Fossils sorted by ecological zonation (Talk.Origins)

Response ArticleThis article (Fossils sorted by ecological zonation (Talk.Origins)) is a response to a rebuttal of a creationist claim published by Talk.Origins Archive under the title Index to Creationist Claims.

Index

Claim CH561.1:

Patterns of fossil deposition in Noah's Flood can be explained by ecological zonation. The lower strata, in general, would contain animals that lived in the lower elevations. Thus, marine invertebrates would be buried first, then fish, then amphibians and reptiles (who live at the boundaries of land and water), and finally mammals and birds. Also, animals would be found buried with other animals from the same communities.

Source: Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Arkansas: Master Books, pp. 118-120.

CreationWiki response:

Ecological zonation was never intended to be the only process that affected fossil order. This is evident by the fact that in the same pages Morris refers to differential escape and other factors. By isolating ecological zonation Talk.Origins is turning it into a Straw Man.

Furthermore, as Morris points out on page 120, this factor only produces statistical trends and so exceptions are bound to occur. Ecological zonation simply shows that there is a statistical tendency of organisms that lived together in the ecosystem to be buried together. By itself ecological zonation does not do the job nor was it ever intended to.