The Mount St. Helens eruption (actually a series of eruptions in the early 1980s) resulted in a violent rapid transport and burial of thousands of logs in volcanic ash which contained large amounts of silica.

The most common way wood is petrified is to be buried deeply under pressure under volcanic ash. Hot water borne silica is forced into the wood and surrounds each tree cell turning it to stone. This was once thought to require a long period of time. In recent years however, geologists have observed petrifaction to occur rapidly in nature. Petrifaction is also easily duplicated in the laboratory by injecting silica into wood.  

Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone Park contains 27 layers of sediment containing many well preserved petrified logs. A study of the tree rings of logs of various layers shows a remarkable similarity of ring patterns. Tree rings being narrowly spaced indicate a period of drought and wider spaced rings indicate a period of abundant rain. The tree rings of the logs at Specimen Ridge correspond to such a degree that they indicate that they grew at the same time and not in successive forests that lived thousands of years apart as old earth evolutionists have long maintained.

The trees at Specimen Ridge, like those at Mt. St. Helens, were buried rapidly in several mud and ash flows from a volcano. The layers of sediment were not laid down centuries apart but in all probability were laid down within months or at most within a few years. It is very encouraging that the Park Service responded to the overwhelming evidence and corrected the explanatory markers to show rapid burial.

Petrified logs are fossils and they also are stone. The study of petrifaction reveals rapid fossilization and rapid lithification. (Lithification means to turn to stone.) There is abundant evidence of a huge volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that occurred at what is now Yellowstone Park. Some geologists believe it was 2,000 times as powerful as what occurred at Mount St. Helens. This catastrophic event resulted in rapid deposition of sediment that turned to stone. Animal and plant remains were quickly fossilized.  

Genesis 7:11 tells us that "all the fountains of the great deep" were broken up. Many Bible scholars and Bible believing geologists consider this passage to refer to volcanic activity that occurred during the great flood of Noah's day. The actual mechanism that the Lord used to bring the flood may have been a huge comet or asteroid that passed very close to earth so that the gravitational pull of the comet or asteroid caused the earth to be thrown off its axis and thereby caused the oceans to temporarily flood the continents. This violent shifting of the earth also could have caused the earth's crust to be convulsed and tear apart thus causing the volcanic activity.  

The old earth view of North American geology is that a very large portion of North America was at one time a tranquil sea and over a long period of time sediments eroded off of land and were deposited at the bottom of the tranquil sea. Then at some point the whole ocean bed uplifted and became what is now North America. This old earth scenario has many problems including the questions about where did the sediments erode from and why do we not see thick sediment beds at the bottom of today's oceans. Most present day ocean erosional sedimentation is confined to small areas adjacent to river deltas.

Many Ph. D. scientists believe that the Bible's historical record of catastrophic events and chronology better explain the fossil and geologic evidence. These scientists regard volcanic and flood borne sedimentation a better explanation for earth's geology than any of the old earth tranquil sea scenarios. Much of the material in this article was obtained from Footprints in the Ash: The Explosive Story of Mount St. Helens by John Morris Ph. D. and Steven A. Austin Ph. D.

The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.  

Steps to salvation: Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

1. Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2. Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
3. Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
4. Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
5. Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)

To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."

If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA

(C) 2010 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given

DEFENDING THE FAITH APOLOGETIC ARTICLES Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world. The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel. All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given. To receive these articles which are sent out once per month fill in your email address below and click the SUBMIT button. *Security: Write the characters in the image above (Case sensitive)