# John Whitmore

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American geologist and paleontologist at Cedarville University, where he chairs the Department of Geology. A young-earth creationist, he is best known for research arguing that the Coconino Sandstone of the [Grand Canyon](/codex/grand-canyon-formation/), usually read as an ancient desert dune field, was deposited underwater.

**The 30-second version:**

> John Whitmore teaches geology at Cedarville University. He holds a B.S. in geology from Kent State, an M.S. in geology from the Institute for Creation Research and a PhD in biology with a paleontology emphasis from Loma Linda University. His team's detailed study of the Coconino Sandstone (2014) argues that its giant cross-beds and grain features fit underwater sand waves better than wind-blown dunes, which matters because desert dunes in the middle of the rock column are a classic argument against [Flood Geology](/codex/flood-geology/). Mainstream geologists still read the Coconino as a dune deposit.

![A hiker beside a wall of Coconino Sandstone on the South Kaibab Trail, showing large sloping cross-beds in the pale sandstone](/codex/assets/coconino-sandstone-cross-bedding-south-kaibab-trail.jpg)

_Large-scale cross-beds in the Coconino Sandstone, South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon. Photo: National Park Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, resized._

## Career

- **Training.** B.S. in geology (Kent State University), M.S. in geology (Institute for Creation Research), PhD in biology with an emphasis in paleontology (Loma Linda University).
- **Position.** Chair of the Department of Geology and Distinguished Professor of Geology at Cedarville University, Ohio.
- **Research.** The geology of Noah's Flood, the Coconino Sandstone, the Green River Formation, and sand injectites in the Grand Canyon.

## The Coconino Sandstone

1. **Why it matters.** The Coconino sits high in the Grand Canyon's walls. Since Edwin McKee's 1934 study it has been read as a field of desert dunes, with sloping cross-beds and fossil trackways. Dry desert dunes in the middle of a stack of supposed Flood deposits are a long-standing objection to Flood geology.
2. **The study.** Whitmore and co-authors Strom, Cheung and Garner published "The petrology of the Coconino Sandstone (Permian), Arizona, USA" (*Answers Research Journal* 7, 2014), describing samples from across Arizona, including the Grand Canyon.
3. **The argument.** The authors report features such as mica in nearly every thin section and dolomite ooids, and argue that the sandstone as a whole fits large underwater sand waves better than desert dunes.
4. **The response.** The wind-blown dune interpretation remains the standard view in mainstream geology, which reads the cross-bed geometry and trackways as desert features. See [Grand Canyon Formation](/codex/grand-canyon-formation/).

## See also

- [Grand Canyon Formation](/codex/grand-canyon-formation/), the full comparison of the competing accounts
- [Flood Geology](/codex/flood-geology/), the framework his work develops
- [Global Flood Evidence](/codex/global-flood-evidence/), which lists the Coconino among the cross-continental formations Flood geologists cite
- [Andrew Snelling](/codex/andrew-snelling/), fellow Flood geologist
- [Steven A. Austin](/codex/steven-a-austin/), fellow Flood geologist