Ready for a “root” awakening?
Towering fossilized tree trunks entombed upright in layers of rock across the US are stirring up a flood of debate — with some researchers claiming the eerie formations could be evidence that Noah’s Ark and the biblical Great Flood were more than just Sunday school stories.
The ancient remnants, known as “polystrate fossils,” have been found everywhere from Yellowstone National Park to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
They’re raising eyebrows because the trunks pierce vertically through multiple layers of sedimentary rock that geologists often say formed millions of years apart.
To some biblical literalists, that timeline simply doesn’t hold water.
“A dead tree doesn’t stand upright for millions of years waiting for sediment to slowly build around it. It rots. It collapses,” researchers with Noah’s Ark Scans wrote in a viral May 20 post on X.
“These trees appear to have been rapidly buried by massive sediment flows before they could decay.”
Supporters of the Genesis flood account argue the fossils look less like the result of slow geological change and more like the aftermath of a colossal catastrophe — namely, the flood described in the Bible, in which Noah built a massive ark before God unleashed 40 days and 40 nights of torrential rain that swallowed the Earth whole.
The researchers behind the account doubled down on that theory, declaring: “The fossil record looks a lot more like the catastrophic world described in Genesis than the slow evolutionary timeline we’ve been sold.”
The claim quickly sparked a mudslide of reactions online.
One X user replied, “The world is not as old as ‘scientists’ want us to believe. And the Genesis Flood was an actual event. The fossil record proves once again the accuracy of Scripture.”
One believer insisted that critics “can’t attack this piece of evidence, so they will mock this post and make fun of the people who posted it.”
Skeptics were quick to rain on the parade, arguing the formations are better explained by repeated local disasters — not one globe-drowning deluge.
Others in the comments continue to argue that the fossilized trees were buried during sudden natural disasters, such as eruptions, mudslides and flooding events that have occurred throughout Earth’s long history.
Many say Mount St. Helens offered a front-row seat to rapid fossil-style burial in 1980 when volcanic chaos quickly trapped thousands of trees upright in sediment — without any divine intervention. Other Bible enthusiasts, however, have found connections from the volcano to scripture.
However, late British geologist Derek Ager famously argued that the idea of a 33-foot tree remaining upright for hundreds of thousands of years while sediment slowly accumulated around it was “ridiculous.”
Slowly entombing a tree that size, he insisted, would’ve taken roughly 328,000 years — enough time for nature to turn it into mush first. He concluded sedimentation was “at times very rapid indeed.”
Creation scientist Ian Juby has also championed the theory, arguing the fossils don’t neatly fit the standard geological timeline.
“The rock layers are called ‘strata,’ and the fossil cuts through more than one, hence the name ‘poly’ for many and ‘strate’ for the strata the fossil cuts through,” Juby explained on his website.
“Polystrate fossils are found literally all over the world.”
Juby cited Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia, Canada, where fossilized trees with broken roots and inverted trunks are found tangled in layered sediment, which he argues supports sudden catastrophic flooding over slow geological change.
Critics say rapid burial doesn’t conflict with an ancient Earth, pointing out that localized disasters can quickly build sediment while still aligning with mainstream geology’s timeline.
For believers, the trees are just the latest branch in a much larger biblical mystery — one they say may already lie buried under a Turkish mountainside.
As previously reported by The Post, Noah’s Ark Scans said in April 2025 that their team may be closing in on one of the Bible’s most enduring mysteries: the final resting place of Noah’s Ark.
Using soil tests and ground-penetrating radar, the group says it was zeroing in on Turkey’s Durupinar site — a 538-foot boat-shaped formation near Mount Ararat that some believe aligns with the Ark’s biblical measurements.
The site has long been the subject of speculation, though Noah’s Ark remains unproven across Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Lead researcher Andrew Jones told The Sun the team is deliberately avoiding excavation for now.
Instead, researchers are relying on non-invasive testing, including radar scans and soil sampling, to determine whether the formation is natural or man-made.
Jones said excavation will only happen if enough evidence is gathered and preservation plans are in place.
Early results have already sparked interest.
Soil samples reportedly showed differences in pH, organic matter and potassium levels compared to surrounding ground — changes the team says are “consistent with rotting wood.”
Researchers also noted that vegetation inside the formation yellows earlier in the season, which they believe could signal something buried below.
He added that their findings so far “support” their theory, calling the site “a distinct object,” not just surrounding mudflow.
