CHAPTER 4 –
Marks on the Earth
When talking about dating
methods, the radioactive measurements are often mentioned first, although they
give very indefinite results, as shown above. When trying to determine the age
of something, they are almost always mentioned first.
However, there are many other methods, that is, methods based on practical
observations in nature whose results are usually only fractions of the ages
given by radioactive measurements. These methods based on practical observations
were used for a long time before radioactive measuring, but they were rejected
very soon after the new methods appeared. It was a great mistake, because most
of the methods were based on practical observations.
Furthermore, it is notable, if we use these methods as a yardstick that they
give only fractional parts compared with the ages given by the geological time
chart and many radioactive methods. In other words, it must be taken away
billions or hundreds of millions of years so that the geological time chart
would be consistent with these methods:
Arthur
Holmes (1896–1965) dealt with dating of different periods of the history of the
Earth, and for the largest part of his life, he worked with this problem. In
addition to this, he had time to write an excellent textbook of geology. It was
Holmes who made the first age tables for the various geological periods. As the
radioactive measurements came into being, rocks started to grow old very
quickly. All the other dating methods were quickly rejected, even though
several new problems arose, such as the question of where sodium disappeared,
since it had been driven into the sea over period of billions of years, and the
sea – according to Joly – should have reached its present salinity in 90
million years. (Nils Edelman, Viisaita ja veijareita geologian
maailmassa, p. 218)
THE accumulation of
sediments, THE flow of minerals into sea and THE speed of erosion
As comes to other dating
methods in addition to the radioactive methods, the accumulation of sediments,
the flow of minerals into the sea, and the speed of erosion is other ways to
measure the flow of time. All of these methods are based on the current
accumulation and erosion speeds in observed areas. In them, it is so used that
principle made known by Charles Lyell that the present time is the key to the
past. These methods give also quite young ages, and the results below have been
obtained, for example. If the speeds have formerly been larger due to
catastrophes (the Flood?), for example, they will shorten these periods of time
even more:
The accumulation of sediments onto river deltas
is one way to measure time. It is based on knowing the total number of deltas
and dividing it by the current annual accumulation speed: the result will be
the age of the delta.
By applying this method, the age of deltas
has varied only from a few thousands of years to about 13–14 million years. For
example, the Mississippi delta, to which the Mississippi River annually brings
about 230 million cubic meters of sediment, has been calculated to be only
4,000 years old. (Wysong, R. L., The Creation-Evolution Controversy, p.
163). However, if the transportation speed has formerly been higher, it will
naturally shorten these periods of time even more. The next quote indicates how
quickly the layers can be formed and how many samples have been estimated as
older than they really are. It is unlikely that the same processes would have continued
for millions or billions of years:
An example of how huge mistakes can be made in
estimating the accumulation speed of sediments is the following case: remains of
an Indian were found close to New Orleans from the layers of the Mississippi
Delta, and Dr. B. Dowler estimated the remains to be 57,000 years old. After a
while, from the layers of the same delta and even deeper, in Fort Jackson, a
piece of a tree was found and proven to originate from a Kentucky river boat.
Because of this, 57,000 years were reduced to 200 years at most. Dr. Dowler had
estimated the accumulation speed of sediment in this delta as much slower than
it actually had been. If the mistakes as comes to the accumulation speed of
sediment are generally so huge, the estimates presented by us concerning the age
of continental banks and oceans are more than 100 times too high. (20)
The flow of minerals into the
seas has showed the oceans to be only 100– 260,000,000 years old. (Dudley J.
Whitney: The face of the Deep [New York, Vantage Press 1955] / Chemical
Oceanography . Es, by J.P. Riley and G. Skirrow [New York Academic Press,
Vol. 1, 1965] p. 164. See also Harold Camping, "Let the Oceans
Speak", Creation Research Society Quarterly, Vol. 11, [June, 1974],
pp. 39-45). It means that we must
take away from the geological time chart at least 4 billions years so that it
would be consistent with these methods. The calculations have included such
elements as sodium, nickel, magnesium, silicon, potassium, copper, gold, silver,
mercury, lead, tin, aluminium, and many other agents, so the results have been
getting through several elements.
As moving of these minerals and their current speed has been measured and when
the current mineral content in the seas is known, the result has been a time
that is many times less than the generally presented age of the oceans. Here
too, the flow and the fact that the flow could have been stronger in the past,
have not been taken into consideration – the flow may have been stronger, for
example, because of the Flood mentioned in the Bible – and that some of the
minerals may have already been in the oceans in the beginning.
The speed of erosion. A problem being
connected with long periods is erosion. The continents cannot be billions of
years old, because otherwise they would have worn away already long time ago.
If we use the current erosion and weathering speeds as our
basis, we would come to the conclusion that all the continents will be washed
away into the oceans in about 14 million years. For example, on the
European Alps, the surface of the Earth is estimated to wear away and be
lowered by approximately one meter in 1,500–4,000 years (Charles Schuchert, Geochronology,
or the Age of the Earth on Grounds of Sediments and Life). The mountains
should have already been worn away several times, if they were tens or hundreds
of millions of years old:
With the present erosion
speed, all the present continents or at least the sedimentary rocks would be
washed away into the oceans as sand in approximately 14 million years. The
rivers of the Earth will take approximately 40 billion cubic meters of water
into the oceans in a year. At the same time, a part of each continent flows into
the sea: 15–20 billion tons as solid matter and approximately four billion tons
dissolved. The erosion speed is so high that North America, for example, would
erode away in 10 million years (Creation ex nihilo, 3-5/2000) (…) The
same goes for volcanic basalt in Parana, Brazil and Etendeka, Namibia. Wouldn’t
the erosion of 65 million years have already worn away the sedimentary rocks?
(21)
The European Alps have mainly
formed from Mesozoic (Jurassic and Cretaceous periods) and Tertiary rock types,
of which the latter are in the valleys, and the former on higher mountains (!).
These Mesozoic layers must have been worn by erosion at least from the beginning
of the Tertiary period, i.e., for approximately 60 million years according to
radioactive measurements. If the average speed of erosion has been one metre in
2,000 years on the Alps (in our time, one metre in 1,500–4,000 years),
approximately 30 km of the layers older than a Tertiary period should have been
worn away during that time. The fact that the speed of erosion has changed does
not change the sheer scale of this figure. The fact that a large part of the
Mesozoic rock types is still left on the Alps is an indisputable piece of
evidence against the results of radioactive measurements. (22)
