Geology Commons^™

How Often Do Radioisotope Ages Agree? A Preliminary Study Of 29,000 Radioisotope Ages In The Usgs National Geochronological Database, Micah D. Beachy, Benjamin R. Kinard, Paul A. Garner

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

In young-earth analyses of radioisotope age discordance, there have not yet been statistical studies involving age information for large numbers of rock units at a time. Austin (2005), Snelling (2005) and others have published in-depth studies of discordance on individual rock units, including new radioisotope ages based on their own samples. This was a logical approach because it maximized the number of ages per rock unit and eliminated the potential “file drawer” problem where ages that differ wildly from the expected values may be less likely to be published. Nevertheless, we believe it is time for a larger-scale project that …

Can Sandstone Cross-Bed Dip Inclinations Determine Depositional Environment?, John H. Whitmore

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

The author and his colleagues have been working on the Coconino Sandstone (Arizona, USA) for more than twenty years concluding that the sandstone formed in an underwater setting instead of the conventionally accepted desert dune environment. During their work (Emery et al. 2011; Whitmore 2021; Whitmore and Garner 2018) they reported that average cross-bed dips in the Coconino were approximately 20°, consistent with what others have found in the Coconino (Maithel 2019; Reiche 1938). Most realize this average measurement is far less that the angle or repose for desert sand dunes, which is about 33-34°. The Coconino often lacks cross-bed …

Developing A Comprehensive Model Of Global Flood Paleontology: Integrating The Biostratigraphic Record With Global Megasequence Deposition, Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Timothy L. Clarey

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

The ICR Column Project team has mapped out the sedimentary rock record of the global Flood across five of the world’s continents using extensive data from petroleum industry wells, rock outcrops, seismic data, and published cross-sections. Thus, detailed sedimentary rock data along with megasequence boundaries across every nearly every continent have been documented, including the continental shelf. These data confirm the reality of a global geologic column created by the global Flood. This monumental and unprecedented project has shown that the global Flood and it’s corresponding megasequences are represented by the same stratigraphic profiles on every continent that’s been evaluated; …

A Progressive Global Flood Model Confirmed By Rock Data Across Five Continents, Timothy L. Clarey, Davis J. Werner

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

Over 3000 stratigraphic columns have been compiled across North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia using oil wells, measured sections and seismic data. Phanerozoic fossil-bearing rocks are divided into six packages of sedimentation based on the “mega-sequences” concept of Sloss. Maps of individual megasequences across the continents and the total volumes show the earliest megasequences have the least extent and lowest average volume of sediment. Subsequent megasequences show progressively more coverage and more sediment volume. Most continents show a maximum peak in both coverage and thickness in the in the 4^th or 5^th megasequence.

We interpret these …

What Biostratigraphic Continuity Suggests About Earth History, Kurt P. Wise, Donna Richardson

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

If the present world contains sediments generated in the global Flood described in the Bible, we would expect a distinctive paleontological uniformity at both the beginning and the end of the Flood. Populations of organisms both before and after the Flood would be expected to persist at any particular locality for a significant period of time. Many of the same species would be expected to persist across every depositional time boundary at most localities in the world throughout both the pre-Flood and post-Flood worlds. During the Flood, of the species deposited in more than one depositional level, it would not …

A Preliminary Analysis Of Archosauromorph Baraminology, Matthew A. Mclain, Caroline Clausen, Thai Perez, Katherine Beebe, Alia Ahten

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

Archosauromorpha is a large grouping of reptiles including the Archosauria and other related taxa, such as phytosaurs, rhynchosaurs, and tanystropheids. Phylogenetically, Archosauria contains both crocodilians and birds, as well as several extinct groups (e.g., dinosaurs, pterosaurs, etc.). Crocodilians and their extinct relatives belong to the group Pseudosuchia, whereas birds, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and a few other animals lie within Avemetatarsalia. Creationists can agree or disagree with these taxonomic groupings, but all creationists would concur that these animals do not share a single common ancestor. Rather, Scripture clearly teaches that God created separate kinds of animals, including different kinds of birds, which …

Genealogical Vs Phylogenetic Mutation Rates: Answering A Challenge, Robert Carter

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

There is a discrepancy between the mutation rate we can measure today and the rate at which evolution is supposed to have proceeded. The former is sometimes called the genealogical mutation rate, for it is obtained by comparing individuals whom we know to be related. The latter is sometimes called the phylogenetic mutation rate. It is calculated by counting the fixed differences between two species and dividing by the estimated time since their common ancestor. Genealogical mutation rates are generally several orders of magnitude faster than phylogenetic estimates. This causes problems for the evolutionary model. For example, using the genealogical …

The Role Of Large Tsunamis In The Formation Of The Flood Sediment Record, John Baumgardner, Evan Navarro

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

A major challenge for Flood geology is providing a credible explanation for how the staggering volume of fossil-bearing sediment was eroded, transported, and deposited in orderly patterns on the surface of the normally high-standing continents in only a few months’ time. This paper builds upon the numerical modeling work reported at the 2018 ICC utilizing a code named MABBUL which showed that repetitive giant tsunamis generated by catastrophic plate tectonics during the Genesis Flood can plausibly account for the Flood sediment record. That modeling demonstrated that, with reasonable parameter choices, tsunami-driven cavitation erosion during the Flood itself, mostly along the …

Shoreline Transgressive Terraces: Tufa-Encrusted Landforms Indicate Rapid Filling And Failure Of Hopi Lake, Western Bidahochi Basin, Northeastern Arizona, Steven A. Austin, Edmond W. Holroyd Iii, Thomas F. Folks, Nate Loper

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

Bidahochi Basin is an elongate, 300-kilometer-long structural depression in the Painted Desert region of northeastern Arizona. Today, that basin is occupied by the Little Colorado River directly east of Grand Canyon. For more than 150 years geologists have been pondering the notion that a lake once occupied a large part of Bidahochi Basin. In 1936 Howel Williams named it Hopi Lake. Are strandlines from a Pliocene lake imprinted on limestone slopes of Kaibab Formation in western Bidahochi Basin? Our inquiry led us to study Google imagery from Coconino County just east of Flagstaff, Arizona. There the Kaibab Formation is a …

Testing The Order Of The Fossil Record: Preliminary Observations On Stratigraphic-Clade Congruence And Its Implications For Models Of Evolution And Creation, Kathryn Mcguire, Sophie Southerden, Katherine Beebe, Neal Doran, Matthew Mclain, Todd Charles Wood, Paul A. Garner

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

As a key evidence for macroevolutionary change, the fossil record has been the focus of much study as creation scientists have attempted to interpret its patterns in light of the Flood. Despite this importance, only rarely has the order of the fossil record been scrutinized in any detail, by creationists or evolutionists. We therefore conducted the first large-scale study of the congruence of the fossil record with evolutionary predictions in thirty years.

Our method begins with published phylogenies for organisms found in the fossil record. The order of appearance for each taxon on the phylogeny is assigned a rank, then …

Receding Noahic Flood Waters Led To Seafloor Spreading: A Proposed Geological Model, Harry Dickens

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

Plate tectonics and seafloor spreading are among the most significant geological processes on Earth. However, their emergence and development currently remain unresolved, at least in the secular literature. Some possible mechanisms for the initiation of seafloor spreading are discussed.

The catastrophic plate tectonic (CPT) model for Noah’s Flood was a pioneering attempt to tie aspects of geology together in a conceptual or theoretical physical way. However, the CPT model has an incomplete coverage in clear time order of both Scripture and specific stratigraphy. Formations representing the Flood Year’s receding waters and drying phases seem to have not been considered in …

Radiohalos Through Earth History – What Clues Can They Provide Us?, Andrew A. Snelling

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

Radiohalos are a physical record of radioactive decay that occurred in granites and metamorphic rocks through earth history. They are the result of damage to the host crystals by α-particles produced in the ²³⁸U decay chain (Snelling 2000). Normally ²³⁸U radiohalos are produced. However, there are also radiohalos produced by the three isotopes of Po (²¹⁸Po, ²¹⁴Po and ²¹⁰Po) that are generated towards the end of the ²³⁸U decay chain. Because their half-lives are so fleeting (3.1 mins, 164 µsec, and 138 days, respectively), the existence of these Po radiohalos has been “a …

Constraining Silicate Weathering During The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (Meco) Using Radiolarian Ge/Si, Olivia R. Laub

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Silicate weathering has long been considered a fundamental component of the earth system and has been cited as one of, if not the primary stabilizing feedback for climate. However, recent work has shown that the role of silicate weathering in the climate system is more complicated and dynamic than previously assumed. In this study I examine the role of weathering in the enigmatic warming event, the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) that occurred approximately 40 Ma. This event works as a good case study as there are multiple features of the MECO that differentiate it from other warming events that …

Tropical Atlantic Temperature And Hydrologic Shifts During The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Chels Howard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is a geologic climate event that is studied heavily due to the similarities to anthropogenic climate change. This event occurred approximately 56 million years ago (Ma) and is characterized by a rapid release of carbon into the atmosphere, which resulted in an increase in temperature and a change in global climate events such as changes in patterns of evaporation and precipitation. We see this effect occurring in modern anthropogenic climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels releasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. In this study I use elemental data of …

Landscape/Atmosphere Interactions And Carbon-Dioxide Dynamics In The Great Onyx Groundwater Basin, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, Meghan Raines

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An increase in atmospheric CO2 since the Industrial Revolution has altered rates of global climate change and has motivated a need to better quantify the flux of carbon between Earth’s reservoirs. Attempts to quantify the exchange of atmospheric carbon between sources and sinks have led to an increasing interest in the terrestrial landscape, including the continental carbon sink associated with carbonate-mineral dissolution. This research sought to better inform an understanding of karst landscapes and their relationship with global climate change through carbon cycling. The study utilized high-resolution data collection of pH, temperature, and specific conductance of waters in the Cascade …

Electrofacies Analysis Using A Geostatistical Approach, Northern Iraq Case Study, Hussein S. Hussein

Polytechnic Journal

The distribution of petrophysical parameters is governed by lithology, hence understanding the spatial variation in lithology is essential for reservoir characterisation. This study points out the use of well logs to estimate the lithology of carbonate rocks (limestone, marly limestone, dolomite, and dolomitic limestone) found in Upper Cretaceous to Miocene formations at the Khabbaz Oil Field in Northern Iraq. Applying the multivariate regression technique to neutron, and density data enabled accurate lithology prediction. By using independent values (well log data) to predict a dependent value (lithology), this technique is a progression of regression analysis. The formations under study comprised a …

Migmatite Formation, Geochronometer Petrogeneisis, And Rare Earth Element Mineralization In The Adirondack Mountains, Ny, Kaitlyn Suarez

Doctoral Dissertations

The Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York contain exposures of complex partially melted rocks, in addition to iron oxide-apatite (IOA) deposits with variable rare earth element (REE) concentrations. Previous workers have suggested that melting occurred during the ca. 1150 Ma Shawinigan and the ca. 1050 Ma Ottawan orogenies. However, there are challenges in determining the timing of melting and the number of partial melt events. Further, tectonic models must be developed to describe the petrogenesis of IOA and REE mineralization.

Migmatites are present along Rt. 4/22 near Whitehall, NY. In chapter two, all layers of a single migmatitic rock were …

Heat Flow In The Southern Margin Of Salar De Atacama: Deep Groundwater Temperature Distributions And The Implications For Subsurface Flow And Land Surface Energy Budgets, Graham Thomas

Masters Theses

Salar de Atacama (SdA) located in Northern Chile is home to one of the planet’s largest salar systems and lithium resources. Managing groundwater resources in salars is not obvious due to the lack of scientific understanding on the connectivity between the freshwater and brine systems. Using heat as a tracer in SdA provides a cost-effective method to further investigate groundwater flow in salars. This study employs 372 temperature-depth profiles from 90 boreholes between 2013-18 to understand the distinct thermal zones and flow between them in SdA. Three thermal zones exist within the southern margin of SdA’s thermal regime, at higher …

Kentucky Karst Dye Trace Database, Sarah M. Arpin, Benjamin W. Tobin, Maaz Fareedi, Adam Link, James C. Currens

Research Data--KGS

This dataset provides the geographical locations of karst groundwater basins, groundwater flowpaths, and dye injection/recovery points in Kentucky. Dye tracing is a common method used for understanding groundwater movement. Dye is poured (or injected) into a sinking stream, well, sinkhole, or body of water, where it is carried down-gradient by flowing water. The locations at which dye is recovered (typically at artesian springs) indicates a connection from injection to recovery site. This connection is refered to as a groundwater flowpath. Conducting multiple dye traces across an area allows for the interpretation of regional groundwater flow by assessing where flowpaths either …

Kgs Joint Data, Steven L. Martin

Research Data--KGS

Joint orientation measurements collected by KGS personnel at rock exposures from 2009 to 2023. New joint data was collected using a Brunton compass. This data set is a compilation of joints measured by Steve Martin. There are three worksheets related to data structure. The joint location and joint measurement worksheets show a 1-to-many relationship. The 1to1 worksheet shows a 1-to-1 relationship between joint locations and measurements.