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Anomalies of Radiometric Dating
Logic and science dictates that
if something which is assumed to have a uniform rate is shown in a single example to not
be uniform, the theory
must be abandoned as unreliable.
The previous section showed that it is entirely possible for the
uniform rates of radiometric dating to be very easily changed through
enviromental conditions (most have been documented by secular
scientists).
This section will provide 19 specific examples of this
decay-rate-change having occured.
1. Rock from a dactite
lava dome at Mount St. Helens that was formed in 1986 during the
eruption there was dated (using the Potassium-Argon [K-Ar] method) at
0.35 ±0.05 million years. (S.A. Austin, "Excess Argon within
Mineral Concentrates from the New Dactite Lava Dome at Mount St. Helens
Volcano," CEN Technical Journal,
10(3):335-343, 1986)
2. A British Engineer,
Sidney P. Clementson, studied a variety of modern volcanic rock.
Knowing their ages as 200-300 years old, he carefully compared them to
Soviet uranium tests of the same volcanic rocks. What he found was
surprising. In every instance the dates were found to be hugely
incorrect with a 14 billion
year (the dates varied from 50 million years to 14.5 billion)
discrepancy. ("Critical Examination of Radioactive Dating of Rocks," in
Creation Research Society
Quarterly, December 1970.)
3. Five andesite lava
flows from Mt. Ngauuhoe in New Zealand. They were Potassium-Argon
(K-Ar) dated from <0.27 to 3.5 million years. The only problem was
that one was laid down 1949, three were laid down 1954 and one in 1975.
(A.A. Snelling, "The
Cause Of Anomalous Potassium-Argon ‘Ages’ for recent andesite flows at
Mt Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, and the Implications for Potassium-Argon
‘Dating’" Proceedings of the
Fourth International Conference on Creationism, Creation Science
Fellowship, Pittsburgh, ed. E. Walsh, 1998, pg. 503-525.)
4. A single uranium
deposit in the Colorado Caribou Mine had a radiometric error spread of
700 million years. (G.A. Kerkut, Implications
of Evolution, pp. 139-140.)
5. Swedish kolm from
Scandinavia was (using the uranium method) dated with an error spread
of 420 million years. (G.A. Kerkut Implications
of Evolution, pp. 139-140.)
6. Granite from the Black
Hills gave strontium/rubidium and various lead system dates varying
from 1.16 to 2.55 billion years. (L. Ferrell, "Dating Methods", Evolution Disproved, 2001)
7. In 1800-1801, lava
flows off the coast of Hawaii near Hualalei formed volcanic rock. It
was dated using K-Ar (Potassium-Argon). The K-Ar dating gave dates
ranging from 160 million to 2.96 billion years. (Journal of Geophysical Research,
July 15, 1968; Science,
October 11, 1968)
8. Doctor Read, in a
presentation before a special meeting of the California State Board of
Education, presented his research into the radiometric dating of lunar
(moon) rocks. Many lunar samples were brought back from the missions
and carefully dated usingthorium dating, uranium dating,
potassium-argon dating, and agglutinate dating. Yet the dates vary from
2 million to 28 billion.
("Proceedings of the Second, Third and Fourth Lunar Conferences," Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
Volumes 14 and 17)
9. Freshly-killed seals
have been dated at 1,300 years. Seals which have been dead for 30 years
were dated (using the carbon-14 method) at 4,600 years. (W. Dort,
"Mummified Seals of Southern Victoria Land," in Antarctic Journal of the U.S., June
1971, p. 210.)
10. Oxford Castle in
England was built 725 years ago, and yet its mortar has been
radiocarbon dated at 7,370 years old. (E.A. Von Fange, "Time Upside
Down," quoted in Creation Research
Society Quarterly, November, 1974, p. 18.)
11. Scientists dated the
shells of living mollusks and it was determined through radiocarbon
dating that these <I>living</I> mollusks had "died" about
2,300 years before. (M. Keith and G. Anderson, "Radiocarbon Dating:
Fictitious Results with Mollusk Shells," in Science, 141, 1963, p. 634.)
12. Wood only a few days
cut out of living, growing trees was dated, using radiocarbon, to have
existed for 10,000 years. (B. Huber, "Recording Gaseous Exchange Under
Field Conditions," in Physiology of
Forest Trees, ed. by K.V. Thimann, 1958.)
13. Here is a quote which
further demonstrates the accuracy problems of radiometric dating, and
the carbon-14 method in particular:
"Hair from the Chekurovka
mammoth that was found in the Lena River delta region of Russia has a
radiocarbon age of 26,000 [years], while the radiocarbon age of peat
only eighteen inches above the carcass is 5,610. At normal [present]
growth rates, between 500-2,000 solar years would be required for the
development of an eighteen inch peat layer.
<P>
"Muscle tissue from beneath the
scalp of a mummified musk ox found in frozen muck at Fairbanks Creek,
Alaska, has a radiocarbon age of 24,000, while the radiocarbon age of
hair from a hind limb of the carcass is 17,200. A life span exceeding
7,000 years for a specimen of this species is doubtful.
<P>
"In a gravel deposit at the
Union Pacific Mammoth Site near Rawlins, Wyoming, a mammoth skeleton
was found together with artifacts that indicate the animal was killed
by man. Radiocarbon dating of ivory from the center of the tusks
establishes the kill date at approximately 11,300 radiocarbon years
ago. Wood fragments from the gravel in which the remains were buried
have a radiocarbon age of approximately 5,000 years. The bones would
not have survived 6,000 solar years of exposure, nor could they be
expected to remain in an articulate relationship during erosion and
reburial by natural processes.
<P>
"A mastodon skeleton found at
Ferguson Farm near Tupperville, Ontario, provided a radiocarbon age of
8,900 for the collagen fraction of bones and a radiocarbon age of 6,200
for high organic-content mud from within the skull cavities. It is
unlikely that this skeleton could have survived exposure for 2,700
solar years before emplacement in peat." --Robert H. Brown,
"Radiocarbon Age Measurements Re-examined," in Review and Herald, October 28,
1971, pp. 7-8.
14. Basalt from Mt. Etna,
in Sicily (122 BC) was tested using the K-Ar method and found to be
250,000 years old. (G.B. Dalyrmple, Earth
and Planetary Science Letters, 6-47 55; also see Impact, #307, Jan. 1999)
15. "Shells from living snails were carbon
dated as being 27,000 years old." (Science, Vol. 224, 1984, pg. 58)
16. "One part of Dima [a baby frozen mammoth]
was 40,000, another part was 26,000 and the 'wood immediately around
the carcass' was 9-10,000." (T.L. Pewe, Quaternary Stratigraphic Nomenclature in
Unglaciated Central Alaska, Geological Survey Professional Paper
862 (U.S. printing office, 1975) pg. 30)
17. "The lower leg of the Fairbanks Creek
mammoth had a radiocarbon age of 15,380 RCY, while its skin and flesh
were 21,300 RCY." (H.E. Anthony, "Natures Deep Freeze," Natural History, Sept. 1949, pg.
300)
18. "The two Colorado Creek mammoths had
radiocarbon ages of 22,850 ±670 and 16,150 ±230 years
respectively." (R.M. Thorson and R.D. Guthrie, "Stratigraphy of
the Colorado Creek Mammoth Locality, Alaska," Quaternary Research, Vol. 37, No 2,
March 1992, pg. 214-228)
19. "In the last two years an absolute date
has been obtained for (the Ngandong beds, above the Trinil beds), and
it has the very interesting value of 300,000 years plus or minus
300,000 years." (J.B. Birdsell, Human Evoluion, 1975, pg. 295)
Conclusion:
Every one of these anomalies are on the dating of objects of known age. Why then should we trust
radiometric dating to be accurate about objects and rocks for which we
<I>do not know</I> the ages for?
A single "anomaly" in radiometric dating would invalidate it as being
reasonable for use in determining ages. Yet here are 19, and more to
come. This indicates that radiometric dating is totally useless for age determining.
For a list of 350 anomalous radiometric dates, see John Woodmorappe's
amazing article, "Radiometric Geochronology Reappraised," Creation Research Society Quarterly,
16:102 (1979).
"Interestingly enough, the only
comprehensive survey of discordant radiometric dates found so far is by
creationist J. Woodmorappe. He compiles over 350 radiometric dates that
'are very anomalous with respect to accepted values for their
biostratigraphic positions.' By 'very anomalous' Woodmorappe means
either more than 20 percent too high or 20 percent too low. To support
his immense table, he lists 445 references from the scientific
literature."—William Corliss, Anomalies
in Geology, 1989, p. 258.
In the next article, we will examine how the different radiometric
dating methods do not agree, often having discrepancies of millions and
billions of years.
Proceed to "Conflicting Radiometric Dates."
Written by Adam Ross
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