Dinosaurs and Dust
Climatic effects of the impact and volcanism scenarios for the extinction of dinosaurs are investigated in a modelling paper.
Climatic effects of the impact and volcanism scenarios for the extinction of dinosaurs are investigated in a modelling paper.
This article explores the Bible’s teaching on God’s wonderful creation and examines whether our miraculous planet Earth was created relatively recently or some time before the Creation week got underway.
New observational data on the phenomenon of rapid bedrock erosion became recently available after the well documented events that affected the Oroville Dam in February 2017.
ARTICLE. In Utah and northern Arizona is a unique geological landscape feature, called the Grand Staircase. Imagine a staircase with each step a thousand feet or more high, and many miles wide. We will discuss hypotheses in regard to how this feature was formed. Published in Origins, n. 65.
During one of my frequent visits to the office of my high school headmaster, his individual tutelage yielded a life lesson that I’ve never forgotten. His exact words were, “You think you’re right!” Of course I thought I was right, wouldn’t anyone who thought they were wrong change their mind and then immediately think they are right? Now that I’m an adult biologist, I still think that I’m right. Inevitably…
“You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This verse from Genesis 3 captures very well the fate of beautifully designed organisms after the entrance of sin into the world. But how long does it take for the organic molecules we are made of to break down after death? In general, the longer the time from death, the larger the amount of decay that should be observed. This is particularly true for soft…
The hypothesis of a large meteorite impacting the surface of the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous was introduced almost four decades ago. In the ensuing years, the geologic community gathered a large body of data in support of this hypothesis, elevating it to the status of a universally accepted fact of Earth history. However, competing models and lively discussions are still unfolding over the dynamics and environmental consequences of this large impact.
Is Genesis History? asks a question that many Christians struggle with. Is the first book of the Bible comprised of pious myths? Is it an allegory designed to teach important lessons about God, but not actually a record of the history of life on Earth? Or is it a reliable record of events that actually occurred in the past? In other words, is Genesis the oldest book of history available today, one…
The stability of organic (carbon-based) molecules is an interesting and challenging topic as there are many different types of functional groups, molecular configurations, and molecular collisions to consider. Research on the stability of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and other vitamins demonstrates which factors to consider when it comes to the preservation of carbon-based molecules. Ascorbic acid…
Iceland is a volcanic island in the North Atlantic Ocean, slightly below the Arctic Circle. The island is situated on a mid-ocean ridge at the boundary between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate. In Iceland, we find evidence of horizontal movements, in which two plates spread apart as the crust dilates with intrusion of new magma. Iceland, however, is also associated with a mantle plume (a narrow stem of upwelling of magma from deep in the mantle) that has maintained volcanism high and vigorous.
The rocks of the Earth are like pages of a history book containing information about the past. Geologists who enjoy reading this “book” have found that it consists of two “volumes:” the first, named Precambrian, is mostly devoid of macroscopic fossils. The second, named Phanerozoic, contains layers and sediments providing a rich archive of past forms of animal and vegetal life. The Phanerozoic “volume”…
This third part of a series on the Precambrian provides two perspectives suggested by creationists on how to interpret this portion of the rock record.
This first section of a 3 parts series on the Precambrian summarizes the standard model for formation of the Universe, Solar System and Earth, Moon, oceans, continents, and plate tectonics. Brief references to the Universe, Sun, and Moon are included because what happens beyond Earth sets the stage for what happens on Earth during the Precambrian and in the Genesis 1 account.
The degree of importance of catastrophes for the geologic history of the earth has been the basis of a long scientific controversy that involves deep time questions.
The first book of the Bible states that following a recent creation by God, there was an astonishing worldwide Flood. In that context, the Flood would have been responsible for most of the great fossil bearing layers of the earth. However, current scientific interpretations propose that these layers slowly accumulated over billions of years thus allocating more time for the slow gradual evolution of…
Glaciations are defined as periods of temperature reduction in the Earth's climate which result in the onset or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Does the geologic record preserve evidence for the occurrence and extent of former ice ages? What kind of information is used to make these inferences? The answer to these questions has the potential for influencing our models…
To model the motion of Earth's plates, Baumgardner uses a Fortran program he developed called TERRA that must be run on a supercomputer. It is one of four models in the world capable of modeling Earth in a global manner.
Radiometric dating has its uncertainties, but often seems to work well. At this point we don’t know how to relate its resulting ages with the Bible record, for we only know in part (I Cor 13:8-12). However, God’s ways are not our ways (Isa 55:8) and with God all things are possible (Mt 19:26; Lk 18:27).
Plate tectonic theory seems to be well-founded, but the science does not fit easily with a recent one-year flood. However, as is the case in many other areas of human investigation, when we study origins issues, we must trust the details to an all-wise God, since His “foolishness” is greater than our wisdom.
A realistic science, not an actualistic one, is led through coherence and consistency of observation with hypothesis, even if it were an"outrageous hypothesis" such as a global planetary flood of the likes reported in ancient history.