Scavenging

Scavenging of Dinosaur Carcasses Refutes the “Briefly Exposed Diluvial Sediments” (BEDS) Flood Geology Scenario of Oard (2011)

Kevin R. Henke, Ph.D.

December 15, 2016

Introduction

As a young-Earth creationist (YEC), Oard (2011) believes that all of the dinosaurs outside of Noah’s ark died in the first 150 days of the Flood as described in Genesis 6-9. YECs also typically argue that the Flood occurred about 4,500 years ago (e.g., Snelling 2009a, pp. 613, 862, 898) and that the Flood was responsible for all or nearly all of the sedimentary rock record.

Most YECs recognize that dinosaur remains are too far in the middle of the sedimentary rock record to be pre-Flood or post-Flood. That is, Oard (2011, pp. 113-116) and many other YECs admit that there are often large volumes of sedimentary rocks underneath dinosaur-bearing rocks and that there is good evidence that large volumes of sediments and sedimentary rocks once covered a lot of dinosaur-bearing rocks that now crop out on the Earth’s surface. Oard (2011, p. 113) also finds it difficult to accept the idea that thick layers of sedimentary rocks could form in a few thousand years without Noah’s Flood. While the majority of YECs consider most or all sedimentary rocks to be deposits from a 371 or so day Flood, Oard (2011, pp. 113-114 and Oard (2016a, p. 8) goes even further and claims that the dinosaur fossils are from the “early” Flood, or sometime from day 40 to perhaps as late as day 120 or 150 of the Flood. This would mean that the often thick Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that underlie the dinosaur-bearing Mesozoic rocks are “very early” rocks that formed during the first 40 days of the Flood.

The presence of bones, eggs, nests, tracks, and other dinosaur remains in the middle of the sedimentary rock record creates serious problems for YECs. YECs must explain how dinosaurs could have been walking around, laying eggs, feeding and engaging in other life activities in the middle of a worldwide Flood and why we have not been able to find any evidence of dinosaur remains in the underlying Paleozoic and Precambrian sedimentary rocks. For some of these features, such as dinosaur nests, YECs simply deny or belittle their existence and importance. For example, Oard (2011, pp. 99-100, 106, 108) believes that dinosaur nests and very young dinosaurs have been largely misinterpreted and he improperly demeans their presence and importance in the geologic record. However, dinosaur tracks, bones and eggs are too obvious to be dismissed as “misinterpretations.” In response to some of these challenges, Oard (2011) developed the Briefly Exposed Diluvial Sediments (BEDS) scenario.

Oard (2011, pp. 19, 65, 73-76) recognizes that there is considerable evidence of animals scavenging on dinosaur carcasses. This evidence includes the broken teeth of scavenging dinosaurs and teeth and other markings on dinosaur bones (Oard 2011, pp. 65, 75-76). The idea of dinosaurs scavenging on the carcasses of other dinosaurs during the middle of Noah’s Flood is far-fetched, even under the “Briefly Exposed Diluvial Sediments” (BEDS) scenario proposed by Oard (2011). Oard (2011, p. 125) also argues that under stress some animals don’t eat. Yet, in the middle of a so-called worldwide catastrophe, the BEDS scenario supposedly gave opportunities for stressed scavengers to calm down and regain their appetites.

Insects Scavenging Dinosaur Carcasses

Even under the BEDS scenario of Oard (2011), scavengers would have only hours to at most 150 days to feed on carcasses before the Flood waters would return (Oard 2011, pp. 115, 116, 119, 121), and after day 150 of the Flood, all air-breathing terrestrial life outside of the ark would be dead (Oard 2011, pp. 19, 57, 114, 120, 163-166; citations of Genesis 7:24). Days to months may seem like more than enough time for a dinosaur scavenger to consume a carcass, provided that the scavenger managed to survive long enough to get to a BEDS and then was able to find a carcass to eat. However, the upper limit of 150 days under the BEDS scenario is pushed or exceeded by other types of scavengers and the type of environments that they inhabited. A forensic study of sauropod bones in Bader et al. (2009) by itself thoroughly demolishes the BEDS concept. Although Oard (2011, p. 76) cites Bader et al. (2009) and mentions that insects scavenged dinosaur bones, once more Mr. Oard omits a lot of crucial evidence in his references that undermine his YEC agenda. Bader et al. (2009) investigated pits, cracks, and other features on sauropod bones from a location in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of northeastern Wyoming. Considering the arrangements and conditions of the bones, Bader et al. (2009, p. 154) argue that none of these dinosaurs died in a catastrophic flood. Death from drought was the most likely cause (Bader et al. 2009, p. 154). Bader et al. (2009, p. 154) also state:

“The wet season is excluded as a time of death because rainfall and flooding would have prevented the desiccation of the carcasses and, therefore, excluded the bone-modifying arthropods.”

That is, the evidence indicates that the dinosaur carcasses dried out before necrophagous arthropods (insects) could produce the pits and other small trace marks on the bones (Bader et al., 2009, p. 154). Considering the extensive development of some of the pits on the bones, the insects must have fed on the dried carcasses for several weeks or a few months during their life cycles (Bader et al. 2009, p. 155). One skeleton even has two generations of bone markings (Bader et al. 2009, pp. 155, 156). Although the pitted bones were eventually buried by one or more aqueous events, the events were not strong enough to transport and sort the bones (Bader et al. 2009, p. 155). Once buried, etchings from ancient roots, which are distinguishable from modern root markings, formed on some of the bones closest to the surface (Bader et al. 2009, pp. 152, 155-156).

Based on the cracking patterns and distributions of their bones, Bader et al. (2009, p. 153) estimated that most of the sauropod skeletons were exposed to surface conditions from nine up to 24 weeks (six months). However, the poorly preserved nature of one diplodocid skeleton indicates exposure for more than six months (Bader et al. 2009, p. 153). Overall, the dinosaur skeletons probably accumulated in less than 3.5 years with most of the animals dying during a dry season of three to six months (Bader et al. 2009, pp. 140, 155).

Obviously, dinosaurs are not going to die from a drought in the middle of Noah’s Flood and their bodies will not dry out. Although BEDS has an absolute time limit of 150 days (essentially five months), the BEDS doctrine must allow enough time for the following events to occur at the Wyoming site of Bader et al. (2009): 1) the accumulation of thick sediments below the Morrison Formation, 2) the required three to more than six months for dinosaur carcasses to somehow dry out during Noah’s Flood and host one or more generations of insect scavengers, 3) provide time and conditions for the gentle burial of the remaining bones, and 4) allow more time for plants to grow on the new surface and develop significant roots to etch the underlying bones. Just this one example in Bader et al. (2009) would easily exceed the 150 day time limit of BEDS. Furthermore, it is doubtful that erosion would just happen to expose the only example of long-term scavenging of dinosaur remains and plant growth in the geologic record of this Wyoming site. That is, it’s very likely that there are other examples in the Morrison Formation at this site where scavengers dined on dinosaur carcasses for months to years. The BEDS scenario simply fails to explain the observations in Bader et al. (2009) and YECs should rethink their interpretations of Genesis.

References

Bader, K.S., S.T. Hasiotis, and L.D. Martin. 2009. “Applications of Forensic Science Techniques to Trace Fossils on Dinosaur Bones from a Quarry in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, northeastern Wyoming”, Palaios, v. 24, n. 3, pp. 140-158.

Oard, M.J. 2011. Dinosaur Challenges and Mysteries: How the Genesis Flood makes Sense of Dinosaur Evidence including Tracks, Nests, Eggs, and Scavenged Bones, Creation Book Publishers: Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 175pp.

Oard, M.J. 2016a. “Argentina Egg Site Supports BEDS Model”, Journal of Creation, v. 30, n. 1, pp. 6-8.

Snelling, A.A. 2009a. Earth’s Catastrophic Past: Geology, Creation & The Flood: Volumes 1 and 2, Institute for Creation Research: Dallas, TX, USA, 1102 pp.