The singular events which occurred at the initiation of the Flood should have produced a geologic signature with at least five characteristics: (a) a mechanical-erosional discontinuity (ED) identified by regional structural analysis—probably the most significant unconformity in any given area; (b) a time or age discontinuity (AD) identified by coarse sediments above the erosional unconformity c...

Systematists disagree whether data from fossils should be included in parsimony analyses. In a handful of well-documented cases, the addition of fossil data radically overturns a hypothesis of relationships based on extant taxa alone. Fossils can break up long branches and preserve character combinations closer in time to deep splitting events. However, fossils usually require more interpretati...

Patterns of origination and evolution of early complex life on this planet are largely interpreted from the fossils of the Precambrian soft-bodied Ediacara Biota. These fossils occur globally and represent a diverse suite of organisms living in marine environments. Although these exceptionally preserved fossil assemblages are typically difficult to reconcile with modern phyla, examination of th...