The Iconic Isochron: Radioactive Dating, Part 2

The Bible is quite clear about the origin and timeframe for the creation of Earth and the cosmos. If Scripture is inaccurate in this, then how can it be trusted in anything else? Some evolutionists throw out theistic evolution (God using evolution as His creative process) as a philosophical panacea, with the goal of leading people to conclude that Genesis is a myth. Like Nimrod of ancient times, they know they must provide an alternative (i.e., naturalism, specifically scientism—the belief that science alone can render truth about our world and reality) to biblical truth if they are to hold sway over the public in what is essentially a couched rebellion against God.

From the article...

"So how do the actual data compare with the model results? First, the various isotope combinations used in the isochron method of dating are clearly discordant—they do not produce the same age for a given rock formation.5 Second, the isochron method gives erroneous ages for rock formations of known age.6 Specifically, rocks gathered from recently erupted Mt. Ngauruhoe in New Zealand gave a K-Ar date of 270,000 to 3.5 million years, a Rb-Sr date of over 133 million years, a Sm-Nd date of nearly 200 million years, and Pb-Pb dates of 3.9 billion years—all this from rocks known to be less than 60 years old!

Another example involves lavas from the Virunga Toro-Ankole regions of the east African Rift Valleys.7 Lavas from these rift valleys known to be Pliocene (<∼ 5 million years) or younger give a Rb-Sr isochron model age of 773 million years. Igneous rocks on the rim of the Grand Canyon give dates older than the igneous rocks at the bottom, contrary to their stratigraphic placement.8 Clearly, the model does not reliably reproduce the observational data and therefore must be modified or used with appropriate caveats.

In the end, the isochron model for radioactive dating is only a hypothesis and a rather poor one at that. Models, no matter how elegant their mathematics, are only as good as the assumptions that go into them and how well they reproduce reality through observation and experimental data.

Conclusion: The scientific method simply does not allow isochron-model dating to be presented as scientific fact. Back to the drawing board.

References

Komarneni, S. and W. B. White. 1983. Hydrothermal Reactions of Strontium and Transuranic Simulator Elements with Clay Minerals, Zeolites, and Shales. Clays and Clay Minerals. 31 (2): 113-121.

Faure, G. 1986. Principles of Isotope Geology, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 147.

Snelling, A. 2005. Radiohalos in Granites: Evidence for Accelerated Nuclear Decay. In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. Vardiman, L., A.

Snelling, and E. Chaffin, eds. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research, 101-151. Faure, Principles of Isotope Geology, 7.

Snelling, Isochron Discordances and the Role of Inheritance and Mixing of Radioisotopes in the Mantle and Crust, Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth, 393-509.

Morris, J. 2007. The Young Earth. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 52.

Faure, Principles of Isotope Geology, 146-147.

Morris, J. 2007. The Young Earth, 58-59.

* Dr. Cupps is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Indiana University-Bloomington.

Cite this article: Vernon R. Cupps, Ph.D. 2014. The Iconic Isochron: Radioactive Dating, Part 2. Acts & Facts. 43 (11)."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.