OK. I've posted these close to 8 times, but it seems YOU'VE MISSED THEM EVERY TIME.
Amino acid racemizationAmino acid racemization dating is a technique that is used to date fossilized objects up to several millions of years in age. Amino acid molecules usually possess an assymetric carbon atom which will occupy one of two configurations; D (right), or L (left). Because the ratio of the two positions start unequal and will decay to a balanced state in a process called racemization, measuring the degree of racemization can give you an estimated age. By measuring the racemization of the amino acid isoleucine, objects can be dated up to several million years old.[1] While it is true that there can be great variability on the rate at which amino acids undergo racemization, the changes in humidity, temperature, and acidity required to make this technique conform to a young earth view are unreasonable.
Coral Coral formations take a long time to grow. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority estimates that the great barrier reef began over 600,000 years ago and that the current growths of coral to be found at that location began around 20,000 years ago.[2]
Continental driftBased on the continuity of fossil deposits and other geological formations between the South American and African tectonic plates, there is evidence that at some point in history the two continents were part of the same landmass. Because tectonic drift is an incredibly slow process, the separation of the two landmasses would have taken millions of years. Satellite data has shown that the continents are diverging at a rate of roughly 2 cm per year, which means that for the two continents to have been together at some point in history, as all the evidence shows, the drift must have been going on for at least 200 million years.[3]
Cosmogenic nuclide datingThe influx of cosmic rays onto the earth continually produces a stream of cosmogenic nuclides in the atmosphere that will fall to the ground. By measuring the build-up of these nuclides on terrestrial surfaces the length of time for which the surface has been exposed can be inferred. This technique can be used to date objects over millions of years old.[4]
Dendrochronology Dendrochronology is a method of scientific dating based on annual tree growth patterns called tree rings. The rings are the result of changes in growth speed over the year, faster in the summer and slower in the winter. By counting the number of rings it can be easily be shown how old a tree is.
Now, any date derived from this method is not in itself contradictory to the recent creation doctrine, trees just do not live longer than 5,000 years or so, but it is possible to extend the chronology back over many different trees. Because the tree ring thickness will vary with the climate, if a sequence of thick ring, thin ring, thin ring, thick ring, thick ring, thick ring, thin ring, thick ring were observed in two different trees it is strong evidence that the corresponding places formed at the same time. By doing this over many different trees, including fossil trees, the tree ring chronology can be pushed back in some cases as far as 11,000 years.[5]
The World's Oldest Treehttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...ldest-tree.htmlThe visible portion of the 13-foot-tall (4-meter-tall) "Christmas tree" isn't ancient, but its root system has been growing for 9,550 years, according to a team led by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden.
Geomagnetic reversals A geomagnetic reversal is a change in the polarity of the earth's magnetic field. The strength of the earth's magnetic field will decay until such an event occurs, where the polarity of the field flips and is then replenished in strength. The frequency at which these reversals occur varies greatly, but they usually come about once every 50,000-800,000 years and it takes thousands of years for the process that drives the reversal to execute.[8] This fact is obviously inconsistent with the young earth idea; around 171 reversals are geologically documented, which would make the earth at least several millions of years old.[3]
Helioseismology The composition of the sun changes as it ages. The differing composition changes the way sound waves behave inside the sun. Using helioseismic methods (models of preasure waves in the sun) the age of the sun can be inferred. With this method, an Italian team came up with an age of 4.57 +/- 0.11 billion years.[9]
Ice layering Ice layering is a phenomenon that is almost universally observed in ice sheets and glaciers where the average temperature does not rise above freezing.
As the ice is being laid down, annual differences in temperature and irradiance cause the ice to form differently, and this generates alternating layers of light and dark ice. This method is considered a relatively accurate way to measure the age of an ice sheet, as only one layer will form per year. While there have been a few cases where several layers have formed per year, these incidents do not challenge the ability of ice layering to provide a minimum age, as these false layers can be discerned from the real thing after close inspection.
Currently the greatest number of layers found in a single ice sheet is over 700,000, which clearly contradicts the idea of an earth less than 10,000 years old. Even if one were to assume an error rate of over 1000%, the age demonstrated by this method would still be far greater than that suggested by young earth creationists.[11]
Nevertheless, the minimum age of the earth identified by these means is 160,000 years. (+/- 15,000 years.)
Impact craters The number of impact craters can provide an extremely probable lower limit on the age of the Earth. Asteroid strikes that can produce craters on an order of kilometers across are extremely infrequent occurrences; the chance of an asteroid with an Earth-crossing orbit actually striking the planet has been estimated at 2.5 x 10-9 yr-1, and when multiplied by the estimated number of earth crossing asteroids this approximates about one collision for every 3.2 million years.[12] If this frequency is correct, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, the number of impact craters on Earth were it only a few thousand years old should be very few. The most logical number of observable one km+ impact craters for a young earth would in fact be a something like zero — a number that is completely at odds with the observable evidence, since over one hundred such craters have been discovered .[13]
Even if creationists were to present some way that many dozens of large asteroids could hit the earth in less then 6000 years, there are still tremendous problems with this idea. The largest of the asteroid impacts are some of the most catastrophic events the world has ever seen. In Antarctica there is a crater 500 km in diameter which is believed to have been caused by an asteroid 48 km in diameter roughly 250 million years ago.[14] How the life we see today could have survived such an incident (if it had occurred in the last 6000 years) is a serious problem for YEC's — an asteroid impact that big would have led to the extinction of all medium to large size species (an event that is seen in the fossil record).
Lack of DNA in fossils Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the universal carrier of genetic information, is present in all organisms while they are alive. When they die, the DNA will begin to decay under the influence of hydrolysis and oxidation. The speed of this decay varies on a number of factors, sometimes the DNA will be gone within one century and in other conditions it will persist for as many as one million years. The average amount of time detectable DNA will persist though is somewhere in the middle; given physiological salt concentrations, neutral pH and a temperature of 15 °C, it would take around 100,000 years for all the DNA in a sample to decay to un-detectable levels.[15]
If fossils of the dinosaurs were less then 6,000 years old, detectable fragments of DNA should be present in a sizable percent of dinosaur fossils, especially in the arctic and antarctic regions where the decay of DNA can be slowed down 10-25 fold. This is not the case though —dinosaur DNA has never yet been been found in any dinosaur fossil— which suggests that they are extremely old.[16]
Length of the prehistoric dayWork by John W. Wells of Cornell University, New York has shown that certain pieces of extremely old coral evidence a growth rate reflecting a time when a year had 400 days of 22 hours each.[17] Because the rate of change of the rotation of the earth is relatively predictable—about 0.005 seconds per year—one can calculate the last time a year had 400 days, which was about 370 million years ago (which is also about the same as radiometric dating of the coral).[18]
Lunar retreat South African rocks studied by geologist Ken Eriksson indicate that at some point in time the moon orbited "25-percent closer to Earth than it is today."[19] The distance between the earth and the moon is 384,403 kilometers so for Ken Eriksson's work to fit with a YEC timescale the earth would have to have been receding at a speed greater than 15 kilometers per year. This is not anywhere near correct however; the moon is currently receding from the earth at a speed of 3.8 centimeters per year.[20]
Naica megacrystals The Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico is home of some of the largest gypsum crystals on earth. Specimens in the area have been found to exceeded 11 meters in length and 1 meter in width. Based on classical crystal growth theory these crystals are older than one million years.[21]
Oxidizable Carbon Ratio dating Oxidizable Carbon Ratio dating is a method for determining the absolute age of charcoal samples with relative accuracy. This dating method works by measuring the ratio of oxidizable carbon to organic carbon. When the sample is freshly burned there will be no oxidizable carbon because it would have all been removed by the combustion process. Over time this will change and the amount of organic carbon will decrease to be replaced by oxidizable carbon at a linear rate. By measuring the ratio of these two isotopes, one can determine ages of over 20,000 years ago with a standard error under 3%.[22]
Permafrost The formation of permafrost (frozen ground) is a slow process. The permafrost under the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in Alaska are believed to have taken over 225,000 years to reach their present depth of over 600 meters.[23]
Relativistic jetsA relativistic jet is a jet of plasma that gets ejected from some quasars and galaxy centers that have powerful magnetic fields. It is conjectured that the jets are driven by the twisting of magnetic fields in an accretion disk (the plate like cloud of matter) found encircling many celestial objects. In super-massive bodies, immensely strong magnetic fields force plasma from the accretion disk into a jet that shoots away perpendicular to the face of the disk. These columns of plasma have, in some cases, been found to extend far enough to refute the idea of a young universe.
For example, the quasar PKS 1127-145 has a relativistic jet exceeding one million light years in length.[25] Because the speed of light cannot be exceeded by any known form of matter, this column must be at least one million years old. QED
Rock varnishRock varnish is a coating that will form on exposed surface rocks. The varnish is formed as airborn dust acumulates on rock surfaces. This process is extremely slow; between 4 μm and 40 μm of material will be created on the rock every thousand years, with 40 μm of accumulation being very rare.[26] Because the rate of accumulation is generally constant, measuring the depth of the varnish can provide dates for objects up to 250,000 years old.[27]
Space weatheringSpace weathering is an effect that is observed on most asteroids. Extraterrestrial objects tend to develop a red tint as they age due to the effects of cosmic radiation and micrometer impacts on their surfaces. Because this process proceeds at a constant rate, observing the color of an object can provide basis for a generally reliable estimate. The ages provided by this dating technique exceed millions of years.[28]
Sedimentary varvesVarves are laminated layers of sedimentary rock that are most commonly laid down in glacial lakes. In the summer, light colored coarse sediment is laid down, while in the winter as the water freezes and calms fine dark silt is laid down. This cycle produces alternating bands of dark and light which are clearly discernible and represent, as a pair, one full year. As is consistent with the old earth view many millions of varves have been found in some places, the Green River formation in easter Utah is home to an estimated twenty million years worth of sedimentary layers.
The creationist response is obviously that these varves formed much faster, instead of once per year they claim that they formed many hundreds of times per year. There is however much evidence against accelerated formation of varves.
* Pollen in varves is much more concentrated in the upper part of the dark layer which is thought to represent spring, this is what would be expected if varves formed only once per year because pollen is much more common at this time.[29]
* In Lake Suigetsu, Japan, there is a seasonal die-off of diatoms (calcerous algae) that will form layers in the bottom of the lake along with the sedimentary varves. If the 29 thousand varves in the lake formed more then once per year there should be several sediment layers for every layer of deceased algae. This is not the case though; for every one white layer of algae in Lake Suigetsu, there is only one varve.[30]
* The varve thickness correlates with both the 11 year sunspot cycle and the 21 thousand year orbital cycle of the earth.[31]
StalactitesA stalactite is a mineral deposit that is usually - though not exclusively - found in limestone caves. They are formed on the ceilings of caverns by the slow deposition of calcium carbonate and other minerals as they drip, in solution, over the stalactite. These formations take extremely lengthy periods to form; the average growth rate is not much more than 0.1 mm per year (10 centimeters (4 inches!) per thousand years). With such a slow rate of formation, if the earth was less then ten thousand years old we should expect to see the largest stalactites being not much longer than one meter.[18] In fact stalactites frequently reach from the floor to the ceiling of large caverns.
It is true that cases of accelerated growth have been observed in some stalactites but rapid growths are only temporary as the limestone around them is quickly depleted.[18]
Thermoluminescence datingThermoluminescence dating is a method for determining the age of objects containing crystalline minerals such as ceramics or lava. Although this techniques can approximately date objects up to 230,000 years ago, is only completely accurate on objects 300 to 10,000 years in age. This is however still over 4,000 years older than the creationist figure for the age of the earth.[32][33]
Weathering rinds Weathering rinds are layers of weathered material that develop on glacial rocks. The weathering is caused by the oxidation of magnesium and iron rich minerals and the thickness of this layer correlates with the age of a sample. Certain weathering rinds on basalt and andesite rocks in the eastern United States are believed to have taken over 300,000 years to form.[34]
References:
1. ↑ Michael D. Petraglia, Ravi Korisettar (1998). "Early Human Behaviour in Global Context". Routledge Education. Page 63. ISBN 0415117631.
2. ↑ A “big picture” view of the Great Barrier Reef
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Laurie R. Godfrey (1983). "Scientists confront creationism". W. W. Norton & Company, Canada. Pages 35-36. ISBN 0393301540.
4. ↑ Manz, Lorraine. "In-situ Cosmogenic Nuclides: Their Role in Studying the Age and Evolution of Landscapes, or what "as old as the hills" really means". Accessed January 21, 2007.
5. ↑ Mark Isaak (2004). "Claim CG010"(TalkOrigins). Accessed November 6, 2007.
6. ↑ "Fission track"(Minnesota state university). Retrieved on September 30, 2007.
7. ↑ Johns, Warren H. (1977). "THE IMPACT OF TEKTITES UPON AN ESTIMATED 700,000 YEAR HISTORY OF DEEP-SEA DEPOSITS"(Geoscience Research Institute). Retrieved on September 30, 2007.
8. ↑ "Geomagnetic reversal" (2007, August 26), from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:37, October 6, 2007.
9. ↑ A. Bonanno1, H. Schlatt, and L. Patern. "The age of the Sun and the relativistic corrections in the EOS". Accessed January 12, 2007.
10. ↑ Hillary Mayell (2003). "Documentary Redraws Humans' Family Tree"(National Geographic News). Accessed November 17, 2007.
11. ↑ Matt Brinkman (1995). "Ice Core Dating"(TalkOrigins). Accessed October 8, 2007.
12. ↑ Shoemaker, Eugene M (1983). "Asteroid and comet bombardment of the earth". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 11: 461-494.
13. ↑ Impact Structures listed by Diameter
14. ↑ Gorder, Pam F. "BIG BANG IN ANTARCTICA -- KILLER CRATER FOUND UNDER ICE"(OSU Research). Accessed October 26, 2007.
15. ↑ Michael Hofreiter, David Serre, Hendrik N. Poinar,Melanie Kuch and Svante Pääbo (2001). "ANCIENT DNA" Accessed November 22, 2007.
16. ↑ Aldhous, Peter (18 May 1996). Dinosaur DNA fails new test of time" Accessed November 22, 2007.
17. ↑ Wells, John W. (1963). CORAL GROWTH AND GEOCHRONOMETRY. Nature 197: 948 - 950.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Dave E. Matson (1994-2002). "How Good Are Those Young-Earth Arguments?"(Talk.Origins). Accessed October 6, 2007.
19. ↑ "Torn Away: The Moon's Violent Birth"
20. ↑ wp:Moon
21. ↑ Fermín Otálora, Angels Canals, Carlos Ayora, Roberto Villasuso, Juan Manuel García-Ruiz (2007). "Formation of natural gypsum megacrystals in Naica, Mexico". Geology 35: 327-330.
22. ↑ Douglas S. Frink (1995). APPLICATION OF THE OXIDIZABLE CARBON RATIO (OCR) DATING PROCEDURE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PEDOGENIC RESEARCH. Accessed November 2, 2007.
23. ↑ Virgil J. Lunardini (1995)."Permafrost Formation Time"(US Army Corps of Engineers). Accessed November 28, 2007.
24. ↑ Chris Stassen (1996-2005)."The Age of the Earth"(TalkOrigins). Accessed October 9, 2007.
25. ↑ Ron Cowen (2002)."X-Ray Universe: Quasar's jet goes the distance". Science News 161: 101.
26. ↑ Tanzhuo Liu and Wallace S. Broecker (2000). "How fast does rock varnish grow?". Geology 28: 183-186.
27. ↑ Tanzhuo Liu. "Rock Varnish Microlamination (VML) Dating"(VML Dating Lab). Accessed October 19, 2007.
28. ↑ Robert Jedicke, David Nesvorny , Robert Whiteley, Z eljko Ivezic & Mario Juric.(2004) "An age–colour relationship for main-belt S-complex asteroids" Nature 429: 275-277
29. ↑ Glenn R. Morton (2002). "Pollen Order Presents Problems for the Flood". Accessed October 17, 2007.
30. ↑ Hiroyuki Hitagawai, Johannes van Derplicht (1998). "A 40,000-YEAR CHRONOLOGY FROM LAKE SUIGETSU, JAPAN: VARVE EXTENSION OF THE CALIBRATION CURVE". Radiocarbon 40: 505-515.
31. ↑ John R. Dyni (26 June, 2000). "VERIFICATION THAT GREEN RIVER VARVES ARE ANNUAL LAYERS". Accessed October 14, 2007.
32. ↑ "Thermoluminescence"(Minnesota state university). Retrieved on September 30, 2007.
33. ↑ Thomas Berger (2001)."Thermoluminescence dating"(ATOMINSTITUT). Retrieved on September 30, 2007.
34. ↑ Bryn Hubbard, Neil F. Glasser (2005). "Field Techniques in Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology". John Wiley and Sons, United States. Page 355. ISBN 0470844264.
Globular clustersLogically, stars can't be any older than the universe that they occupy. Finding the age of the oldest stars or groupings of stars is thus one way to determine a minimum age for the universe. Old stars can be found in globular clusters--groupings of a few hundred thousand to one million stars or so.
Fortunately, the lifetime of a star is related to its mass. Massive stars burn out quickly; those that are 10 times more massive than the sun burn out in 20 million years. Stars half as massive as the sun can last 20 billion years.
If we assume that the stars in a given globular cluster formed at roughly the same time, and that there was a reasonable distribution of stellar masses in the cluster initially (reasonable assumptions, based on what is known about star formation), then we can get an estimate of its age by examining the stars it contains. We can estimate star masses by evaluating their luminosities and distances from earth. If we observe no stars more massive than ten solar masses, indicating that all of those big stars burned all of their fuel and became something else, then the cluster must be at least 20 million years old. If we saw clusters containing only stars half as massive as the sun or less, then the cluster would have to be at least 20 billion years old.[1]
The oldest observable globular clusters contain stars of 0.7 solar masses or less, which places them between 11 and 18 billion years old. Uncertainties in distances prevent greater precision.[1] Taking the lower estimate of 11 billion years for the age of these clusters, the universe must be even older than that, since it took time for the cluster to form in the first place. Taking the cluster formation time into account pushes the lower limit for the age of the universe based on the age of globular clusters to 12 or 13 billion years. Even if we hedge on that estimate, we can be confident that according to scientific evidence, the universe has existed for more than 10 billion years.
According to this estimate, the scientific evidence differs from the YEC assertion of the universe's age by a factor of about 1 million.
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101age.htmlWMAP:WMAP has accurately dated the universe to 13.7 billion years old, among many, many other achievements.
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/03...lion-years-old/So. A few of those may depend on the speed of light, but almost all of them DONT.
Yet, they agree with the standard age for the universe.
Hmmm... It is one conflicting study vs the majority of science.
You can choose who wins.
