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Creation 27(2):50–51, March 2005

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Zippy fossil finds

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woolbay
Wool Bay and the area where fossils are found.

Long-age thinking is so prevalent in our culture that most people just take it for granted. They assume that rocks and fossils took millions of years to form, even though we can’t begin to imagine what a million years would be like. But vast time is not necessary—the main requirement is a suitable mix of ingredients. Concrete is an obvious example.

Rocks on a beach at Wool Bay, South Australia, vividly demonstrate this fact. Visitors could spend the day unearthing fascinating modern fossils. John Roberts and his family did exactly that.

One of their fascinating finds was a rock, enclosing part of the differential casing of an old automobile. It is obviously not millions of years old, even though it looks natural. Technically, we could call it a fossil because a fossil is any evidence of past life found in a rock.

Of historic interest at Wool Bay is an old lime burner built into the cliffs. It is no longer used, but calcium carbonate is quarried nearby for cement production. It seems that mineralized water, running out of the limestone cliffs and across the beach, cemented the rocks.

The fossil hunters dug up another rock containing glass, pieces of pottery and shotgun shells.

These exciting rock formations show that rocks and fossils form naturally much faster than we are conditioned to believe. All it takes is suitable conditions, not millions of years.

Additional photos

(All photos provided by Marlene Roberts)

Wool-Bay
Conglomerate of shotgun shells, pieces of pottery and glass cemented naturally on the beach.
casing
Naturally formed rock containing shells and part of a differential casing. Fossilization does not need vast time periods.
gearwheel-encased-in-rock
Gearwheel encased in rock. The wheel is man-made but the rock is not.
lime-factory
The old lime factory on the beach.
Dianne-Pearson-Johnathon-Fitzne
Dianne Pearson and Jonathan Fitzner show off their rock-encased fossil finds.
John-Roberts
John Roberts with family and friends fossil hunting among the rocks on the beach at Wool Bay, South Australia.
Posted on homepage: 2 September 2020