Did an Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs? | The Institute for Creation Research
Did an Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs?

During a recent visit to a church, I told a group of children how and why Noah’s Flood fossilized the dinosaurs. A boy told me he saw a documentary that said an asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs. Did an impact or the Flood kill them? Three science clues help answer this question.

One clue is frogs. An impact powerful enough to demolish thick-skinned, tough, monstrous dinosaurs all over the world surely would have erased thin-skinned amphibians first. The same goes for certain sensitive clams, but that didn’t happen. Frog and clam fossils found near dinosaur bone fossils look the same as today’s frogs and clams.1 Harmful chemicals go right through porous frog skin, and silt chokes clam gills, so how did they survive and not dinosaurs?

Next, where is the impact crater? An impact large enough to wipe out all the world’s dinosaurs should have left a huge, round pit. Most scientists who study this think a region beneath the southern Gulf of Mexico and northern Yucatan Peninsula represents the impact site. However, others disagree for good reasons.

For one thing, the underground feature at that site is not round. Plus, an impact with worldwide destructive force would have melted rocks, but the site has very little melted rock. The rocks down there don’t need an impact to explain them. Magma that rose from the depths could have made the rocks the way we see them today.2 Why should we believe an impact killed the dinosaurs if we can’t find a crater that fills the bill?

Flexible animal tissues still persist inside many fossilized dinosaur bones. Tweet: Flexible animal tissues still persist inside many fossilized dinosaur bones.

Did an Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs? http://www.icr.org/article/did-asteroid-impact-kill-dinosaurs

@icrscience @icrbthomas

The size and shape of rock layers give us a third clue that the Genesis Flood, not an asteroid impact, best explains the dinosaur fossils they contain. Each of these rock layers can cover thousands of square miles! A single layer can cover several states. For example, the Hell Creek and Lance Formations were deposited at the same time. They span Montana and Wyoming, plus parts of other states.

How could an impact way down in Mexico deposit this thick layer so far away? An impact should make a wedge-shaped layer, with mud thinning out from the crater. But actual dinosaur layers keep the same thickness for hundreds of miles. Noah’s Flood could do that.

The Bible says that surging Flood waters took months to cover the whole globe. Sure enough, dinosaurs got buried in mud on every continent. And this Flood happened about 4,500 years ago, not 66 million years ago. Science supports this, too. Erosion over millions of years would have carved ruts. Where are the expected ruts between the layers? Instead of erosion ruts, the upper surface of each layer looks flat, as though hardly any time passed before the next layer was laid on top of it by the next huge Flood surge.

Also, flexible animal tissues still persist inside many fossilized dinosaur bones. Blood vessels, hemoglobin proteins, and whole bone cells could never last one million years, let alone 67 million.3 These rocks and fossils look young.

Noah’s recent Flood formed dinosaur fossils fast all over the world. Tweet: Noah’s recent Flood formed dinosaur fossils fast all over the world.

Did an Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs? http://www.icr.org/article/did-asteroid-impact-kill-dinosaurs

@icrscience @icrbthomas

Did an asteroid impact kill the dinosaurs millions of years ago? No way. Noah’s recent Flood formed dinosaur fossils fast all over the world.4

References

  1. Hoesch, W. A. and S. A. Austin. 2004. Dinosaur National Monument: Jurassic Park or Jurassic Jumble? Acts & Facts. 33 (4).
  2. Clarey, T. L. 2017. Do the Data Support a Large Meteorite Impact at Chicxulub? Answers Research Journal. 10 : 71-88.
  3. Thomas, B. Best of 2017: Fleshy Fossils. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org December 28, 2017, accessed April 16, 2018.
  4. Some dinosaurs survived the Flood onboard Noah’s Ark. Genesis 7:15 says that Noah rescued two of every land-dwelling creature with the breath of life in its nostrils, and dinosaurs had legs and nostrils. It appears that the few dinosaurs that lived after the Flood eventually went extinct from habitat loss and hunting. See Thomas, B. 2017. Dinosaurs and Dragon Legends. Acts & Facts. 46 (7): 14-16.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his M.S. in biotechnology from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Cite this article: Brian Thomas, Ph.D. 2018. Did an Asteroid Impact Kill the Dinosaurs?. Acts & Facts. 47 (6).

The Latest
NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...

NEWS
Our Sun, Finely Tuned for Life on Earth
Aside from appreciating the splendor of the sun during a beautiful sunrise or sunset, many rarely consider how special, necessary, and finely tuned...

NEWS
March 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Auroras
by Lori Fausak and Susan Windsor* You’re never too young to be a creation scientist! Kids, discover fun facts about God’s creation...