Fossil Leaves Contain DNA

Are these leaves really 16 million years old? They retain color, odor, and even DNA. Bruce Malone shares a remarkable find.

Note: Back on 26 Nov 2017, we featured the “Search for the Truth” ministry of Bruce Malone, a creation speaker and author in Michigan. Mr. Malone’s enthusiasm for creation and the gospel seems boundless, with his speaking, writing, YouTube channel, and evangelistic efforts that have taken him to Fiji with creation evidences that point to the truth of the Bible. His work has had a profound impact on that island’s education system and culture. In his beautifully illustrated and content-rich books and videos, Bruce Malone presents literally hundreds of specific evidences that support the Genesis record and refute evolution, many of them little known by others in the creation movement. One of them, featured in his current newsletter, is so amazing our readers should learn about it.

In his winter 2021 newsletter, Malone tells his readers about a little-known fossil bed on private land 40 miles northeast of Moscow, Idaho. The Clarkia Fossil Bed was discovered by accident in 1972 when the landowner was clearing land for trails. Malone visited the site in September of 2020 to film an episode for his YouTube channel which was posted in March 2021. He writes,

In Sept 2020, we visited an extremely significant but little known fossil bed in Clarkia, Idaho. This unique fossil bed contains millions of leaves that have not been mineralized. They are so fresh looking that many still contain red, yellow, orange and green colorations. Once exposed to the air, these colors rapidly fade. Some samples even retain the smell of rotting leaves. [Emphasis in original.]

Bruce Malone holds slab with perfect imprints of leaves. From his video.

How old would an unbiased observer say these leaves are? Evolutionists call them “Miocene” deposits, dating them at 16 million Darwin Years old. To show how that is preposterous, Malone helps readers think through the evidence in their search for the truth about the Clarkia fossils:

• The bed has leaves from over 120 different species.
• The tree species lived in different ecological zones.
• Some leaves stick up through multiple layers.
• As stated, the billions of leaves look as fresh last winter’s leaf piles.
• The original coloration and odor remains in the leaves.
• The leaves are exceptionally well preserved, with veins and edges clearly visible.
• The shale is friable and crumbles easily, revealing the leaves in the flat sheets of shale.
• Most important, the leaves retain some of their original DNA!

Evolutionists concoct a just-so story to explain these evidences. They say that the leaves fell onto an ancient lake and settled onto the lake bed slowly and gradually, 800 feet down. At the bottom there was low oxygen. This allowed the leaves to be preserved in perfect condition. But did nothing disturb these leaves for 16 million years?

Malone takes the evidence further. A colleague of his asked university researchers how much DNA remained in the leaves. They said about 1/400th to 1/500th of the original DNA remained. Taking the half-life of DNA to be about 500 years, Malone calculates the true age of the leaves to be around 4,500 years since they were buried. That would be around the time of Noah’s Flood. As for the mechanism of burial, he says that Flood waters would be expected to have carried large mats of vegetation and buried them rapidly under heavy sediment loads. Along with the DNA evidence and the fresh appearance of the leaves, Malone exclaims, “Finding these leaves is equivalent to finding ‘soft tissue’ within dinosaur fossils!

In its short article on the Clarkia Fossil Beds, Wikipedia agrees with the evidence.

Though a number of animal species have been found, the Clarkia fossil beds site is best known for its fossil leaves. Their preservation is exquisite; fresh leaves are unfossilized, and sometimes retain their fall colors before rapidly oxidizing in air.

Clarkia Fossil Bed leaves; many retain their original color. From Bruce Malone’s video.

So far, Wikipedia concurs with the evidence that visitors can see, smell and touch. The article regurgitates the slow-and-gradual lake bed theory. But obviously, they cannot admit that DNA is still there.

It has been reported that scientists have managed to isolate small amounts of ancient DNA from fossil leaves from this site. However, other scientists are skeptical of the validity of this reported occurrence of Miocene DNA. They have interpreted the DNA that has been recovered from these leaf fossils as contamination, probably from bacterial sources.

That’s the same excuse critics gave for the dinosaur soft tissue and DNA: bacterial contamination. That excuse has not held up well. It has largely been discarded for other excuses, like chemical bonds fortified with iron that might stabilize biomolecules for millions of years. Think of the faith that requires. Remember when scientists were shocked to find exquisitely preserved fossil leaves under Greenland ice? (16 March 2021). Those were said to be 2.6 million Darwin Years old, not sixteen!

Soft tissue preservation has been reported throughout the entire geologic column, famously with dinosaur DNA and some original tissues visible even in some of the Cambrian animals. Is the column real or the construct of a consensus paradigm? When considered with an open mind, soft tissue collapses the column’s age down to thousands of years, not millions.

This case illustrates how scientists can be so indoctrinated into their worldview, they can look at evidence right within their hands and still believe in long ages of evolution.

Long ages are not helpful to compromising creationists who want to embrace the geologic column. Too much time can be more problematic than too little time. These leaves do not look 16 million years old. They look like they were buried recently. It’s remarkable they could look this fresh for even thousands of years. Added to all the other evidence for soft tissue preservation, it becomes outlandish to think that all these delicate tissues could last through eons of continents breaking up, hot periods, cold periods, earthquakes, meteor strikes and all the geologic events that would be expected in tens or hundreds of millions of years. A short time frame clears up these problems, but comes at a high price for one’s reputation. We think the compromising creationists and theistic evolutionists prefer the acclaim of the world more than the reproach of Genesis, which the academic community despises. When surrounded by elite academics and a powerful consensus, it’s difficult to join hands with the outcast creationists.

Without millions of years, Darwinism is dead. Watch Bruce Malone’s video. Look at the fossil leaves yourself as he cracks open the rocks. Think about this powerful evidence, and don’t be cowardly in your Search for the Truth. Jesus said that the world would hate those who follow Him. That’s to be expected. You don’t need friends like that. Say good riddance to the moyboys. Isn’t the majority often in the wrong? You may not have as many friends in the Biblical creation community, but they will be more faithful, open-minded, and God-glorifying friends. Support good workers like Bruce Malone, and join in the effort to defeat the Darwin empire.