At https://phys.org/news/2020-06-dinosaur-footprints-predators-big-rex.html … dinosaur footprints in Australia of a predator almost the same size as a T. Rex. The footprints were discovered at Walloon Coal Measure in Queensland 90 years ago – and paleontologists have taken a second look at them, along with other footprints of animals. The mine in question has been long since closed down but it would be remarkable if the footprints were found in the coal measure itself – which is fossilised vegetable matter. They date to the Jurassic period, around 160 million years ago on the mainstream time line. The footprints in question were 80cm in length. The author adds, what ssems to have happened is that the animals stepped on to mat of swampy plant material that was then covered in sand, resulting in sandstone filled footprints in a bed of rock … the article comes from The Conservation but the author fails to notice that instant preservation was a must for the footprints – yet coal is thought to form over a uniformitarian time scale. One is contradicting the other.
At https://phys.org/news/2020-06-age-constraints-duration-jehol-biota.html … the Jehol biota bed in northern China is discussed at www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/02/1918272117 … is known for its exceptionally well preserved specimens of feathered dinosaurs, early birds, mammals, insects, and flowering plants. It is a treasure trove of fossils and is generally dated to the early Cretaceous. However, it seems there might be problems as the article goes on to oultine how the timing and ecological differences has led to a particular manner of cataloguing the finds. Age control was part of the process. This is from an evolutionary angle, the more primitive species being counted the oldest fossils and what was thought to be further up the evolutionary tree was dated in due process. The analysis went on to claim the bed was formed over 15 million years. No consideration was given to catastrophe and instantaneous burial and preservation – but it never is. The analysis followed the uniformitarian rules by the letter. It seems, the birds especially, all display advanced evolutionary characteristics which means birds must have evolved long before the Cretaceous. This makes sense from a catastrophist angle but not from the mainstream timeline. One might also wonder if the same applies to the mammals.