Unconformity

An unconformity is a lack of geological conformity that exists when there is a gap in the expected rock strata. It describes a structural relationship between two groups of rock that are not in a normal succession, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. It may be formed when erosion occurs while deposition has slowed or stopped, and is generally interpreted as a time break in a depositional sequence.

William R.Corliss, a cataloger and writer on scientific anomalies, wrote the following regarding unconformities:

Potentially more important to geological thinking are those unconformities that signal large chunks of geological history are missing, even though the strata on either side of the unconformity are perfectly parallel and show no evidence of erosion. Did millions of years fly by with no discernible effect? A possible though controversial inference is that our geological clocks and stratigraphic concepts need working on."

Ariel A. Roth wrote the following concerning unconformities (paraconformities): "The lack of evidence of time at the surface of the underlying layers of a paraconformity suggest that the long ages never occurred." Young earth creationists see paraconformities as a serious challenge to the old earth uniformitarian geology paradigm.