Critics of evolution often point to gaps in the fossil record as if they were evidence against evolution. This reveals either a vast ignorance of geology or ulterior motives. Why? For a number of reasons, but two major ones are that only a small proportion of animals get preserved as fossils, and most of those that were preserved have either eroded away or are buried under sediments of a different age.
Barring extraordinary happenstance, only the fossils within those
sediments that are exposed at the surface are available; but the exposure of sediments
of one age at a geographic location means that sediments of all other ages are not
available for that geographic locality. Does this leave gaps? Of course it does: for
any given time, most geographic areas are unrepresented, and some segments of geologic
time are missing. But what we do have is a record consistent with what we know about
geological processes and a record that is consistent with biological evolution but with
no other scientific theory yet put forth.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.