80-foot baleen whale fossil proves rapid diatom deposition
Polystrate Whale Fossil: Diatomaceous earth is formed of the remains of dead diatoms, and because these are microscopic single-celled algae, old-Earth geologists naturally believe that diatom deposits represent lengthy periods of time, with claims of deposition rates as slow as 0.09 millimeters per year. However, as a picture is worth a thousand words, and a well-devised experiment is worth a thousand hypotheses, so too, one good discovery trumps a thousand opinions.
Discovery of an 80-foot long fossilized baleen whale in a diatomite deposit at the Miguelito Mine in Lompoc, California, indicates rapid deposition, as documented in a paper by Dr. Andrew Snelling. If this diatomite was deposited gradually, as claimed by uniformitarian-biased old-earth geologists, the diatomite would not be pure, as it is. (Similarly, the extraordinary purity of some limestone deposits should be sufficient to falsify claims of million-year depositions.) And most significantly for this creature, a slow deposition rate would result in corrosion and scavenging of the whale's bones, because the rib cage, for example, would have been awaiting burial for eons. (Likewise, consider these 171 tadpoles fossilized in diatoms, and as always, rememberthenautiloids.com.) Rather, this whale was buried rapidly in diatomite along with fish, sea lions, birds, and other whales.
Dr. Snelling's on-site investigation was facilitated by Mark Armitage, a published author on dinosaur soft tissue and whom Real Science Radio spoke to for a first-hand account of this paleontological site. Snelling documented the clear evidence indicating the whale's catastrophic burial, and therefore, also, the rapid deposition of the layered, entombing diatomites. While old-earth geologists stubbornly continue to claim super-slow deposition of diatoms, Real Science Radio believes that discoveries like this whale will make them increasingly hesitant to "do the math" in public pronouncements about how long such deposits would take to form. Snelling compares this find with a whale skeleton from the 1900s in the sea near Catalina Island which, as expected, by its decomposition has attracted many sea floor dwelling creatures like clams, mussels, and snails. The Lompoc deposition has no such bottom dwellers and instead the whale's fossil companions include "cod, herring, pipefish, sea lions, and birds, none of which are sea floor bottom dwellers..." making it evident that "the Lompoc assemblage represents a catastrophically buried death assemblage, not the progressive burial of a habitat..."
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This important find was also reported in Chemical and Engineering News, Vol. 54, 1976 by Kenneth M. Reese in “Workers Find Whale in Diatomaceous Earth Quarry.” Lawrence G. Barnes of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County reported that he also saw other whales along with a small seal, fish, and birds in that quarry which is 238–530 feet above sea level and at 34°37'30.40"N, 120°29'01.79"W. See also Real Science Radio's rsr.org/polystrate-fossils.
Here's the point: This whale is a 100% typical example of fossils from around the world buried in allegedly slow-forming layers even though such specimens, including tall trees, show no evidence of greater erosion in the allegedly long-exposed portions of the organism. These direct observations trump the knee-jerk slow-burial hypotheses.