New Claims of a Billion-Year-Old Living Fossil | The Institute for Creation Research

New Claims of a Billion-Year-Old Living Fossil

Evolutionary scientists announced the discovery of what they claim are the oldest green-algae fossils—which look remarkably like modern, living seaweeds. The millimeter-sized, multicellular plant fossils were found in China in rocks claimed to be over one billion years old.1

A trio of paleontologists from Virginia Tech, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, named the new fossil Proterocladus antiquus.1

Co-author of the study, Shuhai Xiao, said, “Our study shows that green seaweeds evolved no later than 1 billion years ago, pushing back the record of green seaweeds by about 200 million years.”2

According to evolutionists, older fossils, like stromatolites, are found in rocks that supposedly date back over three billion years.3 The Glossary of Geology defines a stromatolite as “an organosedimentary structure produced by sediment trapping, binding, and/or precipitation as a result of the growth and metabolic activity of micro-organisms, principally cyanophytes (blue-green algae [cyanobacteria]).”4 Stromatolites are not multi-cellular plant-like fossils like Proterocladus antiquus; they are single-celled organisms living in colonies. Michelle Starr at ScienceAlert wrote,

It’s thought that green plants—Viridiplantae—emerged sometime between 2.5 billion and 635 million years ago. Because ancient plant fossils are rare, narrowing that timeline down has been extremely difficult. Scientists also don't know when they evolved from single-celled to multicellular organisms, or even where they started out.2

The study authors wrote, “This model, however, has not been rigorously tested with palaeontological data because of the scarcity of Proterozoic [Precambrian] chlorophyte [a group of green plants] fossils.”1

So, where did the green plants come from? And why does Proterocladus antiquus suddenly appear in the rock record fully-formed and functional?

Creation scientists have a better answer. We accept the truth of God’s Word. God tells us He created plants of all types on Day 3 of Creation Week. Their sudden appearance and lack of any ancestors is not a mystery—they were created instantly.

In addition, these newly described fossils look a lot like modern green seaweeds. This would make P. antiquus a living fossil, like the iconic coelacanth.5 “There are some modern green seaweeds that look very similar to the fossils that we found,” Xiao said. “A group of modern green seaweeds, known as siphonocladaleans, are particularly similar in shape and size to the fossils we found.”2

Secular scientists are left to conclude that Proterocladus antiquus fossils appear suddenly in rocks without any known ancestors, and that they haven’t changed in over a billion years.

We reject these claimed long ages outright.6 We feel this seaweed’s sudden appearance and lack of any visible evolutionary change is better explained within a biblical worldview. Plants have always been plants from their moment of creation about 6,000 years ago according to the genealogies and chronologies in the Bible.

References
1. Tang, Q., K. Pang, X. Yuan et al. 2020. A one-billion-year-old multicellular chlorophyte. Nature Ecology & Evolution. doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1122-9
2. Starr. M. 2020. Look at These Mind-Blowing Fossils of 1 Billion-Year-Old Seaweed. Science Alert. Posted on sciencealert.om February 25, 2020, accessed March 4, 2020.
3. Mueller, P. A., and A. P. Nutman. 2017. The Archean-Hadean Earth: Modern paradigms and ancient processes. In The Web of Geological Sciences: Advances, Impacts, and Interactions II. M. E. Bickford, ed. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America Special Paper 523, 75-237.
4. Neuendorf, K. K. E., J. P. Mehl, Jr., and J. A. Jackson, eds. 2005. Glossary of Geology, 5th ed. Alexandria, VA: American Geological Institute, 636.
5. Clarey, T., and J. Tomkins. 2013. Coelacanths: evolutionists still fishing in shallow water. Posted on ICR.org on April 29, 2013, accessed March 2, 2020.
6. Cupps, V. R. 2019. Rethinking Radiometric Dating: Evidence for a Young Earth from a Nuclear Physicist. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.

Stage image: alleged billion-year-old living fossil seaweed
Stage image credit: Copyright © Tang, et al. 2020. Used in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holder.

*Dr. Clarey is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned a doctorate in geology from Western Michigan University.
The Latest
NEWS
God's Memorial Day
“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of...

NEWS
How Did Earth Get Its Water?
Earth’s oceans contain 321 million cubic miles (1.335 billion cubic kilometers) of water. The moon causes ebb and flow of tides twice in a 24-hour...

NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...

NEWS
Ichthyosaur Graveyard Explained by the Flood
Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live...

CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...