The Oldest Rocks Before the Flood

As anyone who has spent even a little bit of time examining biblical creation science knows, we emphasize the Genesis Flood. It explains what is observed in geology far better than uniformitarian (slow and gradual processes over much time) ideas. The Flood also shows that Earth is young, and that God judged the world.

What seems to be largely ignored are the oldest rocks that were here before the Flood. You have probably heard of the Cambrian explosion, where fossils of critters appear fully formed. Before that was the appropriately-named Precambrian.

Roaring Brook Falls (NY), Flickr / James St. John (CC BY 2.0)
This one is where you can find pre-Flood rocks, and there is a planed (shaved flat) surface that spans the continents. During Creation Week, God made the land on the third day, which probably involved raising it up out of the water. A lot of land, a lot of water, a lot of runoff and erosion. Using biblical chronology, the Flood happened about 1,600 years after creation, so there was erosion and deposition happening even then (see "Stromatolites Before the Flood?") and the process was beneficial for us.
I vividly remember visiting the Hamersley area in Australia’s northwest, part of two-thirds of the continent’s surface not covered today by flood rocks. I was awestruck as I gazed at the vast iron formations, whose individual thin, cherry-red beds can be traced for hundreds of miles. I was seeing rocks that could date back to the creation week.

God made the dry land on day three (Genesis 1:9–10), which must have consisted of rocks. He next put soil across that land surface and created all manner of plants to beautify it (Genesis 1:11–12).

Since God finished his “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31), the earth has suffered from the effects of the curse, as well as dramatic reshaping by the cataclysmic global flood.

Even so, in places we can still see and touch rocks that date back to the original creation, though heat and pressure have likely changed their look and mineral content.

To read all of the article, click on "Clues from Creation Week."