Did Rainforests Once Grow in a Frozen Wasteland?

A new study found tropical fossils, similar to the current flora in New Zealand’s South Island, in Cretaceous layers.

Now, this isn’t the first time the remains of seemingly out-of-place organisms have been found on the southernmost continent. But a new study found tropical fossils, similar to the current flora in New Zealand’s South Island, in Cretaceous layers thought to be 83–92 million years old. This means these organisms supposedly thrived in Antarctica at a time when evolutionists believe the continent was near where it is today (though they argue that the global temperature was much higher). But temperature isn’t the only challenge for plants wanting to grow in the extreme south—they also have to deal with months of darkness, something few plants today can withstand.

Tropical plants in Antarctica doesn’t make sense. And yet the scientists say:

The preservation of this 90-million-year-old forest is exceptional, but even more surprising is the world it reveals . . . Even during months of darkness, swampy temperate rainforests were able to grow close to the South Pole, revealing an even warmer climate than we expected.

Now think carefully here. When you find fossils of organisms together like this, what can we know for sure? Can we know they died together? No, we didn’t see that happen. Can we know they lived together? No, we didn’t see that happen. Can we know they were buried together? Yes, because we find them in the present that way.

During the flood about 4,350 years ago, the fountains of the great deep burst forth (Genesis 7:11), broke the crust, and began the process of catastrophic plate tectonics. This moved the continents quickly apart, eventually settling them where they are today (although they continue to move slowly, at about the rate your fingernails grow). These Cretaceous layers don’t represent a time in the distant past. They represent a layer of flood sediment as the sediment-rich waters moved to cover the earth, depositing layers filled with fossils in the process.

It's also worth noting that the fossils were discovered in “pristine” condition—the researchers could even examine their cell structures!

Whether or not these plants did grow together, the flood model makes much more sense of this seemingly puzzling find. Originally the whole earth was one continent (as Genesis 1:9 hints). This means there was no “Antarctica” as we know it today. So this forest wasn’t growing way down south but in much more temperate area of the globe.

It's also worth noting that the fossils were discovered in “pristine” condition—the researchers could even examine their cell structures! This points to rapid burial of this tropical ecosystem, not slow and gradual processes like we observe today. Evolutionary ideas simply don’t explain the evidence. But the history in God’s Word, including a global flood and young earth timeline, explain what we observe.

Get More Answers on Answers News

I discussed this item today on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Georgia Purdom and Bodie Hodge. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum and broadcast on my Facebook page and the Answers in Genesis Facebook page. We also covered the following topics:

• Are there more than 30 alien civilizations in the Milky Way?
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• SCOTUS says homosexual, transgender workers protected by federal law

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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.