Sediment layers all in order?
Sediment layers are Important to the Uniformitarian theory of Geological studies for they tell when organisms came into existance and when they ceased to be as a species. It tells them what time in the Earth's history that events occured and how old things are. It is contended by Uniformitarian Geologists that the dates given by this method of catagorizing are establsihed facts and that there is no need to second guess the data. Yet there is growing dissent in this field (as well as other fields that are dominated by materialistic phylosophies). This dissent is not without its merit nor without its criticism from those that hold that the data lends flawless credibility to an old age for the Earth and life on it. To those that hold fast to the Naturalistic studies, the dissent is little more than psuedoscience used by Christians to lend support to their belief in Biblical truth and giv credibility to their beliefs. This type of thinking is where the "God vs. Science" thinking comes from. But in reality it is not "God vs. Science", it is "Science vs. Darwinism", God and religion are not necessary to disprove Materialist claims from fields of science, however they do paint a much more full picture of science, life, history and humanity than just certain "non denominational facts" that lend credibility against Darwinistic claims but make no specific statement in regards to pro Creationism evidence.
Uniformitarianism Geology states that the layers of sediment that have hardened over time from mud into rock were layed down slowly over long periods of time, and that each individual layer was laid down during a certain time period in the Earth's history (i.e. Jurassic are or Cretaceous era). It is also partly founded on the idea of an equilibrium, also stated as "everything has been the same since the beginning". In other words, Uniformitarian Geology is based on the belief that everything has remained the same and at a constant during the Earths' entire history. This means that Uniformitarianism relies on a stable system of constants in regards to the molecules and radiation that dating depends on and that the dates that tests give must stay true to the old Earth assumption.
On the opposite end of the see-saw of science, is the theory of Catastrophism which states that there is much evidence that our planets' Geology and natural history are best explained by some major catastrophic event taking place in the past to drastically alter our planet. This theory which directly oposses Uniformitarian teachings is often met with harsh ridicule and skepticism by those that hold to an old Earth view, however this seems to have more to do with personal beiliefs than actual evidence.
Even many Uniformitarian Geologists agree that at some point a Catastrophe occured that drastically affected our planet, though many cannot agree what that event was, many have come to the conclusion that it was caused by water.
*Under continued construction