation
Whitmore, J.H., and P.A. Garner. 2018. The Coconino Sandstone (Permian, Arizona, USA): Implications for the origin of ancient cross-bedded Sandstones. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism, ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 581–627. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship.