Editors note: This is the second of two parts of this article by Dr. Dan Reynolds. The first part was published in the April 2003 TASC newsletter
There is strong evidence for rapid successive sedimentary layer deposition from analysis of polonium radiohalos found in coal samples from Triassic, Jurassic, and Eocene deposits allegedly laid down between 230-60 Mys ago.1 The polonium 210 (half-life = 138.4 days) halos found in coal from the three "periods" have many similar characteristics which strongly suggest one rapid deposition event. Many of these polonium 210 halos are actually double halos sharing the same radiocenter but where one halo is oval shaped while the other is circular. The best explanation for the double halos follows. Vast forests and were buried under water. While the wood was waterlogged and still in a gel like state, water-containing uranium penetrated the wood. As the uranium decayed, lead 210 formed and migrated through the wood until it concentrated at various sites called inclusions. The lead 210 decayed (beta) into polonium 210. The polonium 210 began its alpha decay and caused formation of a radiohalo. In about one year, the wood was compressed squashing the polonium 210 radiohalos into oval shapes. The compression event was probably caused by deposition of vast amounts of sediments brought on by a flood. The remaining polonium 210 continued to decay until another circular radiohalo was formed thereby completing the double halo. Hence the polonium 210 double halos suggest that the time between penetration of radioactivity and compression of the wood was less than one year. In addition, the ratios of various radioactive isotopes and daughter products were the same in these deposits, also suggesting these samples were penetrated at the same time with the same uranium solution. The high uranium to lead ratios, embryonic uranium halos, and high lead 210 concentrations in polonium 210 halo radiocenters suggest recent (<10 Ky) penetration of radioactive solution into the wood. These results suggest the three "periods" allegedly spanning 170 Mys were actually one rapid event consistent with Noah's Flood, not millions of years of layer formation.
The millions of logs left in Spirit Lake by the eruption at Mt. Saint Helens has provided clues to rapid coal and petrified forest formation.3,4 The logs on the lake were without branches, bark, or roots. These parts of the trees were torn from the logs during the transportation of the forest to the lake and have been found on the lake bottom by scuba divers. The thick layer of vegetation on the lake bottom demonstrates that peat, a precursor to coal, can be formed rapidly. All that is required to complete the process is heat (the nearby volcano may provide this) and a catalyst (supplied by volcanic ash). Indeed, coal seams often have volcanic ash in them.
At Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone National Park is found the Petrified Forest. The forest was allegedly made from 27 distinct forests over many thousands of years. Presumably, a forest would grow and then be covered by water and sediments in which it would petrify. Later, the sea or lake would recede again leaving dry land in which another forest would grow and the process would then be repeated—27 times! Investigations at Mt. Saint Helens have provided a more probable mechanism for formation of a petrified forest. Scuba divers not only found peat but upright logs, root ball down first, buried at different depths in the sediment on the bottom of Spirit Lake. Apparently, the water soaked logs sank with the denser root ball pointing down and were buried at various depths as the mud slides poured into the lake. Interestingly, studies at Specimen Ridge have revealed that the trees there also lack bark, branches, or evidence of extensive roots; only the log and root ball remain. Also interesting is the fact that the ring patterns seen in trees from different layers at Specimen Ridge were the same, providing evidence that the trees were from the same original forest, not successive forests separated by vast amounts of time. Hence, the evidence suggests that the Petrified Forest at Specimen Ridge was caused by a rapid catastrophic event in which a forest was uprooted, transported by water, and then buried in sediments of various depths.
The Grand Canyon is a marvel all should see at least once. The North Rim has an elevation of about 9,000 feet while the South Rim rises to about 7,000 feet. At the deepest point, the Colorado River runs through the canyon about a mile below the surface. In 1994, creation geologists advanced a "breached dam theory" for the catastrophic formation of Grand Canyon.5 This theory says that once vast bodies of water existed to the east of the present canyon, probably huge lakes left from the Flood. The sedimentary layers through which the canyon would be cut had been recently laid down by the Flood. A natural dam separated the huge lakes from the land that would become the canyon. The dam was breached by some geologic event, possibly an earthquake, resulting in vast amounts of rapidly moving water that carved the Grand Canyon through the relatively soft and uplifted sediments. The remnant of that vast body of water that cut the canyon is the Colorado River today. Interestingly, neo-catastrophist old earth geologists are beginning to be like-minded as the following quote6 made in 2002 reveals:
Dams of volcanic rock laid across the Grand Canyon have burst repeatedly and catastrophically over the past million years—most recently about 165,000 years ago—carrying enormous onrushing floods and carving out much of the great landmark in the blink of a geologic eye, new research by U.S. Geological Survey and University of Utah geologists suggests.
More evidence of catastrophe comes from vast fossil graveyards found worldwide.7 These graveyards can contain millions of fossil fish, dinosaurs, birds, reptiles, insects, and plants. Obviously, these graveyards must have been formed rapidly by the quick transportation and burial of the living creatures by moving water.
Finally, there is evidence that stalagmites and stalactites, those beautiful formations in caves thought to require tens of thousands of years to form, can form in only a few years. For example, there is a flowstone in which a bat has been trapped.8 There were stalactites in a 55-year-old lead mine in Australia that were several feet long.9 There are stalactites several feet long in rooms under the Lincoln Memorial which was built in 1922. Apparently, all that is needed is moving water containing the right minerals.
In summary, there is now abundant evidence that many geologic processes can operate rapidly. This is, of course, what Bible believing scientists have been saying for generations. It is becoming clear that the actions of water and volcanoes can account for the rapid formation of canyons, successive sedimentary layers with fine sorting, stalagmites and stalactites, and vast fossil graveyards containing millions of fossils. There is strong evidence for rapid coal formation and mechanisms to account for the same. Many evolutionary geologists now acknowledge rapid geologic processes but insist that these episodes are separated by vast periods of relative calm. However, the evidence for the vast calm periods is rapidly disappearing.
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Psalm 34:8 (KJV)
1 Gentry, Robert V. Creation's Tiny Mystery, 3rd Edition (ESA, 1992); on the web at www.halos.com
2 Vardiman, Larry. "RATE Group Confirms Fast Diffusion of Helium in Rocks". Acts and Facts 2001, 30(10); Vardiman, Larry; Snelling, Andew A.; Chaffin, Eugene F. (eds.) Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth (RATE) (Institute of Creation Research and the Creation Research Society, 2000).
3 Video: Mount Saint Helens: Explosive Evidence for Catastrophe (ICR)
4 Morris, John D. The Young Earth (Master Books, 1994)
5 Austin, Steven A. Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe (ICR, 1994) (book and video).
6 From the UPI wire service dated Saturday July 20, 2002. HEADLINE: Catastrophic floods built Grand Canyon; DATELINE: GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz., July 20
7 Whitcomb, J.C.; Morris, H.M. The Genesis Flood (Baker, 1961).
8 National Geographic Magazine, October, 1953, p. 442.
9 Creation Magazine, March-May, 1998 p. 27