If the earth is young, God created evidence of it being old.

As a YEC myself, I do believe that the Earth was created ~ 6,000 years ago. I also believe that there was a global flood as described in the book of Genesis. Therefore, I will divide your evidence into three groups. First, things caused by the Flood, second, things that can be explained through various theories about the nature of time, and finally things that do not actually provide evidence that the Earth is old. Group one Evidence 1-7 & 9, 11. All of these deal with various types of rock and rock formation. Sandstone and limestone are both sedimentary rock, meaning that they were laid down by water. With all of the upheaval, plus the fact that the entire earth was covered in water, there are no issues with having enough material. (this also, incidentally, explains the vast number of fossils found in limestone). The different layers are due to changes in the way things settled (you yourself stated that less dense and more dense materials alternate, which is what one would expect in moving water) The erosion of sandstone and granite as well as the sculpting of mountains and valleys would then be caused by the water surging and then withdrawing, which would have happened relatively rapidly and with quite a bit of force. The cave formation is a lot easier to explain once you assume vast amounts of water flowing through, which would contain rock particles as well. Evidence 8 The mineralization of petrified wood was done rapidly. Otherwise, it is hard to explain how the wood held its shape for five years, much less thousands. This would be relatively simple in the flood, where the water was rich with minerals. Evidences 13, 14, 15, 18, 20 These are all due to the massive amounts of volcanic activity occurring during the flood. Scripture states that "the springs of the great deep burst forth" (Genesis 7:11) This also answers the question of where a lot of the water came from. The water coming out of the ground would have been strong enough to rip the continents apart and raise mountains. It would have also caused the formation of volcanic islands and the lava would have bent as it cooled (forming the bent rock mentioned in 20. And, after all, how do you bend rock that isn't still partially melted? ) This also explains the reversals in the Earth's magnetic field, either because the lava simply changed direction after it captured the polarity, or due to activity in the core. Group Two 19. There are two theories about the Earth's location in the universe. Both are the result of the so-called "Red Shift," which is an example of the Doppler Effect and shows that every object in the Universe is moving away from us. One theory is that space itself is expanding, like a balloon, so that every object is moving away from every other object at an equal rate. The other theory is simply that the Earth (or, more accurately, the Milky Way) is in the center of the universe. This matters, because it would mean (due to the Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity as it applies to gravity) that light actually travels slower on the Earth than it does in the rest of the Universe. Therefore, since a light year is based on the speed of light, the stars are not actually more than six thousand light years distant. The space between them is that size, but the speed of light changes between them. 16. This is actually a stickier issue. It is entirely possible that the rate of decay has not been consistent, as, like all reactions, decay does depend on certain variables. Not being a nuclear physicist, I will not pretend to understand how these reactions work. Group 3 Evidence 6 and 12 Both of these relate to the warm cold cycles. However, the assumption is made that these cycles are summer/winter summer/winter. An equally valid assumption is that these cycles are simply warm/cold warm/cold. It is the erosive effects of these cycles that cracks concrete, and I know that my new basketball court is not thousands of years old. Freezing and thawing will produce the same erosive effects whether the time period is once a year, or five times a day. The expansion of water when it freezes means that any water inside a crack will push the crack further apart, causing the erosion. The layers in ice cores are caused by water melting, then refreezing. You could have six layers in one day. I do not believe that it is necessary to throw out any of the sciences, however, I believe that the ideological assumptions that underpin some of the conclusions that have been made by them are invalid. One cannot assume that just because something works a certain way now, it will always work that way or always has worked that way. Therefore, the earth is young, but God did not create evidence of it being old.