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combustion tubes, sensory communication, muscles to direct the combustion tubes and reflex nervous
systems—all had to work perfectly the very first time—or all hopes for ‘Bomby’ and his children would
have exploded!

The 'Mystery' of Octopus Fossils 155 by Brian Thomas, M.S.

Around 150 years ago, Charles Darwin asserted that “no organism wholly
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soft can be preserved.” He concluded this based on the assumption that
fossilization required long periods of time.

The reality is, however, that fossilization must occur rapidly, at a faster rate
than the specimen would decay. Darwin’s belief in vast geological ages,
borrowed from Charles Lyell and perhaps from his grandfather Erasmus, led
to his misinterpretation that fossils form slowly and gradually. Since
Darwin’s time, however, many organisms that were “wholly soft” have
been found preserved and fossilized, and by far the best explanation for
their formation is not through slow and gradual means, but rapid and
catastrophic ones.

Although extremely uncommon, worms, jellyfish, bacteria, a host of different kinds of leaves, and now
three exquisitely preserved octopods have been found in fossilized form. Discovered in Lebanon, these
wholly soft-bodied animals must have been rapidly engulfed by watery sediments. The mud that
encased them turned to stone, preserving the octopod impressions before the creatures could rot.

These specimens provide strong testimony for a rapid fossilization process.
Soft tissue fossils have long been a problem for those who believe that
sedimentary deposits represent vast ages. For example, paleontology
research at the University of Leicester refers to the soft-body phenomenon
as an “ancient mystery.” The university stated in 2008 that “the Burgess
Shales preserved soft tissue in exquisite detail, and the question of how
this came to happen has troubled scientists since the discovery of the
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fossils in 1909.” Interestingly, university researchers solved this “mystery”
by suggesting “rapid sedimentation of up to decimeter-thick units at this
location from pulsatory, quasi-continuous density currents.” 156

In addition to “wholly soft” creatures found in fossilized form, preserved soft body parts—such as the
fossilized brains of a T. Rex and an extinct fish—have been discovered, and Nature recently reported on
“exceptional soft-tissue preservation in a theropod from Italy.” 157 The rock layers that contain these
fossils could not have taken long ages to form, because these creatures would have decayed too quickly
to have been preserved the way they exist today. The “rapid sedimentation” cited by the University of
Leicester researchers would, however, be consistent with a widespread deluge, such as Noah’s Flood.

155 https://www.icr.org/article/mystery-octopus-fossils)
156 Gabbott, S.E., J. Zalasiewic, and D. Collins. 2008. Sedimentation of the Phyllopod Bed within the Cambrian
Burgess Shale Formation of British Columbia. Journal of the Geological Society. 165 (1): 307-318.
157 Thomas, B. What Does It Take to Fossilize a Brain? ICR News. Posted on icr.org on March 11, 2009, accessed
March 24, 2009
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