The soil which sustains life covers the earth's bedrock at an average depth of less than 12 inches. Without this layer of life-producing dirt, the earth would be as dead and sterile as the moon. This thin film of soil stands between man and extinction. Scientists estimate that it takes 5,000 to 20,000 years for plant growth, bacterial decay, and erosion to produce six inches of top soil. If the earth is billions of years old, why is there not more top soil? If it has been washed into the ocean by erosion, the ocean floor should be covered with soil and sediment hundreds of feet thick. This is not what ocenographers have found.
In places where there is a local accumulation of eroded soil, such as river deltas, the evidence also indicates a young earth. The Mississippi River carries tremendous amounts of soil and silt into the Gulf of Mexico each year. This material settles into the gulf, forming an ever-growing river delta. By measuring the rate at which the silt is carried into the gulf and the size of the current delta, it is possible to calculate how long the Mississippi River has been in existence. The result of this calculation is far less than the millions of years that geologists tell us the Mississippi River has been around, but is exactly what would be expected if the river was formed following a relatively recent worldwide Flood. Why is evidence like this left out of textbooks?
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, July 26.
