The recently launched work “The Great Mass Extinction” presents evidence and implications of the greatest environmental tragedy in history. The book was written in a more scientific language by a doctor in geotechnics, geologist Nahor Neves de Souza Júnior and its priority audience is atheist evolutionary scientists. The idea is that the rational and demanding reader immerses themself in the universe of geology and realizes how rocks can become lenses to understand the past and the present. Geological phenomena have much to tell the attentive observer.

This new piece of scientific literature presents certain geological events from the past that help us understand the present. These events, when compared to current geological disasters such as sudden tectonic plate displacements, catastrophic tsunami movements, devastating volcanic eruptions, mass death, and extraordinary climate change, encourage people to acknowledge the idea that “the present is the key to the past.”

The book, therefore, is a journey in space and time through the collection of data, comparison of perspectives, and analysis of global geological phenomena that, in short geological intervals, would have produced the biggest environmental disaster in the history of planet Earth.

Important findings

According to the author, when observing the most superficial portion of the earth's crust in continental areas, it is possible to perceive that it is formed by a set of different and immense layers of sedimentary, volcanic, and subvolcanic rocks. Many of the sedimentary layers contain large amounts of fossils--animal or plant remains which were quickly buried whose organic tissues have been partially or totally mineralized (fossils with preserved organic matter cannot be millions of years old).

In these same layers with fossils and associated volcanic rocks (called Great Igneous Provinces), it is possible to identify the action of gigantic meteorological impacts, whose effects (impact craters) are found across the Earth's surface. 

“In reality, all of these geological features, or geocatrices, are evidence of a single geological and biological catastrophe of global proportions: the great mass extinction,” says Souza. “These scientific evidences harmonize, notably, with the biblical narrative of the flood of Genesis.”

Investigation of origins

The third section of the book, “Investigating the Origins,” is dedicated to a brief discussion of the knowledge gaps in issues involving origins of life, fossils, and more. For the author, scientific research is limited to what is sensorially liable to be verified by observation and experimentation.

Thus, in view of the insufficiency of the scientific method in the study of the singular and irreproducible events of the past, involving, for example, the origin of the fossils, the researcher will inevitably use at least two distinct sources of complementary knowledge. They are: philosophical assumptions (the basis of the evolutionary paradigm of origins), or reliable historical documents (biblical-historical narratives of creationism).

Souza warns of trying to fill the real gaps in scientific knowledge with mistaken philosophical assumptions as if they were natural laws. In this case, the contrary evidence (legitimate and clarifying) is discarded or omitted, which results in the departure from the reality of the facts, with incalculable losses for the advancement of scientific knowledge.

On the other hand, “authentic old documents and genuine historical reports are very important, as they represent legitimate and essential components in complementing scientific knowledge in research on origins,” explains Souza. 

The enlightening and promising results from the coherent and sustainable association between biblical knowledge and that of a scientific nature are exhaustively explored in sections four and five of the book.

About the author

Nahor Neves de Souza Júnior is a geologist and was a professor and researcher at the University of São Paulo (USP) and at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) for 13 years, and at the Adventist University Center of São Paulo (Unasp) for 24 years. He holds a PhD in Geotechnics from USP, and was coordinator of the civil engineering course at Unesp and Unasp, as well as director of the Brazilian sub-headquarters of the Geoscience Research Institute.

Souza has dedicated his life to university teaching and research in the field of geology. In the last 25 years, in addition to lecturing in the context of the creationist community, he participated in events at public universities throughout Brazil.

“The Great Mass Extinction” is the most up-to-date version of Souza’s studies. The book has more than 140 illustrations, photos, and graphics, and has a precise language, technical rigor, and empathy for the least trained. The literature has just been published by the Casa Publadora Brasileira (CPB), with 352 pages divided into five sections. The work can be purchased on the publisher's website.

This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site