Are you ready for a “root” awakening?
Tall tree trunks dug straight into rock layers in the US are sparking controversy – some researchers say the eerie formations could be proof that Noah’s ark and the biblical Great Flood were more than just Sunday school stories.
Ancient fossils, known as “polystrate fossils,” have been found everywhere from Yellowstone National Park to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
They raise eyebrows because the shafts bore upward through many layers of sedimentary rock that geologists often say were formed millions of years apart.
For some biblical writers, that timeline holds no water.
“A dead tree does not stand upright for millions of years, waiting for sediment to slowly build around it.
“These trees seem to have been quickly buried by the flow of soil before they rotted.”
Proponents of the Genesis flood account say that the fossils do not look like the result of a gradual change in the topography of the earth and more like the result of a great catastrophe—that is, the flood described in the Bible, in which Noah built a great ark before God unleashed a torrential rain for 40 days and 40 nights that swallowed the whole earth.
The researchers on the subject doubled down on that idea, saying: “The fossil record looks more like the catastrophic world described in Genesis than the slow evolutionary timeline we’ve been sold.”
The claim immediately sparked a flurry of reactions online.
Another X user responded, “The world didn’t create the way ‘scientists’ want us to believe. And the Genesis Flood was a real event.”
One believer insisted that critics “can’t attack this evidence, so they will mock this post and make fun of the people who posted it.
Skeptics were quick to rain on the show, saying the formation is best explained by recurring local disasters – not a single, earth-drenching flood.
Others in the comments continue to argue that cereal trees were buried during sudden natural disasters, such as explosions, mudslides and floods that have occurred throughout Earth’s long history.
Many say that Mount St. Helens provided a front seat to the quick burial style of the debris in 1980 when the volcanic upheavals quickly trapped thousands of trees in the dust – without divine intervention. However, some Bible enthusiasts have found a connection between the volcano and the scriptures.
However, the late British geologist Derek Ager argued that the idea of a 33-foot tree standing upright for hundreds of thousands of years while its sediment slowly accumulated was “ridiculous.”
To piece together a tree that big, he insisted, would take about 328,000 years – enough time for nature to turn it into mushrooms first. He concluded that “sometimes it was really fast.”
Naturalist Ian Juby has also supported the theory, saying the fossils don’t fit well with the standard geological timeline.
“The layers of rock are called ‘strata,’ and the fossils cross more than one, hence the word ‘poly’ for many ‘and’ strata’ of the domain where the fossils cross,” Juby explains on his website.
“Polystrate fossils are found literally all over the world.”
Juby cited the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia, Canada, where deformed trees with broken roots and twisted trunks are found stuck in thick mud, which he says supports catastrophic flash floods due to slow geological change.
Critics argue that rapid burial is inconsistent with an ancient Earth, pointing out that local catastrophes can rapidly build up sediment while still conforming to the general timeline of geology.
For believers, the trees are the latest branch in the Bible’s greatest mystery – which they say may already be buried under a mountain in Turkey.
As previously reported by The Post, Noah’s Ark Scans in April 2025 said their team may close one of the most enduring mysteries in the Bible: the final location of Noah’s Ark.
Using soil tests and ground-penetrating radar, the team says it has penetrated Turkey’s Durupinar site – a 538-metre boat-shaped structure near Mount Ararat that some believe matches the biblical dimensions of the Ark.
This site has long been a topic of discussion, although Noah’s Ark has not been confirmed by all of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Lead researcher Andrew Jones told THE SUN that the team is deliberately avoiding digging for now.
Instead, researchers rely on non-invasive tests, including radar scans and soil sampling, to determine whether the structure is natural or man-made.
Jones said the excavation will only happen if enough evidence is collected and preservation plans are made.
Early results have already sparked interest.
The soil samples reportedly showed differences in pH, organic matter and potassium levels compared to the surrounding soil – changes the group says are “corresponding to decaying wood.”
The researchers also noted that the plants inside the formation are yellow at the beginning of the season, which they believe may indicate something buried below.
He added that what they’ve found so far “supports” their theory, calling the site “something different,” not just a mudflow.
