Geoscience Reports 3:1-4 (Spring 1983).

GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEWS

Coffin Studies Fossil Forest Formation

    The volcanic explosion of Mount St. Helens has provided Harold Coffin with a massive laboratory in which to examine various aspects of fossil forest formation. For about two decades, Coffin has been studying the fossil forest of Yellowstone to determine what mechanism might be responsible for its formation. If one counts the tree rings on each of the layers found in this fossil assemblage, the total time span required for this forest to grow there would be about 14,000 years. Coffin has developed an alternative explanation based upon evidence for the transportation and rapid burial of the trees.
    The largest problem that Coffin faced was how trees could remain upright in a catastrophic situation. At first it was assumed that transported trees would be almost exclusively horizontal when finally deposited; yet in some areas of the fossil forest a majority of trees are vertical, suggesting that they are in growth position.

Log Raft
    The blast of Mount St. Helens resulted in the devastation of many square miles of mature forest. One aspect of the blast was the placement of a large log raft on Spirit Lake which was only a few miles from the crater. Logs and stumps have been floating in the lake for over two years. Coffin's observations at Spirit Lake have confirmed earlier laboratory experiments in which he placed small trees in water tanks and let them float there. With time, most of them moved from a horizontal to a vertical position. The experiments have been criticized because the trees were not as large as those found in Yellowstone. Coffin's observations this summer have now answered this criticism.
    In Spirit Lake at the present time, many very large trees are floating in the vertical position, much as the small-scale experiments had indicated they might. To establish that these trees were not attached to the lake bottom, divers examined a number of these upright trees and found them to be free floating. In addition, it would not be possible for the St. Helens trees to be in place of growth because the bottom of the lake was filled with about 200 feet of sediment.
    Coffin's data and interpretations of the events in Spirit Lake have been published in the May 1983 issue of Geology.
    These data suggest that erect petrified trees need not be in a position of growth but that water-transported stumps also may be deposited and preserved upright.

SCUBA diver in the Spirit Lake log raft (indicated by arrow). Erect stumps were examined and found to be floating above bottom or lightly grounded.

North Dakota Forest
    In addition to the St. Helens work, Coffin also examined, this past summer, another fossil forest in North Dakota. Though this forest certainly is not as well known as the Yellowstone forest, Coffin was able to examine what appeared to be several layers containing upright trees. Unfortunately, the state of preservation of these trees will not allow dendrochronological studies as have been done in Yellowstone. However, the extensive placement of these trees has prompted Coffin to say that they are worthy of further study and are in his plans for a future summer.

GRI's Summer Research Plans

    With the beginning of the summer season, some of the GRI staff will be in the field to continue their research efforts. R. Tkachuck will be spending a month at the Walla Walla Marine Station at Anacortes, Washington. There he will be examining the biochemistry of a species of tapeworm which lives in the spiral valve of a chiamarid fish (known locally as the rat fish). This tapeworm differs from the majority of other tapeworms in that it has only one segment rather than many. It is considered by evolutionary biologists to represent an early step in the evolution of tapeworms. By examining its biochemistry, Tkachuck hopes to determine whether this worm deserves this taxonomic position.
    Biochemical analysis of the metabolic products of glucose and certain amino acids will be the first experiments performed. Since parasitic organisms tend to show significant loss of metabolic abilities when compared with free living forms, these experiments may indicate how "primitive" this creature is.

Log Mat
    H. Coffin will return to Spirit Lake near Mount St. Helens to further monitor the state of the floating log mat upon the lake. He will make further surveys of the number of upright trees versus the number of horizontal ones. A period of time will also be spent in the Yellowstone area working on the dendrochronological picture of trees found in different horizontal layers. At this time he will be collaborating with Dr. Art Chadwick and his graduate student Mike Arct. Finally, some time will be spent doing preliminary studies of the fossil forest in North Dakota. Here he will attempt to determine the mode of formation of the various layers, the kinds and number of varieties of the trees in this forest as well as some paleoecological studies to determine the kind of environment this forest once occupied.

Organic Profiles
    R. H. Brown will continue with computer analysis of C-14 levels in layered organic profiles. This analysis, now localized at Loma Linda, is a continuation of studies originally begun in the Andrews University computing facility.

Sedimentary Layers
    A. A. Roth will be examining various sedimentary layers in Utah and Colorado with the hopes of determining more fully the conditions at the time of deposition. By examining the size of the materials composing a particular layer, it is possible to postulate the forces involved in its deposition.

Field Conference
    In addition to the above research activity, members of the GRI will participate in a field conference held for certain administrators of the Mid-America area, various educational conferences and BRISCO. Finally, a field conference for the General Conference and Division leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church will be held in mid-September. By the first of October, the fall activities at LLU should begin.

Brown Presents Paper on Radiocarbon Modeling

    R. H. Brown, past director of GRI, presented a paper at the 11th International Radiocarbon Conference in Seattle, Washington. Though officially retired, Brown is actively pursuing his research in radiocarbon modeling. Dr. Ivan Rouse of the Loma Linda University Physics Department collaborated with Dr. Brown in preparing this paper entitled "Long-Term Response of the C-14 Exchange System." It modeled long-term aspects of the flow of radiocarbon from its formation in the upper atmosphere into various components of the biosphere, and finally into the deep sediments of the ocean. The results indicate that the probabilities for radioactive decay to Nitrogen-14 and for transfer from the deep ocean into the upper biosphere are each greater than the probability for transfer to sediment, and also that the C-14 exchange system may at present be at only approximately 91% of equilibrium with respect to the mean current rate at which C-14 is introduced into the biosphere.
    A 9% deficiency from equilibrium is less than the range of fluctuation that can be expected from variations in either the cosmic ray intensity or the geomagnetic field intensity. If the C-14 inventory has been increasing steadily and has reached only 91% of equilibrium, uncorrected C-14 ages in the vicinity of 4000 years BP would be only about 750 years greater than the corresponding historical age.
    According to the conclusions reached by Brown and Rouse, harmonization of C-14 age dates with the constraints of biblical chronology requires an extended post-flood injection of C-14 into the biosphere at a greater rate than the present value of 8.2±1.5 kilograms per year.

GRI Conducts Field Conference

    An 8-day field conference was held for the leadership of the Pacific Union Conference during the summer of 1982. This study tour was requested by Walter Blehm, president of the Pacific Union, in order to acquaint his personnel with the problems and solutions encountered in the study of origins. Starting in Holbrook, Arizona, the group traveled as far north as Moab, Utah, and eventually returned to the Zion area of Utah.
    A variety of geologic features provided the springboard for discussions on the various interpretations possible for the stratigraphic record. Unconformities which occurred at places where portions of the geologic column are missing were displayed in numerous locations. These gaps range from 12 to over 170 million years, yet the bedding plains were even and straight over thousands of square miles. This even erosion is of a type not occurring on earth today and one which defies a suitable mechanism.
    Study in the Grand Canyon and Zion/Bryce Canyons allowed the participants to follow the geologic column from its Precambrian base to nearly the top of the Tertiary. Few places on earth provide such a continuous display of the various geologic layers.
    At the Grand Canyon, A. A. Roth discussed several models for its formation with the final conclusion that data at present do not strongly support any particular model. Roth noted that the current trend in geological thinking is that the canyon formed relatively rapidly (in geological terms, to be sure).
    Evidence for catastrophic placement and erosion of sediments were seen in the distinctive turbidite sequences found in numerous localities. A sequence of rapid erosion was seen in the Kanab Creek which eroded 40-50 feet of soft sediments in one overnight rainstorm.
    The use of CB radios allowed for lively conversation between drivers and passengers of the 10-car caravan. The attending leadership expressed the need for their constituency to become acquainted with both the problems and explanations produced by a study of origins.

Field trip participants in Petrified Forest National Monument, Arizona, examined coarse conglomerates (note directly behind people) and bentonite, an important factor in rapid erosion.

Roth's Research Published

    The results of an extended research project on the relation of light to coral reef growth was recently published by Ariel A. Roth, Director of GRI. Conducted in Hawaii and the Marshall Islands, this research analyzes: 1) the effects of ultraviolet light on rates of coral growth, 2) the relation of light intensity to rates of growth, 3) the effect of natural day-and-night cycles to rate of growth, and 4) the lag effect of light irradiation on the coral growth rates. The results, published in Pacific Science (Vol. 36, pp.65-81), indicate that ultraviolet light inhibits coral growth at the surface of the ocean where rates of coral reef growth are usually studied. This no doubt is responsible for some of the slower rates of coral reef growth that have been published earlier. Coral reefs do not grow as rapidly on a dark cloudy day as they would on a bright day, they grow more slowly at night, and there is a light-lag effect.
    The rate of coral reef growth is important in creation/evolution studies, because the very long periods of time assumed necessary for some reef growth do not fit within the standard biblical time frame. However, there are some records of rapid growth that permit one to accommodate reef growth within a short chronology. Ultraviolet light inhibition described in this research may be part of the reason for the discrepancy.

New Edition of Creation Book

    Rapid increase in knowledge causes science books to become outdated quickly. Creation: Accident or Design by Harold G. Coffin was published in 1968. In the fifteen years since it was written much new information of interest to science and religion has appeared. Furthermore, this volume has been out of print for two years.
    An expanded and much revised second edition was submitted to the publisher over two years ago. Currently it is in the hands of the copy editors, and the projected publishing date is for fall 1983. It will appear under the new title, Origin by Design.

Clyde Webster Joins the GRI

    Clyde L. Webster, currently chairman of the Chemistry Department at Walla Walla College, will become a full-time member of the GRI in July, 1983. Webster finished his undergraduate work at Walla Walla in 1968 and completed his Ph.D. in 1972 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. His dissertation subject was selenium isotopic analysis in uranium role-front deposits.
    Upon completion of his graduate work, Webster was self-employed as a consultant in analytical service which performed trace elemental analysis on a variety of geologic and industrial samples.

Trace Work
    A recipient of several GRI research grants in the past, Webster is presently working on the trace elemental analysis of dated lava flows from Hawaiian volcanoes.
    In this work he is testing the idea that each separate flow should have a characteristic elemental fingerprint. After these studies he will examine the volcanic material in the various layers that surround the trees in the Yellowstone fossil forest. It may then be possible to determine how many volcanic episodes were necessary to form the deposit.
    Webster is married to the former Priscilla Wilson and has two daughters, Kristine, age 14, and Laurel, age 11. In anticipation of joining GRI, Webster commented that the creation/evolution controversy is a critical area of study in these times and that he hopes to use his geochemical training to understand more fully the past geologic record.
    The GRI is pleased to welcome the addition of this very competent scientist to its staff.

BRISCO Meets in Glacier National Park

    Glacier National Park on the Montana-Alberta border served as the site for the annual convening of BRISCO (Biblical Research Institute Science Council). Meeting sites are chosen so that attendees can view a geologic or paleontological feature of significance for the evolution/creation controversy. This past year, the group examined the contact between the Precambrian and the Cretaceous layers of the Lewis Overthrust, an area which suggests that several massive strata have overridden other layers of the same sequence. The action has resulted in the geologic layers being "out of sequence," with Precambrian rock on top of layers found much higher in the stratigraphic record.

Overthrust Layering
    Several creationists in the past as well as the present have interpreted the out-of-sequence layering found in overthrust areas to imply that the geologic column is not meaningful. An underlying reason for denying the orderly sequence of the geologic column is that it would make much more difficult the evolutionary claim that the geologic column is a sequential history of life on earth.
    A number of major overthrusts are described throughout the world. If these features are really not overthrusts but do indicate that the geologic column is random, then the present understanding of the geologic column would require drastic reinterpretation.

Marias Pass
    The group undertook the challenging climb in the Marias Pass area which required about 3 hours to reach the contact between the Precambrian and Cretaceous layers. At the contact site the lower Cretaceous layers and the upper Precambrian layers were examined. Clear evidence of sliding of one layer over another was seen in the way the rocks were deformed and by the formation of striations, polish, slickensides, etc. The consensus of the group was that the evidence did indeed suggest an overthrust area.
    Other work at BRISCO involved the presentation of prepared papers on subjects dealing with biblical interpretation, the process of discerning truth, and a special section dealing with methods of communicating Christianity and eventually creation with the secular scientist.

Roth Teaches Field Course

    A LLU 4-week summer field course in historical and philosophical interpretations of paleontological and geologic features was conducted this past September by A. A. Roth, GRI Director. In comments to the students, Roth stated that it was his intention to expose them to some of the most difficult geologic problems that face the evolutionist and the creationist.
    The tour covered close to 5500 miles in the western United States and included visits to the fossil Permian "Reef" in southern Texas, the multi-layered evaporite deposits of the Castile Formation, the volcanic and coal complexes of NE New Mexico, the tremendous Heart Mountain thrust sheet, the fossil forests of Yellowstone, Wyoming and Florissant, Colorado, the erosional features of the Grand Canyon and many other fascinating geologic sites. Along the way much evidence supporting a catastrophic history for the earth was also seen.
    The 29 participants of the 10-car caravan were able to examine numerous rock out-crops and fossil areas which aided their search for interpretations of the past history of the earth. A wide variety of backgrounds was represented among the attendees — mostly graduate students from several Adventist colleges. Also, three graduate students from universities in Holland attended the class. Commented one attendee, "This trip is probably the fastest way that one can learn both the difficulties and benefits of the creationist point of view." Roth believes that an intensive study of the facts and various interpretations is necessary in this important area and that the total scientific data alone favors the creation concept of origins.
    The course is usually offered every other year and is open to any interested college or graduate student who has an adequate background. Interested students should contact A. A. Roth at GRI for future classes.

GRI Announces Research Grant Awards

    Research grants totaling $22,050 were awarded to 7 individuals for 1983. Each year GRI accepts applications for proposed funding of research which centers on the problems in creationism. The grants are open to individuals in academic institutions, and the spectrum of possible research areas is quite broad. The award grants represent newly initiated work as well as funding for continuing studies. This year half of the awardees were graduate students working towards advanced degrees. The list of recipients continues below:

M. Arct	Dendrochronology of the Yellowstone fossil forest.
J. Gibson	Chromosome evolution in North American Ground Squirrels of the genus Spermophilus.
I. Holmes	X-ray diffraction analysis of the mineral layering of the fossil forest layers above Specimen Creek, Yellowstone National Park.
W. W. Hughes	Brachiopod skeletal growth line patterns: chemical periodicities and methods of formation.
J.-L. Lienard	Effects of depth on coral growth ridges.
E. McCluskey	A test of "living" characters in an analysis of diversity.
L. Schremp	Mammalian biostratigraphy of the Huayquerian of South America.
T. Yamamoto	Paleontological significance and taxonomic status of wood from the petrified fossil forests of Yellowstone National Park.

    Although the above represents the physical and biological sciences, grant proposals in the history of science, biblical studies or philosophy would also receive consideration. Application deadlines are November 1, 1983, for funding by February 1, 1984, and March 1, 1984, for funding by June 1, 1984. Potential applicants should contact A. A. Roth at the GRI for further information.