Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site islenet.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!gymble!lll-crg!dual!islenet!bob From: bob@islenet.UUCP (Bob Cunningham) Newsgroups: net.origins Subject: Re: The Scientific Case for Creation: (Part 38) Message-ID: <1372@islenet.UUCP> Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 05:12:16 EDT Article-I.D.: islenet.1372 Posted: Wed Jul 10 05:12:16 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jul-85 03:39:42 EDT References: <396@iham1.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Lines: 64 Using a slightly-higher figure (based upon sediment flux measurements in major river systems), we're looking at an average rate of erosion of around 6 cm of continental surface (at a density of 2.4 gm/cm^3) per 1,000 years. Deposited oceanic sediments being less dense (say .8 gm/cm^3, dried density) and factoring in the ratio of 3/7 continental surface area/ocean bottom area, this would produce roughly 6 cm of ocean-bottom sediment every 1,000 years. At this rate, the continents (which are, on the average, only 840 meters high) would be worn down in roughly 50 million years. These sorts of back-of-the-evelope calculations are interesting, but completely ignore several different major processes: volcano building (volcanic eruptions produce roughly the same order of magnitude of material as the erosion figures), folding & upthrusting, and isostatic adjustments. You just can't ignore these other processes. Nor, can you ignore the extensive variations in erosion (64% of Australia doesn't drain into the sea, while 10% of North America does); and that the major portion of the sedimentary debris ends up on the margins of the continents (only about 6% of the eroded sediment actually makes it to the deep ocean). Extensive evidence indicates that much of the continental material is quite old, while the current ocean bottom is relatively young (a few hundred million years). A puzzle that's been resolved by plate tectonic studies. > 71. Over twenty-seven billion tons of river sediments are > entering the oceans each year. Probably, this rate of > sediment transport was even greater in the past as the > looser top soil was removed and as erosion reduced the > earth's relief. But even if erosion has been constant, the > sediments that are now on the ocean floor would have > accumulated in only 30 million years. Therefore, the > continents and oceans cannot be one billion years old [a]. > 72. The continents are being eroded at a rate that would level > them in much less than twenty-five million years [a,b]. > However, evolutionists believe that the fossils of land > animals and plants that are at high elevations have been > there for over 300 million years. > > 73. The rate at which elements such as copper, gold, tin, > lead, silicon, mercury, uranium, and nickel are entering > the oceans is very rapid when compared with the small > quantities of these elements already in the oceans. There > is no known means by which large amounts of these elements > can precipitate out of the oceans. Therefore, the oceans > must be very much younger than a million years. Reef-building coral incorporates uranium into their CaC02 extensively, providing a "sink" for uranium (and CA, Sr, Ba, Ra as well). Lead is virtually insoluble in the oceans, and thus they essentially contain none (it stays in particulate form). Elements with a +2 valence (notably Ni, Co, Cu) show up in relatively high concentrations in deep sea sediments, apparently precipitating out rather rapidly. Silicon is quite effectively used by a number of species of diatoms & radiolarians, and the settling of their skeletons is probably the major "sink" in the occeans (for at least some of the species, silicon seems to be bio-limiting: give them more silicon, and they'll glady use it, grow, prosper, and fairly quickly die and deposit it). -- Bob Cunningham {dual|vortex|ihnp4}!islenet!bob Honolulu, Hawaii