Amber needed water (and lots of it)
by David Catchpoole
Images from stockxpert and stock.xchng
Fossil amber (tree resin) has been found all over the world, containing well-preserved
insects (and even identifiable microbes in the insect’s gut1), flowers, moss, snails, lizards, bird feathers
and mammal hair.
Among secular scientists, who date amber fossils as mostly being from 15 million
years up to 220 million years old (see ‘Dating by decree’),
there has been considerable uncertainty (and disagreement) as to how amber’s
contents came to be so entombed.
Most researchers had the view that resin exuded by the tree solidified at the tree
bark, with organisms then getting stuck at the resin surface and subsequently enclosed
by successive resin outflows.
But one problem with that scenario is that it doesn’t account for the abundant
aquatic organisms found in amber, such as crustaceans, water beetles, barnacles,
oysters, clams, water striders, algae and bacteria. How could aquatic creatures—both
freshwater and marine—have become trapped in sticky tree sap?
The results of the researchers’ ingenious field study is great news for creationists,
many of whom have long mooted that amber fossils worldwide are a legacy of the Genesis
Flood.
Lace bugs by Joachim Scheven,
LEBENDIGE VORWELT Museum
Lace bugs (Tingidae) alive today in Europe (top) are just the same as those found
in Caribbean amber (bottom) dated as being millions of years old. These and other
‘living fossils’ present a conundrum to evolutionists. Why no evolution
in all that (supposed) time?
Alexander Schmidt of the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, Germany, and David
Dilcher from the University of Florida, USA, now believe they have the answer.2
After using a handsaw to cut bark from trees in a Florida swamp, they observed that
the resulting resin flowing into the water trapped small crustaceans, water beetles,
mites, aquatic bacteria and fungi.3
Therefore their research is reported to have shown that ‘aquatic insects can
be trapped in resin without leaving their aquatic world. Thus the presence of aquatic
organisms in amber is the result of a simple natural process.’4
Actually, cutting bark with a handsaw in a swamp is hardly an everyday ‘simple
natural process’. But the results of the researchers’ ingenious field
study is great news for creationists, many of whom have long mooted that amber fossils
worldwide are a legacy of the Genesis Flood.5
Although Schmidt and Dilcher are staunch evolutionists, consider how their own observations
and conclusions indicate that for the abundant worldwide amber fossils to have formed,
conditions provided by a global catastrophic Flood were needed:
- Water delays the process of solidification and ‘amberisation’ that is
normally driven by oxygen in air. Thus the resin stays stickier for longer under
water, and is more likely to trap insects and other organisms. As New Scientist
reported,6 resin in water
is probably more of a hazard to insects than resin on tree bark.
- In Schmidt and Dilcher’s field study, the tree resin did not solidify—but
they say it might have turned to solid amber if the pond water level fell and, ‘given
enough protection by layers of sediment, the amber could survive intact for millions
of years.’2
- But layers of sediment need to be carried in somehow, e.g. by rushing
water. And indeed, Schmidt and Dilcher’s suggested scenario for amber
fossil formation does invoke a flood. In their own words, once aquatic insects are
trapped in the tree resin:
‘The pond then dries out in the summer, and a flood brings sediment to cover
the forest floor, so the resin piece becomes well conserved [later turning into
amber].’2
And of course the catastrophic global Flood would have vastly multiplied the effect
of Schmidt and Dilcher’s handsaw. For example, you would expect that uprooted
trees, smashing against each other in the swirling currents and waves, would lose
their bark and release copious quantities of tree resin. While still fluid, the
resin would have enveloped both aquatic and terrestrial organisms
displaced from their usual habitat by the floodwaters.
When you consider the myriad amber fossils found worldwide,7 isn’t it obvious that lots of water
was needed, right around the world—a very big flood, in other words.
Genesis 6–9 describes that event—an event where
it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. No wonder then that many amber fossils even
contain ‘whole drops of water’2 and ‘bubbles’7,8 of air!9
Fossil termites (genus Mastotermes) found in amber, allegedly 20 million
years old, are so well preserved that researchers could identify that the bacteria
in the termites’ digestive system are just the same sorts of bacteria as those
found inside Mastotermes termites living today. Generations aplenty—yet
no evolution.
Dating by decree
You could be forgiven for thinking that the dates assigned to amber fossils are
a ‘done deal’ given the authoritative-sounding statements in media reports
and science journals. Here are some samples from secular references cited in the
main text:
- ‘We are looking back into the amber forest, 40 million years ago …
’.1
- ‘ … he found a barnacle, water tubeworms, an oyster and a clam in amber
dating to 15–20 million years ago … ’.1
- ‘Schmidt says the oldest amber containing any signs of life dates to 220 million
years ago … ’.1
- ‘The fossils are at least 4 million years old, they [the researchers, including
University of New South Wales paleontologist Henk Godthelp] say, possibly much older.’2
However, occasionally the media will let slip a statement from the paleontologists
that dating amber washed up on beaches (which is where the vast majority of amber
fossils have been found) is not a ‘done deal’ at all:
‘Godthelp says it is difficult to date amber directly and the researchers
are searching for the original rock deposits that would have contained the amber
to date it.’2
So how would they date the ‘original rock deposits’?
Sedimentary rock is ‘dated’ according to the presence of so-called ‘index
fossils’ for which the age is ‘known’. But in fact, the age is
not known but assumed—on the basis of an evolutionary timeline
as to when those creatures first evolved and when they became extinct.
Volcanic rock (which would not contain amber fossils but which might be in the same
strata as amber-bearing sedimentary rock) is supposedly ‘dated’ according
to radioactive dating methods. But in fact, the dating methods do not lead, but
follow—they are always selected to agree with the ‘lead’
ideas as to the suspected (i.e. desired) age of the rocks/fossils in question.
In other words, dating by decree, not objective measure.3
References and notes
- Viegas, J., How amber becomes a death trap, ABC News in Science, <www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2054857.htm?ancient>,
9 October 2007.
- Salleh, A., Amber fossils a first for Australia, ABC Science Online, <www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1796778.htm>,
29 November 2006.
- Walker, T., How dating methods work,
Creation 30(3):28–29, 2008.
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Readers’ commentsKevin M., Australia, 7 June 2010
I have often wondered why, in the case of amber, do we not get ‘dates’ derived from radio-carbon methods. If amber is a plant product, as seems clearly the case, then we can expect it to contain abundant carbon. Thus I expect radio-carbon dating to be applicable. Where are the results?
Naturally I expect that C14 would be present in measurable quantities in amber, as it has been found to be in coal and diamonds. The conclusion would then be that amber is also thousands of years old, not millions, regardless of the stated ‘age’ of the rock environment in which the amber is found.
Any comments? Tas Walker responds:
I agree with you.
I Googled carbon-14 and amber and found http://www.icr.org/article/amber-window-recent-past/ by Frank Sherwin who says amber has not been analysed for carbon-14, even though it is carbon based, because it is considered too old.
This secular article says the same thing. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/85/8511sci3.html
I’m surprised that no creationists have done such a test. There must be some results somewhere if we dug deep enough.
God bless
Gavin C., United Kingdom, 8 June 2010
Re the dating of Amber, I had the impression that the RATE II follow up work would investigate Amber for signs of radioactive potassium in insects? One of the objections raised to accelerated nuclear decay (AND) was that if Noah and the animals on the Ark had trace radioactive elements in their tissues (as we do today), then during a pulse of AND during the Flood they would have been ‘fried’, so RATE II needs to report that there is either no trace radioactive elements or very minimal amounts in the world’s amber deposits. I’m not sure if they are looking at C14 in amber as well to add to their fossil, rock and diamond work? Amber does offer an exciting ‘time capsule’ into the world before the Flood, which as Tas rightly says is ‘surprising’ that no creationist has reported on yet. Maybe a word from ICR on this one would be useful! Blessings and thanks for all your fabulous work!
Robert B., Canada, 10 June 2010
Great article on how amber needs water to entomb life. I would add that since this is so then as long as there is enough of a water power then it such a thing can happen any time. So we biblical creationists do not need to see the great amber collections as just coming from the flood but we can see them as coming from post flood events. I say this because I insist the k-P(T) line is the flood line. So fossils etc above that are from post flood events especially within a few centuries after the flood Many YEC creationist don’t see the k-p line as the flood line. CMI responds:
Yes, amber needs lots of water to form but it also needs lots of trees that are bleeding resin—a catastrophe. And warm water would probably be helpful.
From my analysis, the top of the Cretaceous (the K/T boundary, or the K-P (Paleogene) boundary) generally represents deposits as the floodwaters were reaching their peak. Hardly any sediments were deposited on the continents after the K-P boundary but that does not represent the end of the Flood. That is because, after the floodwaters peaked they then receded and eroded massive quantities of sediments from the continents as they retreated. See articles about quartzite-boulder deposits (Flood transported quartzites—east of the Rocky Mountains) that are classified as Oligocene but were deposited by receding floodwaters.
Also, the location of the Flood boundary is not a simple one-for-one relationship on the geologic column. See: Defining the Flood/post-Flood boundary in sedimentary rocks, Evidence for a late Cainozoic Flood/post-Flood boundary and the Forum on the Green River Formation.
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References and notes
- See: Termite
tummy bugs, Creation 24(3):7, 2002.
Return to text.
- Viegas, J., How amber becomes a death trap, ABC News in
Science, <www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2054857.htm?ancient>,
9 October 2007. Return to text.
- Schmidt, A.R. and Dilcher, D.L., Aquatic organisms as amber
inclusions and examples from a modern swamp forest, PNAS, USA 104(42):16581–16585,
16 October, 2007. Return to text.
- How amber becomes death trap for watery creatures, ScienceDaily,
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018123512.htm>, 20 October 2007.
Return to text.
- See, e.g., The amber mystery, Creation
25(2): 52–53, 2003; <creation.com/amber>.
Return to text.
- How pond life falls prey to killer trees, New Scientist
196(2625):21, 2007. Return to text.
- Australia had been thought to be an exception (i.e. without
amber fossils), but ‘huge chunks of amber’ containing insects and plant
parts have now been found along beaches in far north Queensland. Salleh, A., Amber
fossils a first for Australia, ABC Science Online, <www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1796778.htm>,
29 November 2006. Return to text.
- Berner, R.A. and Landis, G.P., Gas bubbles in fossil amber
as possible indicators of the major gas composition of ancient air, Science
239(4846):1406–1409, 1988. Return to text.
- I.e., likely embedded when fluid amber floating near the surface
of the floodwaters was impacted by falling raindrops. As amber’s specific
gravity is slightly over one, it floats in saltwater but sinks in freshwater, so
insect and other material preserved in amber could have been either flotsam or settlings—or
possibly borne by raindrops, in the case of microbes and very small insects. (Specific
gravity is the density of a substance relative to pure water, which therefore has
SG = 1 by definition.) Return to text.
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| Ken E. wrote: “I just wanted to drop a note to express my gratitude for the kind of information you supply at the CMI web-site. I love science and find it thrilling to see how it may be used to glorify God and build faith in Him.” Glorify God in His creation.  | | |
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