AGE OF THE EARTH PART 1 OF 2
Significance Of Issue
EARNST MAYR, <Harvard>, "The revolution began when it became obvious that the
earth was very ancient rather than having been created only 6,000 years ago. This
finding was the snowball that started the whole avalanche.", <THE NATURE OF THE
DARWINIAN REVOLUTION>, p.3
Lawrence BADASH, Prof. of History of Science, Univ. of CA, Santa Barbara, "As the
sun's first ray's of thermonuclear light blazed across the galaxy 4.5 billion years ago, the
primal earth emerged from a spinning, turbulent cloud of gas, dust and planetoids that
surrounded the new star...On these figures for the age of the earth rest all of geology
and evolution." <Scientific American>, Aug., 1989, p.90
GEORGE WALD, Nobel Laureate, Harvard, "However improbable we regard thisis
event, or any of the steps which it involves, given enough time it will almost certainly
happen at least once; Time is in fact the hero of the plot; Given so much time, the
'impossible' becomes possible, the possible probable, and the probable virtually certain.
One has only to wait: time itself performs the miracles.", <THE PHYSICS AND
CHEMISTRY OF LIFE>, p. 12. <H3>
Radiometric Dating Involves At Least Eight Untestable Assumptions
(1) Beginning conditions known. (2) Ratio of Daughter to natural. (3) Constant Decay
Rate. (4-7) No leaching or addition of parent or daughter. (8) All assumptions valid for
billions of years
"ASSUMPTIONS" , HENRY FAUL, "Two important assumptions are implicit in this
equation: First, that we are dealing with a closed system. And second, that no atoms of
the daughter were present in the system when it formed. These assumptions furnish
the most serious limitations on the accumulation clock. Rigorously closed systems
probably do not exist in nature, but surprisingly, many minerals and rocks satisfy the
requirement well enough to be useful for nuclear age determination. The problem is
one of judicious geologic selection.", <AGES OF ROCKS, PLANETS & STARS>, p.vi.
SHIFTY URANIUM , J.D. Macdougall, "The fourth assumption presupposes that the
concentration of uranium in any specimen has remained constant over the specimen's
life...groundwater percolation can leach away a proportion of the uranium present in
the rock crystals. The mobility of the uranium is such that as one part of a rock
formation is being improvised another part can become abnormally enriched. Such
changes can also take place at relatively low temperatures." <Scientific American>,
Vol.235(6):118
SHOULD BE IN ROCKS , Fanale & Schaeffer, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
"Studies of the helium method (2) have shown that low ages based on helium, obtained
on common rockforming minerals, do not necessarily reflect diffusive loss of helium
from the lattices of those minerals; under ideal conditions, some mineral lattices even
appear to retain helium quantitatively for longer than 10 8years.", <Science> Vol.149,
p.312
"DATING OP MOON SAMPLES: PITFALLS AND PARADOXES" , "What complicates
things for the uraniumlead method is that nonradiogenic lead 204, 206, 207 and 208 also
exist naturally, and scientists are not sure what the ratios of nonradiogenic to
radiogenic lead were early in the moon's history...The problem of how much lead was
around to begin with still remains...If all of the agedating methods (rubidiumstrontium,
uraniumlead and potassiumargon) had yielded the same ages, the picture would be
neat. But they haven't. The lead ages, for example, have been consistently
older...Isotopic ages have been obtained for material from five landing sites on the
moon--those of Apollo's 11, 12, 14, 15 and Luna 16; each site has a different age. But in a
given site, the ages also vary...Ideally, however, any one basaltic rock from a given site
should yield the same isotopic age, regardless of the method used.", Everly Driscoll,
<Science News>, Vol. 101, p. 12
CONSTANT RATES? Frederic B. Jueneman, FAIC, "There has been in recent years the
horrible realization that radiodecay rates are not as constant as previously thought, nor
are they immune to environmental influences. And this could mean that the atomic
clocks are reset during some global disaster, and events which brought the Mesozoic to
a close may not be 65 million years ago but, rather, within the age and memory of
man." <Industrial Research & Development>, p.21, Tune 1982
Methods are not concordant. Conclusions are selected. Contradictions arbitrarily
rejected.
DIFFERENT AGES FROM ONE ROCK , Joan C. Engels, "It is now well known that
KAr ages obtained from different minerals in a single rock may be strikingly
discordant.", <Journal of Geology>, ,Vol.79, p.609
FOUNDATION DECAYS , Gail, Arden, & Huchenson Oxford, "We suspect that the
lack of concordance may result in some part, from the choice of isotope ratios from
primitive lead, rather than from lead gain or Uranium loss. It therefore follows that the
whole of the classical interpretation of the meteorite, lead isotope data is in doubt and
that the radiometric estimates of the age of the earth are placed in jeopardy." <Nature>,
Vol.240, p.67.
RECENT LAVA @ 22M , C.S. Nobel & J.J. Naughton, Dept. of Chem, Hawaiian Inst. of
Geophysics, "The radiogenic argon and helium contents of three basalts erupted into
the deep ocean from an active volcano (Kilauea) have been measured. Ages calculated
from these measurements increase with sample depth up to 22 million years for lavas
deduced to be recent....it is possible to deduce that these lavas are very young, probably
less than 200 years old. The samples, in fact, may be very recent...", <Science>, Vol.162,
p.265
ARBITRARY , A. HAYATSU, Dept. of Geophysics, U. of Western Ontario, "In
conventional interpretation of KAr age data, it is common to discard ages which are
substantially too high or too low compared with the rest of the group or with other
available data such as the geological time scale. The discrepancies between the rejected
and the accepted are arbitrarily attributed to excess or loss of argon." <Canadian
Journal Of Earth Science>, 16:974.
DISSENTERS EJECTED , R. L. MAUGER, E. Carolina U., "In general, dates in the
'correct ball park' are assumed to be correct and are published, but those in
disagreement with other data are seldom published nor or the discrepancies fully
explained.", <Contributions To Geology>, Vol.15 (1): 17
Carbon 14
"C14 AGES IN ERROR" , ROBERT E. LEE, "The troubles of the radiocarbon dating
method are undeniably deep and serious. Despite 35 years of technological refinement
and better understanding, the underlying assumptions have been strongly
challenged.... It should be no surprise, then, that fully half of the dates are rejected. The
wonder is, surely, that the remaining half come out to be accepted. There are gross
discrepancies, the chronology is uneven and relative, and the accepted(l dates are
actually selected dates." <Anthropological Journal of Canada>, Vol. 19, no. 3, 1981, p.9
FUNDMENTAL ASSUMPTION , Report on ( 14 Conference (145 International
Scientists), Science, Vol. 150, p. 1490. "Throughout the conference emphasis was placed
on the fact that laboratories do not measure ages, they measure sample activities. The
connection between activity and age is made through a set of assumptions...one of the
main assumptions of C14 dating is that the atmospheric radiocarbon level has held
steady over the agerange to which the method applies.
C14 INCREASING! "Symposium Organized By International Atomic Energy
Authority", H. E. Suess, UCLA, "...presented the latest determinations...as adduced
from the current activity of endrochronologically dated growth rings of the Californian
bristle cone pine....The carbon14 concentration increases rather steadily during this
time.. These results confirm the change in carbon14 concentration.... and indicate that
the concentration increases..." <Science>, Vol.157, p.726
"Proof of pudding" tests (Moon rocks, G. Canyon & Hawaiian lavas) demonstrate
invalidity.
"CLOCKS" UNRELIABLE , (AntiCreationist) W.D. Stansfield, Prof. Biological Science,
Cal. Polyt. State U., "If we assume that (1) a rock contained no Pb206 when it was
formed, (2) all Pb206 now in the rock was produced by radioactive decay of u238, (3)
the rate of decay has been constant, (4) there has been no differential leaching by water
of either element, and (5) no U238 has been transported into the rock from another
source, then we might expect our estimate of age to be fairly accurate. Each assumption
is a potential variable, the magnitude of which can seldom be ascertained. In cases
where the daughter product is a gas, as in the decay of potassium (K40) to the gas
argon (Ar 43 it is essential that none of the gas escapes from the rock over long periods
of time...It is obvious that radiometric technique may not be the absolute dating
methods that they are claimed to be. Age estimates on a given geological stratum by
different radiometric methods are often quite different (sometimes by hundreds of
millions of years). There is no absolutely reliable longterm radiological 'clock". <THE
SCIENCE OF EVOLUTION>, 1977, p.84.
Geological Phenomenon...Rapid!
Fossils; large, detailed, polystrate. Merging Flow Structures.
<STRATA SAYS RAPID, DUNBAR & ROGERS>, "Use of the leaduranium ratio,
however, soon demonstrated its age to be more than two thousand million years,.... To
some thoughtful stratigraphers this amazing discovery presented a dilemma, for if the
known stratified rocks have been accumulating throughout this vast span of time the
average rate of deposition must have been extremely slow, yet there is very good
evidence that individual beds accumulated rapidly. Thus Schuchert ....found that if a
geologic column were built up by superposing the thickest known part of each of the
geologic systems in North America, from Cambrian to the present, the composite
record would be about 259,000 feet thick. If we combine his results with the latest
estimates of time based on radioactive minerals, we get the figures in Table 5, in
which the last column indicates the estimated average rate of deposition. Internal
evidence in the strata, however, belies these estimates. In the Coal Measures of Nova
Scotia, for example, the stumps and trunks of many trees are preserved standing
upright as they grew, clearly having been buried before they had time to fall or rot
away. Here sediment certainly accumulated to a depth of many feet within a few years.
ln other formations where articulated skeletons of large animals are preserved, the
sediment must have covered them within a few days at the most. Abundant fossil shells
likewise indicate rapid burial, for if shells are long exposed on the sea floor they suffer
abrasion or corrosion and are overgrown by sessile organisms or perforated by boring
animals. At the rate of deposition postulated by Schuchert, 1000 years, more or less,
would have been required to bury a shell 5 inches in diameter. With very local
exceptions fossil shells show no evidence of such long exposure." <PRINCIPLES OF
STRATIGRAPHY>, p. 128.
Swift Coal and Quick Oil
RAPID COAL , GEORGE R. HILL Dean of College of Mines & Mineral Industries, "A
rather startling and serendipitous discovery resulted....These observations suggest that
in their formation, high rank coals,....were probably subjected to high temperature at
some stage in their history. A possible mechanism for formation of these high rank
coals could have been a short time, rapid heating event." [Six Hours], <Chemtech>,
May, 1972, p. 292.
GARBAGE INTO OIL ,< Sentinel Star>, Friday, February 26, 1982, "LONDON British
scientists claimed to have invented a way to turn household garbage into oil suitable
for home heating or power plant use. "We are doing in 10 minutes what it has taken
nature 150 million years to do', said Noel McAuliffe of Manchester University's
Institute of Science and Technology."
Ubiquitous Ripple Marks
TEMPORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RIPPLE MARKS , EDWIN D. MCKEE, "The chief
significance of ripple lamination in the geologic record is that it is an indicator of
environments involving large and rapid sand accumulation; areas where addition of
new sand normally is at a slow rate have little chance of developing into superimposed
ripple lamination; In contrast, areas in which sand accumulates periodically but
rapidly, as in river flood plains were sand laden waters of strong floods suddenly lose
velocity are very favorable for building up ripplelaminated deposits." Primary
Sedimentary Structures and Their Hydrodynamic Interpretation,< Society of Economic
Paleontologists and Mineralogists>, p.107.
RAPID SEDIMENTATION , ADOLF SClLACHER, Geoiogisches Inst., Univ.
Frankfurt, "This proves instantaneous deposition of the individual beds, as postulated
by the turbiditycurrent theory....the sandy layers of the Flysch did not accumulate
gradually but were cast instantaneously by turbidity currents each bed in its entire
thickness, in a matter of hours or less." <Journal of Geology>, Vol. 70, p. 227.
TEMPORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LAYERS , Alan V. Jopling, Dept. of Geology,
Harvard, "it is reasonable to postulate a very rapid rate of deposition; that is a single
lamina would probably be deposited in a period of seconds or minutes rather than in a
period of hours. ...there is factual evidence from both field observation and experiment
that laminae composed of bed material are commonly deposited by current action
within a period of seconds or minutes." Some Deductions on the Temporal Significance
of Laminae, <Journal of Sedimentary Petrology>, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp.880-887.
"Global" Homogeneous Layers
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE & LIMESTONE, W.C. KRUMBEIN, L.L. SLOSS, Dept. of
Geol., Northwestern Univ. "Changes in atmospheric partial pressures of carbon dioxide
produce corresponding changes in carbon dioxide solubility. Because of these relations,
there is a direct connection between atmospheric carbon dioxide and the amount of
dissolved calcium ion in sea water.. If the carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater
decreases, some bicarbonate ions change to carbonate, thereby causing precipitation of
calcium carbonate. " <STRATIGRAPHY AND SEDIMENTATION>, p.223
Cave Formations
POLICE SPELEOTHERMS , "Hanging from a ceiling beam in the 40yearold building's
basement are several rows of formations not usually seen so close to ground level.
Stalactites. Yep, stalactites more than 100 of the squiggly, slippery rock formations that
thousands of people pay to see in places named Carlsbad and Mammoth....They are
natural cave ornaments, pure and simple....Deputy Chief Ray Hawkins has been
parking in the basement of the building at Harwood and Main streets since the 1960s
and can't remember a time when the mineralsickles weren't hanging around." <Dallas
Morning News>, 4/4/1994, p. 13A
Indicators Of Young Earth
According to AntiCreationist, William D. Stansfield, Prof. Biological Science, Cal. Polyt.
State Univ., <SCIENCE OF EVOLUTION>, 1977, p. 84.
Water From Volcanoes
"It has been estimated that seventy volcanoes the size of Mexico's Paricutin producing
0.001 cubic mile of water per year for 4.5 billion years of earth's history could account
for the 315 cubic miles of water in the oceans today. There are now approximately 600
active volcanoes and about 10,000 dormant ones. Six hundred volcanoes comparable to
Paricutin could account for the present oceans in approximately 0.5 billion years."
Uranium In the Oceans
"Uranium salts presently appear to be accumulating in the oceans at about 100 times the
rate of their loss. It is estimated that 60,000,000,000 grams of uranium is added to the
oceans annually. Under uniformitarian rules, the total concentration of uranium salts of
the oceans (estimated at less than 1E+17 grams) could be accumulated in less than one
million years.
Helium In the Atmosphere
"The atmospheric content of helium-4 (the most abundant isotope of helium) has
accumulated from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the earth's crust
and oceans, from nuclear reactions caused by cosmic rays, and from the sun. If the
present rate of accumulation has been constant throughout four billion years of the
earth's history, there should be thirty times as much helium in our present atmosphere
as is presently there."
Meteoric Dust In Strata
"One estimate of meteoric dust settling to earth places it at 14.3 million tons annually. If
this rate has been constant throughout five billion years of geologic history, one might
expect over fifty feet of meteorite dust to have settled all over the surface of the earth. ...
The average meteorite contains about three hundred times more nickel than the
average earth rock."
Meteorites In Strata
"No meteorites have been found in the geological column."
Lava In The Crust
"It has been estimated that four volcanoes spewing lava at the rate observed for
Paricutin and continuing for five billion years could almost account for the volume of
the continental crusts. The Colombian plateau of northwestern United States (covering
200,000 square miles) was produced by a gigantic lava flow several thousands of feet
deep. The Canadian shield and other extensive lava flows indicate that volcanic activity
has indeed followed an accelerated tempo in the past. The fact that only a small
percentage of crystal rocks are recognizably lavas...."
Pressure In Oil Reservoirs
"Some geologist find it difficult to understand how the great pressures found in some
oil wells could be retained over millions of years."
Human Population Dynamics
"If humanity is really about 2.5 million years old (as claimed by Dr. Louis Leakey),
creationist calculate from conservative population estimates (2.4 children per family,
average generation and life span of forty-three years) that the world population would
have grown from a single family to 10 to the 2700th power of people over one million
years. The present world population is about 2x10 to the 9th power, an infinitesimal
part of the 10 to the 2700th power."
Radiocarbon In Atmosphere
"It now appears that the C14 decay rate in living organisms is about 30 per cent less
than its production rate in the upper atmosphere. Since the amount of C14 is now
increasing in the atmosphere, it may be assumed that the quantity of C14 was even
lower in the past than at the present. This condition would lead to abnormally low
C14/C12 ratios for the older fossils. Such a fossil would be interpreted as being much
older than it really is. ... Creationists argue that since C14 has not yet reached its
equilibrium rate, the age of the atmosphere must be less than 20,000 years old."
Dr. Stansfield's "Answer":
"By this methodology, creationists stand guilty of the "crime" they ascribe to
evolutionists, namely uniformitarianism. All the above methods for dating the age of
the earth, its various strata, and its fossils are questionable, because the rates are likely
to have fluctuated widely over earth history. A method that appears to have much
greater reliability for determining absolute ages of rocks is that of radiometric dating."
But He Acknowledges:
"If we assume that (1) a rock contained no Pb206 when it was formed, (2) all Pb206 now
in the rock was produced by radioactive decay of U238, (3) the rate of decay has been
constant, (4) there has been no differential leaching by water of either element, and (5)
no U238 has been transported into the rock from another source, then we might expect
our estimate of age to be fairly accurate. Each assumption is a potential variable, the
magnitude of which can seldom be ascertained. In cases where the daughter product is
a gas, as in the decay of potassium (K40) to the gas argon (Ar 40) it is essential that
none of the gas escapes from the rock over long periods of time.
It is obvious that radiometric techniques may not be the absolute dating methods that
they are claimed to be. Age estimates on a given geological stratum by different
radiometric methods are often quite different (sometimes by hundreds of millions of
years). There is no absolutely reliable longterm radiological 'clock."'
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