GEOSCIENCE REPORTS — Number 21, Fall 1996

p.1 • Radioisotope Age, Part II — Genesis and Time: What Radiometric Dating Tells Us • C. L. Webster, Jr. 
p.7 • Editor's Angle
p.7 • Scattered Notes from the Scientific Literature - Biology, Geology
p.8 • Our Solar System • C. L. Webster, Jr. 

RADIOISOTOPE AGE, PART II:
 Genesis and Time:
What Radiometric Dating Tells Us*

C. L. Webster, Jr.
Geoscience Research Institute

Geoscience Reports 21:1-6 (Fall 1996).
    Related page — | EDITORIAL | PORTUGUESE |

        On hearing the estimates of the earth's age that range from 6,000 to more than four billion years, you may have wondered, "What difference does it make what I believe about the earth's age? Does it really matter how long life has been here?" Simply stated, your beliefs about these matters reflect your perception of the Bible's reliability. They also make an important difference in how you interpret the hypotheses offered by science and the information presented in the Bible.
        As Bible-believing Christians, we accept as fact that God created the earth. As intelligent beings, we strive to understand God's creation using the analytic tools offered by human science. Radiometric dating is among the more widely used methods of calculating the age of our planet. It is based on the analysis of radioactivity in matter. What can radiometric dating tell us about the age of the Earth and our Solar System? What are the implications for our interpretation of the scriptural account of creation?

Rube Goldberg Rock Clock (you set the bell alarm by choosing a proper half-life of the timing rock).

A Brief History

        The study of radioactive decay (the natural and spontaneous decomposition of atoms) is about a century old. In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel reported to the Academy of Sciences in Paris radioactive decay in uranium. As early as 1904, Lord Ernest Rutherford recognized the potential of using radioactive decay to determine the passage of time. Two years later, Rutherford and Soddy calculated the age of a uranium sample found in the state of Connecticut, USA, to be 550 million years.
        Radiometric dating was not fully exploited until after World War II. W.J. Libby's famous book Radiocarbon Dating was published a little over 30 years ago. Therefore, as a relatively new area of science, radiometric dating still poses many unanswered questions.

Definition

        In order for us to discuss the questions posed at the beginning of this article, it is necessary for our readers to be at least superficially acquainted with the process of radioactive decay. Briefly, radiometric dating seeks to establish the age of matter based on the ratios of parent to daughter isotopes and the constant rate of decay of the radioactive isotopes present. Isotopes of an element are atoms whose nuclei have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons (see diagram). The atomic nuclei of radioactive isotopes are unstable. As they move to a more stable configuration, the nuclei rid themselves of subatomic particles and excess energy. This process is known as decay. As radioactive decay proceeds, the radioactive "parent" material (e.g., uranium) is transformed into offspring or "daughter" products (e.g., thorium, etc.). This process continues until a stable daughter product is achieved (in the case of uranium, this is lead).
        The length of time required for half of the original parent material to decay is known as the "half-life" of the isotope. These half-lives range from those less than 0.000000001 seconds to those extremely long (more than one billion years). For a given radioactive isotope, infinite age is often assumed after the passing of 7 to 10 half-lives, because after this point it is statistically impossible to accurately detect the presence of the parent isotope. An object that is infinitely old with respect to all isotopes would exhibit no radioactivity, for the radioactive isotopes would have decayed completely to their stable daughter products. Although radiometric dating is widely used and accepted, it is far from problem-free.

Hydrogen isotopes

Different Techniques

        A variety of radiometric techniques are used (e.g., potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, etc.) to measure the parent:daughter ratios of different elements found in a sample. This variety of techniques allows scientists to interpret the approximate age at which a specimen experienced major events such as its elemental formation (nucleogenesis), solidification, heating, remelting, shock, mixing with other minerals, exposure to water or to high-energy radiation.
        Scientists performing more than one measurement of radiometric age on a given sample are not surprised when the resulting ages disagree. This disagreement implies that the sample being studied may have experienced more than one age-altering event. These events affected different isotopes in the sample in different ways. Discordance may provide useful insight into the chronology of events that the sample has experienced.
        In many cases chemically and physically independent radiometric dating techniques agree. These concordant dates cannot be easily explained away and often point to physically significant events. The observed concordance between the numerous radiometric-age determinations for the theoretical consolidation of our Solar System is one such event. However, before we can establish the age of our Solar System, it is crucial to note that concordance of radiometric dates does not automatically imply direct correspondence between the radiometric age and real time.

Resetting the Clocks

        It is important for us to realize that the academic climate in which radiometric dating techniques were developed was one which assumed long ages for the development of life forms through evolution. This assumption promoted the search for such supporting ages.
        This current of thought also produced a questionable assumption: that radiometric "clocks" in matter are set or reset to zero when the matter is moved due to igneous activity (e.g., lava flows) rather than their retaining all or part of their "age information" during their transport.
        In the process of fossilization (when the material of an organic form, such as a plant, is replaced by mineral material) the zero-set hypothesis suggests that the radiometric age of the mineral material in the fossil is also the minimum real-time age of the fossil. Unqualified support of such an application of the zero-set hypothesis can be described as supporting a "graveyard hoax." It is similar to a person's attempting to calculate the age of a buried corpse by checking the age of a layer of soil both above and below the casket instead of reading the headstone. We must not characterize any individual who uses the zero-set hypothesis as supporting this "graveyard hoax" but rather look at such examples as emphasizing an important concept that may be overlooked. Simply stated, the radiometric ages for the mineral components of the earth in a cemetery plot are not necessarily expected to date the ages of that plot's occupants!
        While ample evidence supports the zero-set hypothesis of various radiometric chronometer systems during the igneous formation or metamorphosis of minerals, scientific literature also authenticates the inheritance of previously established radiometric age characteristics during metamorphic and igneous transport processes. In some situations age characteristics, measured independently, have survived volcanic events. The survival of such age characteristics may be anywhere between total and nonexistent. (Examples of this were given in "Radioisotope Age: Part I," Geoscience Reports No. 20, Spring 1996.)
        The impact of sedimentary processes on radiometric age determinations has also been documented. An oil well in southwestern Louisiana (USA) that was drilled into formations that have a conventional geologic age in the 5-25 million year range (Miocene) produced drill cuttings from shale at the 5190 foot level that has a K-Ar age of 254 million years. When the shale cuttings were ground and screened into component particle size, the average K-Ar age was found to be 164 million years for particles less than one-half micron in diameter, 312 million years for particles in the ½-2 micron diameter range, and 358 million years for particles greater than 10 microns in diameter.¹ It is evident that the larger ratio of surface to volume for the smaller particles favors diffusion loss of the argon-40 that was inherited from the source of this shale. (The argon loss resulted in younger ages.) The radiometric age characteristics of the sediments into which this well was drilled reflect the radiometric age characteristics of the source areas drained by the Missouri and Ohio river systems, not the time of sediment emplacement.
        Radiometric ages greater than within the expected range are attributed to various factors: an incomplete resetting of the radiometric clock at mineral formation, a partial removal of the parent isotope, or an infusion of the daughter isotope after mineral formation. On the other hand, radiometric ages less than the expected range are attributed to the partial removal of the daughter isotope after mineral formation, or an infusion of the parent isotope.
        When dealing principally with sedimentary materials, and fossils in particular, it appears highly probable that radiometric dates more reasonably represent the initial characteristics of the source material in which organisms were buried rather than the time of their burial.
        Now that we have determined that fossils do not necessarily share the same radiometric age as the surrounding rock, we face the remaining challenge of determining the significance of the radiometric characteristics. Keep in mind that these characteristics not only represent the initial radiometric characteristics of the matter analyzed but also any changes that were produced by heat, water, etc., during the relocation process. According to Genesis 1, 7, and 8, our planet has experienced three major modifications that should be expected to have altered the characteristics of many mineral formations in the planetary crust. These modifications are the appearance of continents and ocean basins on the third day of Creation week, the subsequent weathering of the continental crust and reduction of topographic relief until the planet was again completely covered with water (the Noachian Flood), and the reappearance of continents and ocean basins after the Flood. Each of these modifications, and particularly the combined effects of all three, introduce severe complications into the scientific interpretation of the radiometric information for many of the mineral specimens available for our study.

Strategies for Accommodating Data

        This discussion has been limited to radiometric age data for inorganic minerals, especially those associated with fossils. Three strategies can be considered to accommodate these data to the chronologic data presented in the Scriptures.²

1. Ignore any data provided by radiometric techniques.
2. Assume that the Earth, Moon, and stars are only thousands of years old and that the radiometric data observed today are the result of processes that are not completely understood. (Some suggest the Earth was created with apparent age.)
3. Assume that the activities of a recent Creation week (thousands, not millions of years ago) involved large amounts of elementary inorganic matter that was previously created some 4.56 billion years ago.

Science and Faith

        If science indicates a particular hypothesis and Scripture allows it, it seems reasonable to accept such a position. While this approach minimizes conflicts between scientific and biblical interpretations, not all questions are answered. Areas requiring more than a small measure of faith remain.
        We must realize that there is no way to proceed directly from radiometric data to a fiat creation for living matter within the past 10,000 years and a worldwide flood some 5,000 years ago. These are concepts that are accepted on the basis of faith in the same manner as is salvation.
        Through a proper blending of this faith viewpoint and science it is possible to obtain a more complete understanding of God, our Creator and Sustainer. In seeking to harmonize God's character as it is revealed in the Scriptures and in nature, we must seek a model that is consistent with both sources of information. The third approach mentioned above begins to meet these requirements. Where we do not find such consistency, we need to search for a better understanding of both sources of revelation (nature and Scripture), asking for the Holy Spirit's guidance during our research.
        Radiometric dating is an interpretive science. The complex chemical and physical processes taking place within the Earth's mantle and crust are neither completely known nor understood. This is especially true when the radioactive isotope parameters are considered. Couple these uncertainties with the fact that there are numerous times where radiometric ages are not in agreement, it would seem logical — almost compelling — to seriously consider other sources of data for determining the time of Creation. For the Christian who is a scientist, such a primary source is the Holy Scripture.

ENDNOTES

1. Perry EA. 1974. Diagenesis and K-Ar dating of shales and clay minerals. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85:827-830.
2. These concepts were originally proposed by Robert H. Brown, retired director of Geoscience Research Institute.

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*Reprinted by permission from the article "Genesis and Time: What Radiometric Dating Tells Us," Dialogue 5:1 (1993) with slight modification.

EDITOR'S ANGLE

    Many thanks are due to Drs. Clyde Webster and Humberto Rasi (editor of Dialogue) for the very extensive article on radiometric dating. This second article in our series answers a few more questions for us but again, does not address all of the problems. Dr. Webster's emphasis on a faith-based approach to scientific research is shared by the staff at the Geoscience Research Institute.
    As a sedimentologist, I have been especially intrigued by the research documenting the link between grain size and loss of daughter product from the samples. This is the kind of question we need to be asking the data: what are the factors or systematic processes that could contribute to contamination of the sample? In the past we have focused our questions on factors that might impact the nuclear decay rates. Perhaps issues in magma systems and sedimentology will be a more fruitful area of inquiry.

SCATTERED NOTES FROM THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

BIOLOGY

Palmer JD. 1996. Time, tide and the living clocks of marine organisms. American Scientist 84:570-578.

    Research over the past decade has proposed that the tidal clock in many marine organisms has a period of 24.8 hours (a lunar day), slightly longer than the solar clock. Palmer suggests that there is a single clock that governs the solar and tidal rhythms, because "... it is difficult to believe natural selection would be so profligate as to build two clocks that ran at nearly the same rate." He supports this conclusion by observing that the clocks fail in the laboratory in the same way; however, the day-night cycles that set the solar rhythms do not affect the tidal cycles, and no other governing mechanism was proposed. Instead, Palmer suggests "the mechanism that adjusts the clock to environmental cycles is separate from the timekeeping mechanism." It seems biological clocks become ever more complex in even the simplest organisms.

GEOLOGY

Wessel P, Kroenke LW, Bercovici D. 1996. Pacific Plate motion and undulations in gelid and bathymetry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 140(1-4):53-66.

    By using radiometric dates from volcanic ridges associated with prominent gravity lineations within troughs, researchers correlated ridge formation with documented changes in Pacific and Indo/Australian Plate motion. This response seems to be due to aperiodic plate boundary stress rather than small-scale convection or diffuse extension. Standard rates for plate movement are being questioned in this recent study and represent a slight movement away from the slow, gradual processes previously implied by the conventional mechanisms for plate tectonics.

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM*

Clyde L. Webster, Jr.
Geoscience Research Institute

Geoscience Reports 21:8 (Fall 1996).

    The fact that radioactive isotopes are present in the materials from Earth, the Moon, and meteorites strongly suggests that our Solar System has a finite age. Can this age be calculated? Potential minimum and maximum ages for the formation of our Solar System may be obtained through an analysis of radioactive isotope ratios, parent:daughter ratios, and missing radioactive isotopes. For example, uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.47 billion years. Observing the limitations mentioned in the article, Radioisotope Age: Part II, which does not permit age calculations beyond 7-10 half-lives, we may conclude that the presence of uranium-238 in the Solar System implies a maximum age of about 4.5 billion years for its postulated consolidation. This figure is further refined by analyzing the uranium-235:uranium-238 ratio, which implies a maximum age of about 5 billion years.
    Using the same method of analyzing parent:daughter ratios, paying attention to cases where daughter isotopes are found and parent isotopes are clearly absent, a minimum age can be obtained for the consolidation of the Solar System as proposed by the scientific community. For example, samarium-146, with a half-life of about 100 million years, is not found in naturally occurring deposits. However, its stable daughter product, neodymium-142, is found there. A 10 half-life calculation would therefore set a minimum age for consolidation of about one billion years. Thus, this process brings us to the interesting conclusion that the radiometric age of the planets, moons, and meteorites of our Solar System may range between one and five billion years.
    What are the implications of such an ancient Solar System? How does this impact our view of the Creator? First, it is clear from Scripture that God is Creator of all things and, since He is God, i.e., eternal, the timing for the creation of matter does not really affect our understanding of His nature. It does have an impact on our understanding of the first two verses of Genesis which state:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (NIV).

    Some people believe that "In the beginning" refers to the first day of creation week and they conclude that the entire universe was created very recently. Others believe that the first day of creation week is not actually referred to until Genesis 1, verses 3-5:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening and there was morning — the first day (NIV).

    Either position can be supported from Scripture. What we know and understand at present about isotopes in our Solar System suggest that the inorganic material is old. New information and new interpretations may alter this conclusion in the future. An awareness of these options helps Christians working in the sciences to develop concepts and models about our origins.

Saturn and its moons in Earth's solar system. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

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*Segment reprinted by permission from the article "Genesis and Time: What Radiometric Dating Tells Us," Dialogue 5:1 (1993) with slight modification.

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GEOSCIENCE REPORTS — Number 22, Spring 1997

p.1 • Radioisotope Age, Part III: Time in Science and the Bible • Benjamin L. Clausen
p.6 • Editor's Angle
p.6 • Scattered Scientific Notes
    Biology
    Paleoanthropology
    Paleontology
p.7 • Geoscience News
    1996 European Tour
    1996 BRISCO Meeting 
p.8 • What Happens When Rocks Melt? • Elaine G. Kennedy

RADIOISOTOPE AGE, PART III:
Time in Science and the Bible

Benjamin L. Clausen
Geoscience Research Institute

Geoscience Reports 22:1-5 (Spring 1997).
    Related page — | EDITORIAL | PORTUGUESE |

    What is time and why do we think it is so important? Is it because of our need to synchronize schedules, our bodily changes that cause hunger and tiredness, our limited endurance of pain or boredom, and our limited lifespan for accomplishing goals? Time for God is apparently different and doesn't directly correspond to human time (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8); after all, God knows the end from the beginning. Cannot God create time, exist outside of time, and move back and forth in time?¹ What happens then to time perceptions when God intervenes in His creation? Strange effects result: the appearance of age after creation, the adjustments in time measurement due to Joshua's long day and Hezekiah's sundial, and the rate change of natural processes during the water-to-wine miracle.

Scientific Time Issues

    When viewed from a scientific perspective, time is seen to be a complex subject.²
    Time is not absolute. According to special relativity, no absolute measure of time is possible for two objects in relative motion to each other, especially if the relative motion is close to the speed of light. Experimental data confirm that the decay time of a short-lived particle in relative motion to an observer can be much greater than if the particle is at rest (Figure 1). According to general relativity and its experimental confirmation, time moves slower in a stronger gravitational fields. The standard scientific literature often speculates about the effects on time of the strong gravitational fields near black holes, even to discussing time travel.³

Figure 1. In a spectrometer, such as the one shown here, rapidly moving particles take longer to decay than if at rest. (Photo courtesy B. L. Clausen)

    Time has a beginning. Scripture (Psalm 102:25,26) influenced Lord Kelvin in his development of the second law of thermodynamics.⁴ The second law states that the amount of useful energy in the universe is decreasing, thus suggesting a beginning for time and the need for a "Beginner".
    Similarly, the Big Bang theory points to a beginning for the universe, space, and time and was therefore resisted philosophically when it was first introduced.⁵
    Rates may change over time. As a good scientist, I have measured my daughter's height and plotted it over the years. By extrapolating that height, I estimate that she will be 10 feet tall when she reaches age 30 (Figure 2). Fortunately that extrapolation into the future is not valid. Extrapolation back in time from the thousands of years of recorded history to the billions of years for the universe is widely supported scientifically, but it too requires caution. Perhaps time is the god-of-the-gaps for evolution, since it assumes that given enough time anything can happen.

Figure 2. Diagram extrapolating daughter's growth rate over time.

    Our perspective of time may change. Unexpected scientific discoveries in the past have changed age estimates by several orders of magnitude. In the 1800s, Lord Kelvin estimated that the earth was about 40 million years old, based on the amount of time it would take for the Earth to cool from a molten ball and assuming that all heat sources were then known.⁶ However, after a new source of heat (radioactivity) was discovered in 1896 the age estimates changed by two orders of magnitude.

    Time is a point of contention between science and Scripture.

Science Gives Long Ages

    The matter of the universe and Earth appears to be old based on various radiometric data: the constancy of decay rates for long-lived isotopes, the concordance between various dating methods, the Oklo phenomena,⁷ and the limited range of half-lives for naturally occurring radioactive isotopes.
    The life associated with these old rocks is assumed to have a corresponding old age. Gradual development over millions of years is the easiest explanation for the vertical sequence in the fossil record: the detailed small-scale order, the lack of mixing (no humans with dinosaurs, no angiosperm pollen with trilobites), and the observation that fossils (even of animal types assumed to be on Noah's ark) become progressively more similar to modern forms higher up the geologic column. Although the long-age explanation is not perfect, it does explain more than ecological zonation theory, flotation, and motility. Other geological evidence, although not impossible to fit into a short-age model, is easier to explain in a long-age model: cooling of batholiths and tectonic plates, "annual" sedimentary layers that in places may number in the millions (Figure 3), ice core data, evidence of significant animal activity in the geologic record, and coral reefs and their growth rates.
    Good scientific evidence supports long ages, and a fairly comprehensive long-age model with supporting evidence exists. However, science is not perfect, and some scientific evidence to be discussed later does support a short-age model.

Figure 3. Laminae in the Permian Castille Formation. (Photo courtesy B. L. Clausen)

Scripture Gives Short Ages

    Scripture suggests no long ages of animal death before Adam's sin. Death before sin removes the link between sin and physical death; it makes God directly responsible for competition, suffering, and death; and it seems incompatible with the picture of a God who cares for the sparrow and has prepared a heaven where the wolf and lamb will dwell together. The God of justice in the Bible would not allow sin, evil, and death any longer than necessary.⁸
    The Sabbath commandment commemorates no long period of development for life, but that "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is". There is good reason to believe that Scripture intends these to be literal days.⁹ The command emphasizes that God created in 6 days, as well as what God created in those 6 days, although various interpretations include different features: the entire universe, just life on Earth, or just a local creation of man and his habitat.
    The genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 also favor a short time period since the creation. Theologically, then, a short-age model is the easiest to defend. However, misinterpretations of Scripture have occurred in the past (geocentric universe, fixity of species, etc.), so it is important not to require more than the Bible requires. Care must be taken not to repeat dogmatic mistakes of the past, and the scientific details in the Bible may require some interpretation into modern technical terms (e.g., the hare chewing the cud, the locust, beetle, and grasshopper having four feet [Leviticus 11:6,21-23]).

Addressing the Conflict

    Conflict between science and revelation on time issues is very apparent and no clear final answer is currently available. However, other examples of conflict due to our finite comprehension do exist: the divine/human nature of Christ, free will/predestination, and the dual wave/particle nature of light. Human logic is limited to an assessment of our experiences.
    Empirical evidence should be necessary for any belief system, and there is evidence that a totally naturalistic world view is insufficient. In addition, those with a Bible-based philosophical framework have found at least some empirical evidence that preferentially supports short ages and more that is at least consistent with it.
    Some of this evidence is presented in the next section; however, this and similar data must be used with caution: 1) the arguments are more complicated and equivocal when all factors are taken into account; 2) more of the current data is better explained by a long-age model than by a short-age model; 3) demonstrating that certain data doesn't require long ages, doesn't necessarily provide support for a short-age model; it only moves it to a category of fitting either; 4) no comprehensive geologic model fits all the data, so that problems with a long-age model do not necessarily mean that a short-age model is correct; 5) no comprehensive, short-age model is even available to rival the long-age model; 6) ultimately any biblical short-age model would be expected to include some supernatural activity, immediately making it unacceptable as a scientific model at all; 7) accepting the Bible because science supports it tends to put science above the Bible and reason and sense perception above revelation and makes it easy to discard the Bible when the scientific evidence is found to be incompatible.

Science Reinterpretation

    Significant data fits a long chronology better; however, much data can be fit into either model (especially after reinterpretation), and some data is better explained by a short-age for rocks and the life they contain: 1) coal expected to be millions of years old is found by carbon-14 dating to be on the order of 40,000 years old;¹⁰ 2) geological rates of erosion, sedimentation, and mountain uplift suggest a shorter time scale;¹¹ 3) paraconformities suggest a limited time between some sedimentary layers;¹² 4) biological molecules in rocks dated at millions of years would be expected to disintegrate in much less time.¹³
    Some of the scientific data can be interpreted in terms of life being young, but the matter of the earth being old. The old radiometric dates are then accepted as real, but not necessarily the age of rock deposition or of the constituent fossils. Discordance between different radiometric dates is not uncommon due to argon retention (for K/Ar dating), to metamorphic resetting, and to different source areas for sedimentary rock. Some geochemical considerations may give alternate explanations for the general sequence of lower rock layers dating older than the upper layers: 1) fractionation and zonation in the magma chamber; 2) crustal material being incorporated into the magma as it moves; 3) isochrons not validating the ages, but instead being mixing lines; and 4) the amount of argon escape in submarine volcanic rock being dependent on the hydrostatic pressure.
    Those who feel the Scriptures require that the matter of the earth and universe is young¹⁴ use evidence such as: a change in the fundamental constants of nature including the decay rates, a decay in the speed of light, pleochroic halos for polonium, a small depth of meteor dust on the moon, extra-terrestrial effects (e.g., cosmic rays),¹⁵ and quantum mechanical effects (e.g., the uncertainty principle).

Scripture Reinterpretation

    Various theories have been suggested to harmonize the short ages of Scripture with the long scientific ages, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
    Universe young. This model is the simplest to defend theologically, due to almost complete lack of contrary evidence in Scripture. However, it fits poorly with most of the scientific evidence.
    Universe old, but Earth and solar system young. This model helps scientifically in explaining distant astrophysical phenomena, and some Scriptures can be taken to suggest the existence of other beings before the creation of this world. This model could accept long ages for stellar evolution; however, it arbitrarily states that the star in our solar system (Earth's sun) was a fiat creation.
    Matter of Earth and solar system old, but life on Earth young. This model suggests a pre-existing earth and solar system, so the creation in Genesis 1 includes only the atmosphere (firmament or heavens) and the dry land (earth). As noted above, this model may help significantly with the radiometric data. However, Genesis places the sun "in the firmament of the heavens". The Genesis account demonstrates that Yahweh is greater than the nature gods, including the sun. Leaving the sun's creation out of the fourth day easily leads to leaving other creative activity out of creation week. And arguing that rocks with little life (Precambrian) are old and those with much life (Phanerozoic) are young is somewhat inconsistent scientifically, because they are geologically similar in many ways.
    Life on Earth old, but then destroyed and the present life recently recreated. In this model, the fossil record is due to an old creation destroyed before the Genesis record, and Noah's flood is local. Although this puts death in the fossil record before Adam's sin, it can still be placed after the devil's sin and be the result of his experimentation.¹⁶ However, the Bible assumes that animal death is the result of Adam's sin, and that Noah's flood was world-wide. Migration would have been easier than an ark to save life from a local flood; and many local floods have occurred, invalidating God's promise not to destroy the earth again if Noah's flood was only local. An interesting variation on this model includes relativistic effects.¹⁷
    Present life was progressively developed by God over long periods, but God is still the Creator. Progressive creation and theistic evolution accept the standard scientific interpretation of long ages for the geologic data, but still hold God as Creator and/or Designer. However, it removes the literalness of Genesis 1-11 attested by other Bible authors, and it accepts death before sin.

Conclusion

    Any of the proposed resolutions to the conflict has significant problems. The pros and cons for each need to be considered, since one can be more objective when considering several options. With the chance of erring in developing an earth history model, I prefer caution — biblical certainty and scientific uncertainty, over scientific certainty and biblical uncertainty. Some confirmation for belief from the physical world should be expected, but it is unlikely to be overwhelming, considering the difficulty of analyzing God's activity scientifically.
    Insight from Job's response to God's questions (Job 40:4,5; 42:2,3) reminds me that much about time will never be known until we reach heaven. On this earth, continued study and the willingness to change one's opinion are necessary. However, for me there are two non-negotiable points: any origins model that misrepresents God's character or that puts man's reason above God's revelation is unacceptable.

ENDNOTES

1. Ross H. 1996. Beyond the cosmos: the extra-dimensionality of God: what recent discoveries in astronomy and physics reveal about the nature of God. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
2. Davies P. 1995. About time: Einstein's unfinished revolution. NY: Simon and Schuster.
3. Thorne KS. 1994. Black holes and time warps: Einstein's outrageous legacy. NY: W.W. Norton.
4. Smith CW, Wise MN. 1989. Energy and empire: a biographical study of Lord Kelvin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. See p 317, 331, 332, 501.
5. Jastrow R. 1978. God and the astronomers. NY: W.W. Norton. See p 28, 48, 111-116.
6. Burchfield JD. 1990. Lord Kelvin and the age of the Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
7. Webster CL. 1990. The implications of the Oklo Phenomenon on the constancy of radiometric decay rates. Origins 17:86-92.
8. Baldwin JT. 1991. Progressive creation and biblical revelation: some theological implications. Origins 18:53-65; cf: Isaac R. 1996. Chronology of the fall. Perspectives on Science and the Christian Faith 48 (March):34-42.
9. Hasel GF. 1994. The 'days' of creation in Genesis 1: literal 'days' or figurative 'periods/epochs' of time? Origins 21:5-38.
10. Brown RH. 1988. The upper limit of C-14 age? Origins 15:39-43.
11. Roth AA. 1986. Some questions about geochronology. Origins 13:64-85.
12. Roth AA. 1988. Those gaps in the sedimentary layers. Origins 15:75-92.
13. Brown RH. 1991. Fresh bread; old fossils. Origins 18:89-92.
14. Brown WT, Jr. 1989. In the beginning.... 5th ed. Phoenix, AZ: Center for Scientific Creation.
15. Cook MA. 1993. Scientific prehistory. Bountiful, UT: Family History Publishers.
16. Chartier G. 1985. Jack Provonsha on fundamentalist geology: 'more needs to be said.' La Sierra Criterion 57 (8 November):1,4,8.
17. Rowland SC. 1992. An 'Impossible' Model. Newsletter of the Association of Adventist Physicists 22(1):6-7.

EDITOR'S ANGLE

    This issue of Geoscience Reports ends our series on radiometric dating. We realize that there are still many unanswered questions; however, we hope these articles have given our readers some insights into the approaches that have been taken by our scientists with respect to the time issue. We know our explanations are inadequate but our faith in the biblical account of earth history has not been shaken. Frequent references to geologic ages in the scientific literature do not validate their interpretations! We believe there is a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy between the biblical record and the views held by the scientific community. We do not know how or when these positions will be resolved but we are confident that God=s Word will be vindicated.
    Our young people need to know just how challenging the radiometric time frame is. The concepts and techniques used to determine radiometric dates should work. Awareness of this fact may discourage some students with respect to our beliefs. Some may even conclude that our faith is foolish. However, we believe our approach to science contributes significantly to its advance. Our work challenges the time frame constructed by the scientific community for earth=s history. Our assumptions raise questions that secular scientists do not ask. Our perspective is unique among scientists; consequently, the controversies serve to inspire research — and this is good science.

SCATTERED SCIENCE NOTES

Biology

McKay, D.S., Gibson, E.K., Thomas-Keptra, K.L., Vali, H., Romanek, C.S., Clemett, S.J., Chillier, X.D.F., Maechling, C.R., Zare, R.N. 1996. Search for past life on Mars: possible relic biogenic activity in Martian meteorite ALH84001: Science 273:924-930.

    Carbonate globules are described from fresh fracture surfaces of a meteorite discovered in Antarctica and believed to have orginated on Mars. The carbonate globules resemble those produced by some terrestrial bacteria, and are accompanied by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These observations are explained by the proposal that bacteria-like organisms once lived on Mars.
    Comment: This is an extraordinary claim, and has evoked a great deal of discussion (e.g., Nature 382:575-577; Scientific American 275(4):20-22; see also GRI web site). The mineral signature of the rock is consistent with a Martian origin. Many other meteorites have been found in Antarctica; a task presumably made easier because of its ice sheet. It seems plausible that meteorites might be produced by impacts of asteroids or comets. In summary, it is plausible that the rock is of Martian origin, although one might wonder whether some large asteroids might have similar minerals. There is room for considerable skepticism, however, about the biogenic origin of the carbonate globules. The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may not mean much--they are common in interplanetary dust particles, interstellar dust, and some meteorites. The carbonate globules are said to be 100 times smaller than the smallest ancient fossil bacteria found on Earth. Some scientists have postulated that Mars might have received bacteria from Earth by a similar mechanism. However, it is difficult to imagine how bacteria could survive the conditions required for such an event. Unless more persuasive evidence can be found, the identification of the carbonate globules as evidence for life on Mars should be viewed with skepticism. Contamination and an inorganic origin are also plausible explanations for the globules.

Paleoanthropology

Thieme, H. 1997. Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385:807-810.

    Researchers recovered over 10,000 fossil fragments, three throwing spears, and other miscellaneous worked flints from a brown-coal mine east of Hannover, Germany. The unit containing the fossils and artifacts is underlain by the Elsterian and overlain by the Saalian glaciations. Timing for the deposit as constrained by these glacial deposits, pollen and microfossil ages is estimated at 400 kyr. Horses dominate the faunal remains but other mammals include elephant, rhino, red deer, bear, and small mammals such as the vole and a beaver-like organism. Many of the bones had cut marks, indicating the animals were butchered. Birds, fish, reptiles, molluscs, vegetation and pollen were also identified. The three throwing spears are about 2 m long, made of spruce and resemble modern javelins, i.e. they are thicker and heavier toward the front of the spear.
    Comment: This find implies that hominids (archaic Homo sapiens? Neanderthals? Erectines?) were actively engaged in big game hunting and used weapons that required time and skill to construct in order to properly balance the spear for throwing. The society was probably nomadic and not restricted to scavenging for food and clothing.

Paleontology

Hubert, J.F., Panish, P.T., Chure, D.J. and Prostak, K.S. 1996. Chemistry, microstructure, petrology, and diagenetic model of Jurassic dinosaur bones, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah: Journal of Sedimentary Research 66:531-547.

    Researchers recovered from the Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah the tissue of 14 dinosaur bones that had been transformed to francolite crystals. The process that altered the tissue preserved micron-scale structures giving some of the material a fresh and unaltered appearance. The researchers suggested that the bones were shallowly buried and that crystallization took place as bacteria decayed the collagen. They believe that oxygen isotope ratios used to determine the body temperature of the dinosaurs may actually be measuring groundwater temperatures. In addition they concluded that the trace element concentrations in the francolite may also reflect groundwater conditions rather than the diet of the dinosaurs.
    Comment: One important question that was not clearly answered in this paper is the rate of fossilization. The authors cited instances where collagen had remained in bones for hundreds and even thousands of years. A comparison of preservation conditions as well as the methods used to date the bone material would be helpful. It is clear from the paper that conclusions drawn from elemental analyses are suspect.

GEOSCIENCE NEWS

1996 European Tour

    GRI staff scientists, including European Branch Director, Jacques Sauvagnat, conducted a field conference in the Austrian and Swiss Alps August 12-21. Thirty-five church leaders from the world field began their tour in Salzburg, Austria. Participants were introduced to the complex geology of the Alps and attended a series of lectures on earth history. Highlights of the trip included the tour of a salt mine near Salzburg, reef structures at Lake Gosau, Austria, the contact of the Glarus overthrust in Switzerland, and a classic turbidite sequence at Le Sépey, Switzerland. Breath-taking views of various nappes and klippen, gave rise to lectures and discussions of overthrusting and gravity sliding events that occurred during large-scale plate tectonic movement in the region.

1996 BRISCO Meeting

    Abstracts for the BRISCO meeting (Oct 11-14) held at Union College in Nebraska are available from Ben Clausen at the GRI.
    The Cenozoic Geologic Period was the theme for the 1996 meeting, and the well-attended pre-session field trip was conducted at the Ashfall Fossil Beds north of Royal, Nebraska. The Ashfall site is famous for the articulated skeletons of numerous mammals, most notably, rhinos and horses. For information on this locality, contact Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, P.O. Box 66, Royal, NE 68773 or call (402) 893-2000.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ROCKS MELT?

Elaine G. Kennedy
Geoscience Research Institute

Geoscience Reports 22:8 (Spring 1997).

    According to plate tectonic theory, continental crust overrides oceanic crust when these plates collide, because the continental crust is less dense than the ocean floor. As the ocean floor sinks, it encounters increasing pressures and temperatures within the crust. Ultimately, the pressures and temperatures are so high that the rocks in the subducted oceanic crust melt. Once the rocks melt, a plume of molten material begins to rise in the crust (see figure). As the plume rises it melts and incorporates other crustal rocks. This rising body of magma is an open system with respect to the surrounding crustal rocks.¹ Convection currents stir the magma. Volatiles (e.g., water vapor and carbon dioxide) increase the pressure within the magma chamber and contribute to the mixing of the system.
    It is possible that these physical processes have an impact on the determined radiometric age of the rock as it cools and crystallizes. Time is not a direct measurement. The actual data are the ratios of parent and daughter isotopes present in the sample. Time is one of the values that can be determined from the slope of the line representing the distribution of the isotopes. Isotope distributions are determined by the chemical and physical factors governing a given magma chamber.
    Contamination and fractionation issues are frankly acknowledged by the geologic community.² For example, if a magma chamber does not have homogeneously mixed isotopes, lighter daughter products could accumulate in the upper portion of the chamber. If this occurs, initial volcanic eruptions would have a preponderance of daughter products relative to the parent isotopes. Such a distribution would give the appearance of age. As the magma chamber is depleted in daughter products, subsequent lava flows and ash beds would have younger dates.
    Such a scenario does not answer all of the questions or solve all of the problems that radiometric dating poses for those who believe the Genesis account of Creation and the Flood. It does suggest at least one aspect of the problem that could be researched more thoroughly.

Continental plate overriding the subducting oceanic plate. (Diagram modified from Dickinson 1977)

ENDNOTES

1. Davis GH, Reynolds SJ. 1996. Structural geology of rocks and regions. 2nd ed. NY: John Wiley & Sons, p 564-617.
2. Faure G. 1986. Principles of isotope geology. NY: John Wiley & Sons. 589p.

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GEOSCIENCE REPORTS

Summer 1997, No. 24

SPECIAL ISSUE

CATASTROPHISM IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST:
A GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE FIELD GUIDE
Harold G. Coffin, Senior Research Scientist (retired)
Elaine G. Kennedy, Geoscience Research Institute

FIGURE. Stumps and logs strewn by the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption can still be seen along the banks of the Toutle River.

FIELD GUIDE

• Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake - Harold G Coffin, Senior Research Scientist, Retired
• Yakima to Grand Coulee - Elaine G. Kennedy, Geoscience Research Institute
• Ripples in Markel Pass
• Fossil "Forests" in Yellowstone National Park
• Fossil "Forests" on Mount Hornaday
• Cathedral Cliffs & Bear Tooth Range

MOUNT ST. HELENS

Location: Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, southwestern Washington. The Monument may be reached from I-5 on the west or Highway 12 on the north.

    On May 18, 1980, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake preceded the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The eruption removed over 400 meters from the top of the mountain. The hot, ash-filled gases blasted northward and the effects were devastating. Over 60 people and thousands of animals were killed. Millions of trees, over an estimated 620 km², were blown down. Most of the remaining upright trees within the blow-down region are dead with the exception of a few surviving stands in sheltered areas.¹ Snow and ice (melted during the eruption) and concurrent heavy rainfall flooded both forks of the Toutle River with mud that destroyed lumber camps and bridges.
    Studies along the north fork of the Toutle River indicate that rocks, mud and fluids (debris flow) traveled at about 145 km/hr over a 24 km distance.² The contact between the debris flow and the underlying sediments suggests that the flow was lubricated by a layer of hot gases. In addition, the debris flow transported tree stumps in an upright position.³ The stumps can be seen scattered along the mudflats and gravel bars of the north fork. One stump, 2 m in diameter and 14 m tall, is located near the toe (distal portion) of the flow. Transport of such a large stump is typical of the high energy system associated with the eruptive processes.

Discussion: The catastrophic effects of the eruption of Mount St. Helens provide a modern analog for similar features observed in other volcanic deposits and preserved in the geologic record. Specifically, the effects noted at Mount St. Helens can be compared to the record of volcanism and destruction of fossil forests at several localities in Yellowstone National Park.

SPIRIT LAKE

Location: South from Randle, Washington, walk trail from main road within Monument to the lake.

    The eruption of Mount St. Helens caused the water level in Spirit Lake to oscillate. The violent changes in the water level eroded the lower slopes around Spirit Lake and stripped them of their trees and soil. Debris on the lake contained logs floating both horizontally and vertically. Many of the upright stumps had roots that were lightly grounded in the shallow water of the lake. Other trees were free-floating, vertically in the water column. Sonar transects covering <1% of the lake bottom revealed 154 upright stumps and 95 logs lying horizontally on the lake floor.⁴

Discussion: Floating stumps in Spirit Lake and the transported stumps along the Toutle River occurred as the result of a volcanic eruption. However, both mechanisms could occur during any catastrophe having sufficient water energy to erode and transport trees.
    The processes involved here at Spirit Lake may be comparable to the processes responsible for the deposition of the petrified, upright stumps found in outcrop at Yellowstone National Park. Similarities in orientation and distribution of the trees are difficult to establish due to the limited outcrops in Yellowstone; however, physical attributes can be compared, e.g., condition of the root balls as well as that of bark and limbs.

Conclusions from Mount St. Helens

    The events that occurred at Mount St. Helens provide a modern analog for the erosion, transport and deposition of the petrified stumps in Yellowstone. The primary feature used to identify in situ fossil "forests" in Yellowstone National Park is the presence of upright stumps. Transport of upright stumps by two mechanisms (mud flows along the Toutle River; erosion due to rise in lake level) has been documented at Mount St. Helens. These models have important implications with regard to the time required for the deposition and preservation of the stumps. Furthermore, the energy and devastation associated with this catastrophe has occurred on a rather small scale when compared with similar events in the geologic record. Such local catastrophes provide small glimpses of the processes involved in the much larger devastation of our earth during the worldwide flood recorded in Genesis. These events should inspire Christians to review their concepts of the Noahic flood in terms of its complexity and fluctuating energy levels during and after the flood year.

COLUMBIA RIVER BASALTS

Location: Numerous roadside deposits of Columbia River Basalts occur across the State of Washington. Basalt pillows in palagonite are located on Hwy 26, 1.2 mi from 1-90 exit 137. Pull-off on right.

    Multiple, horizontal layers of dark rocks (lavas/basalts) are exposed in outcrop across the State of Washington. These layers are referred to as the Columbia River [Flood] Basalt Group and cover an area of about 200,000 km² (refer to Figure 1 on p 10 of this issue).⁵ K-Ar and Ar-Ar radiometric dating methods have been used to estimate the age and time required to deposit the basalt flows (Figure 2; p 11 of this issue), i.e., 17.5-6 million years BP.⁶ (This time frame is not endorsed by GRI.)

Discussion: These extensive lava flows may not have required 11 million years for their distribution. Many of the layers within these deposits have similar trace element geochemistry and could be reevaluated with regard to the amount of time allowed between eruptions. In addition, the Ellensburg Formation (river deposits) occurs both within and above the Columbia River Basalt Group.⁷ This relationship suggests more rapid depositional processes since the source material for these sedimentary deposits remained relatively similar throughout the period of deposition of the flood basalts. The absence of erosion between most of the layers also suggests that no significant time elapsed between flows. Volcaniclastics from the Cascade Range incorporated into the Ellensburg formation could also be examined geochemically for clues to the timing of the deposition.

COLUMNAR BASALT

Location: From Vantage, Washington, take I-90 east (7.6 mi) to Exit 143 Silica Road and drive (0.8 mi) to Vantage Road highway, turn left. Drive to basalt columns (1.2 mi).

    Basalt may exhibit structures called columnar jointing. As the molten lava cools (solidifying at about 1000°C) and contracts, prismatic "columns" form along parallel fractures or joints. The cross-section of each of these columns has the shape of a polygon. The columns may be 4,5 or 6-sided within the same layer. Concave cross-joints or horizontal fractures are also common.⁸ Such structures may form subaqueously in welded tuffs.⁹ It has also been suggested that narrow columns represent rapid cooling times.¹⁰ In addition, the entablature structures that commonly overlie the columnar joints in the same basalt flow, are generated by contact with a large influx of water implying that waters flooded over the top of the lava.¹¹

Discussion: Time is required for the cooling of the lavas, deposition of sands and gravels in some instances, and flow of each lava bed. Time required for these deposits has been measured in millions of years according to the radiometric dates. This time frame is not acceptable to the Creationist community. The actual processes could have occurred over a period of months during the waning stages of the Noahic Flood or over a period of years and even hundreds of years after the Flood.

BOULDER

Location: From Ephrata drive east on Hwy 282, turn north (left) onto Hwy 17. From Jct. 282/17 drive 3.9 mi to Hatchery Road (gravel) and turn right. Stop beside big rock on left (0.7 mi).

    Some have postulated that this boulder represents an ice rafted glacial erratic. However, glacial erratics mark the distal position of the Okanagan Lobe of the ice sheet from British Columbia that extended to about 8 km west of the Dry Falls State Park. So that scenario is unlikely. Others think this boulder, with an estimated weight of 1000 tons, rolled at least 15 km south from the mouth of Lower Grand Coulee to this locality during one of the Missoula floods. In support of this position, note the evidence of current scour (water erosion) around the rock and especially on the lee side of the rock.

Discussion: This boulder was eroded, rounded and transported by a regional flood. The Missoula Floods are almost insignificant when compared to the catastrophe described in Genesis. Mass transport during the Noahic flood is probably responsible for the megabreccias containing much larger boulders that are found in the geologic record.¹²

SITE OF RHINOCEROS MOLD

Location: Drive north from the town of Soap Lake to Park Lake Road (13.7 mi) and turn right. Drive to Laurents Resort (0.6 mi) and park. Rhino mold may be reached by renting row boats or hiking the trail back of the resort.

    At Blue Lake there is a mold of a rhinoceros in the lower portion of one of the basalt layers. Apparently, the carcass of a rhino was lying on a thin deposit of the Ellensburg Formation and it was covered by the Wanapum Basalts in the Grande Ronde lavas (Figure 2). After the region was eroded, caves were discovered in the lava flows. In one cave were the bones of a rhino. The contours of the interior of the cave, revealed the body shape, the front legs, head and even the horns on the head of the rhino.

Discussion: The presence of the sand and gravel deposits from the Ellensburg Formation between two lava flows with the entombed rhino indicates the passage of time during the deposition of the Columbia River Basalt Group. After the lower basalt layer was deposited, sands and silts accumulated across the lava flow. Whether the rhino died at this location or died elsewhere, bloated and then floated to this locality, is not known. It is clear that some time passed (hours, months, years?) between the lava flow that underlies this formation and the deposition of the next (overlying) flow that buried the rhino.

DRY FALLS

Location: Viewpoint is on U.S.Hwy 2 opposite the Jct. with Hwy 17 north.

    More than 40 cataclysmic floods are believed to be responsible for the erosion of the scablands of eastern Washington. The waters for these floods came from glacial lakes in western Montana. The initial and largest flood event occurred when the ice dam blocking the Clark Fork River failed. This rupture resulted in the emptying of Lake Missoula. It is this cataclysmic event that is thought to be responsible for the maximum erosion in the region. Subsequent floods from ice dam failures, each somewhat smaller than the previous one, continued to contribute erosional and depositional features. Dry Falls, within the Grand Coulee, must have been a gigantic cataract as the waters raged across this region. The Falls extend 5-6 km in width with a drop of more than 100 meters. Plunge pools can be seen at the base of the Falls.¹³ Maximum rate of water flow across this region has been estimated at 40 km³ per hour.¹⁴

Discussion: The erosive power of waters draining across the land during a regional flood (for which we see considerable evidence in eastern Washington) should be carefully considered as we look at evidence and criteria that may support our belief in the occurrence of the worldwide flood recorded in Genesis. Large-scale erosion would be expected as flood waters drained from the continents into the new, post-flood oceans. One region that merits consideration in this context is the canyons in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

GIANT RIPPLE MARKS

Location: From Interstate 90 at St. Regis, Montana, Location: From Interstate 90 at St. Regis, Montana, take Hwy 135 east to Markle Pass. The Giant ripple marks are on the south side of the Pass.

    Markle Pass, near the mouth of the Clark Fork River, is the starting point for the numerous features (gravel bars, scour, erratics, falls and coulees) created by the flood events that extended westward across the states of Idaho and Washington. Blocked by an ice dam, glacial Lake Missoula extended from this pass eastward. Each time the ice dam ruptured, glacial waters gushed through this pass at a rate of 400 million ft³ per second (c.f.s.). [The Amazon's rate of flow is 6 million c.f.s.]¹⁵ The time required to empty Lake Missoula has been estimated at 2 days.¹⁶ The gravel ridges south of Markle Pass are actually giant ripple marks created as water (at least 260 m deep) poured across the gap. Water depth and rate of flow were estimated from the size of the ripples. The ripples are 10 m high and extend about 115 m from crest to crest. Some of the ripples are more than 3 km in length.¹⁷

Discussion: It was difficult for researchers to establish the gravel ridges south of Markle Pass as ripple marks. Such gigantic features were unknown prior to this work and it was difficult for workers to mentally visualize such large-scale ripple structure. Due to the physical extent of these structures, an aerial view provides the most convincing argument for their identification as ripple marks. Since the Missoula Flood events were small-scale when compared to the Genesis flood account, such observations should encourage us to expand our thinking relative to that universal flood.

Conclusions from the Scablands of Washington

    The effects of the series of Missoula Floods on the surface topography of the Scablands of eastern Washington provide insight into the nature of regional, catastrophic erosion (primarily) and deposition. Erosional features such as the coulees and dry falls may be comparable to the erosional plateaus and mesa of southeastern Utah. Final stages of regional drainage during the drying phase of the Noahic flood may have generated numerous large-scale features as yet unrecognized as such.
    Some Tertiary lakes may have been created as flood waters were trapped in basins during the final flood stages. After the flood as these lakes dried up over a period of years, similar phases may be compared from the rock record, i.e., increased salinity and dessication features. A variety of organisms may have begun the process of repopulating the region and subsequent regional catastrophes may have buried the organisms in the highly mineralized waters of some of these Tertiary lakes, leaving a post-flood record.
    It is important but difficult to develop criteria for identifying various stages of the Noahic flood. It is equally important and perhaps more difficult to define the criteria marking the end of the flood in the rock record. Large-scale erosional features indicative of multi-regional drainage may provide one type of criteria that would be useful for identifying the waning stages of the worldwide flood.

SPECIMEN CREEK: FOSSIL "FORESTS"

Location: From the junction of Hwys 287 and 191 drive north 16.6 miles to Specimen Creek, cross the creek and turn right into the Specimen Creek parking area. Park and hike with guide.

The presence of upright, petrified stumps in a vertical sequence of volcanic, debris flow deposits (lahars) in Yellowstone National Park have been used as evidence for the in situ development of a series of forests.¹⁸ Thin layers of silt, sand and minor clays containing leaves, seeds, and other plant fragments were thought to be primitive soils.¹⁹ Researchers had concluded that each forest had been destroyed by some natural disaster, buried and then new forest had grown on top of the old forest. In the Specimen Creek area 48 levels of trees have been identified (Coffin, pers. com.).

Discussion: Research conducted by numerous Seventh-day Adventist scientists in recent years has provided a growing list of evidence to support a model for transport and deposition of petrified wood and stumps in Yellowstone National Park.²⁰ In addition, the documentation at Spirit Lake of upright stumps transported during catastrophic volcanic activity has provided a modern analog for the alternative interpretation posed by these scientists. Research in the petrified forests of Yellowstone has demonstrated that creation science can significantly contribute to scientific studies and enhance our understanding of earth history.

MOUNT HORNADAY: FOSSIL "FORESTS"

Location: West 12 miles from Silver Gate on Hwy 212 to Pebble Creek Campground. Park and hike with guide.

Mount Hornaday is on the eastern side of Yellowstone National Park, more than 70 km from the Specimen Creek site located in the northwest comer of the Park. The mountain lies northeast of additional deposits of petrified "forests" at Specimen Ridge and Amethyst Mountain and east of the deposits in the Tom Miner Basin. Working conditions are more rugged at this locality. The layers and features that can be seen here are very similar to the deposits at Specimen Creek.

Discussion: Areal extent of the fossil "forest" deposits is approximately 2,000 km². Distribution of wood from multiple environments over a broad area is difficult to model. Recent research suggests that multiple volcanic sources contributed material to the intercalated ash beds within the debris flows (Webster, pers. com.). Eruption events probably triggered the movement of these massive flows through ecologically diverse forests. Plant material was uprooted, transported, deposited and rapidly silicified so that structure was preserved on the cellular level. This regional catastrophe was a small-scale event when compared to the Genesis flood. However, the diversity of the plants suggests to some that this deposit may have required large-scale transport. If so, it could have occurred in the latter stages of the flood.

CATHEDRAL CLIFFS

Location: From Jct of 212, drive east on Hwy 298, turnout on right.

    At Cathedral Cliffs the basal Bighorn Dolomite (Ordovician) is overlain by the Jefferson (dolomite, Devonian) and Three Forks (shale, Devonian) Formations and capped by Tertiary volcanics. Structures that appear to be dark spaces in the cliffs are actually intruded, dark volcanic rocks (mafic dikes). The Heart Mountain thrust fault lies at the top of the Grove Creek Formation (Cambrian) and is best identified by the abrupt termination of the dikes at the base of the Bighorn Dolomite. The underlying Cambrian deposits include (from the base) Flathead and Gros Ventre Formations, the Pilgrim Limestone and Snowy Range Formation. Basement consists of granitic pre-Cambrian rocks. To the east the fault plane crosses the section and Paleozoic rocks of Heart Mountain overlie the Willwood Formation (Eocene).²¹

Discussion: Two models have been proposed to explain the distribution of these Paleozoics. The tectonic denudation model employs a series of catastrophic events to account for the distribution of the blocks: detachment, sliding and post-depositional volcanism; whereas the continuous allochthon model relies on gravity driven extension of the region. Recent research indicates that volcanic gases may have catastrophically contributed to the spreading process.²²

Conclusions from Yellowstone

    The regional catastrophism associated with the Yellowstone fossil "forests" and the catastrophe linked to the Heart Mountain detachment fault indicate that some rethinking with respect to the magnitude of such events needs to be done. The displacement of the trees in the lahars and the nearly lateral displacement of the slide blocks over such broad areas in a very brief amount of time suggest a powerful triggering event. It should be reasonable to assume that other volcanic events throughout the geologic record would have equally widespread effects.
    Due to the complexity and magnitude of a worldwide flood, scientific models are needed to test ideas. Research conducted on regional catastrophes may be applicable to Noahic flood models. However, such research cannot prove that a worldwide flood has ever occurred.

ENDNOTES

1. Christiansen RL, Peterson DW. 1981. Chronology of the 1980 eruptive activity. In: Lipman PW, Mullineaux DR, editors. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington. US Geological Society Professional Paper 1250:17-30.
2. (a) Ibid, p 23; (b) Voight B, et al. 1981. Catastrophic rockslide avalanche May 18. In: Lipman and Mullineaux, p 347-377.
3. Fritz WJ. 1980. Stumps transported and deposited upright by Mount St. Helens mud flows. Geology 8:586-588.
4. Coffin HG. 1983. Erect floating stumps in Spirit Lake, Washington. Geology 11:298-299.
5. Rampino MR, Stothers RB. 1988. Flood basalt volcanism during the past 250 million years. Science 241:663-668.
6. Swanson DA. 1989. Cenozoic volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon. 28th International Geological Congress, American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106.
7. Reidel SP, Lindsey KA, Fecht KR. 1992. Field trip guide to the Hanford Site. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, Washington, p 50.
8. Bates RL, Jackson JA. 1990. Glossary of geology, 3rd ed. Alexandria VA: American Geological Institute, p 133. See also: Billings MR 1972. Structural geology, 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs NY. Prentice-Hall, Inc., p 172.
9. Fritz WJ, Stillman CJ. 1996. A subaqueous welded tuff from the Ordovician of County Waterford, Ireland. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 70:91-106.
10. Grossenbacher KA, McDuffie SM. 1995. Conductive cooling of lava; columnar joint diameter and stria width as functions of cooling rate and thermal gradient. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 69:95-103.
11. Long PE, Wood BJ. 1986. Structures, textures and cooling histories of Columbia River basalt flows. Geological Society of America Bulletin 97:1144-1155.
12. Chadwick AV. 1978. Megabreccias: evidence for catastrophism. Origins 5(1):39-46.
13. Orr EL, Orr WN. 1996. Geology of the Pacific Northwest. NY: McGraw-Hill, Co. 409 p.
14. Weis PL, Newman WL. 1989. The channeled scablands of eastern Washington. Cheney, WA: Eastern Washington University Press. 23 p.
15. Ibid., p14.
16. Orr and Orr, p 304.
17. Weis and Newman, p 15.
18. Dorf E. 1960. Tertiary fossil forests of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Billings Geological Society, 11th Annual Field Conference Guidebook, p 253-259.
19. Yuretich R. 1984. Yellowstone fossils forests; new evidence for burial in place. Geology 12:159-162.
20. (a) Coffin HG. 1979. The organic levels of the Yellowstone petrified forests. Origins 6(2):71-82; (b) Coffin, HG. 1976. Orientation of trees in the Yellowstone petrified forests. Journal of Paleontology 50:539-543; (c) Fisk LH. 1974. Inverse grading as stratigraphic evidence of large floods. Geology 2:613-615; (d) Arct MJ. 1991. Ph.D. dissertation, Loma Linda University; Aguirre, M. 1980. M.S.thesis, Loma Linda University; (e) Fisk LH. 1976. Ph.D. dissertation, Loma Linda University, 1976. Also (previously associated with SDA institutions): (f) Fritz W. 1982. Geology of the Lamar River Formation, NE Yellowstone National Park. In: Reid SIG, Foote SG, editors. Geology of Yellowstone Park area. Wyoming Geological Association, 33rd Annual Field Conference, Casper, p 73-101; and (g) (non-SDA student) DeBord PL. 1977. Ph.D. dissertation, Loma Linda University.
21. (a) Pierce WG. 1957. Heart Mountain and South Fork detachment thrusts of Wyoming. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 41:591-623; (b) Hauge TA. 1990. Kinematic model of a continuous Heart Mountain allochthon. Geological Society of America Bulletin 102:1174-1188.
22. Beutner EC, Craven AE. 1996. Volcanic fluidization and the Heart Mountain detachment, Wyoming. Geology 24:595-598.

Figure 1. Extent of the Columbia River Flood Basalt Group. Black box identifies the region of the fissures supplying source material for the flood basalts. Modified from Reidel and Tolan 1992.

COLUMBIA  RIVER  BASALT  GROUP