Search

Confidence in forensic natural history increases when data are simple, observable, and complete. Larger scale often helps. For continental sedimentary rock and marine sediments, the best combination of these factors would be found in assessing their global volume and distribution. Geologists developed estimates long ago, but only in recent decades have database and mapping technology combined to allow reasonably accurate global maps of continental and marine sediment. Just recently, a good estimate of the volume and average thickness of the ocean sediments became available through the GlobSed project. The volume and thickness of the continental sediments is more difficult to describe for several reasons; defining the continent-ocean boundary is one. Defining Precambrian sedimentary basins and their relationship to the Genesis Flood adds uncertainty, but the goal of defining the global distribution of Flood sediments is worth pursuing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclostratigraphy is a popular method that promises much more precise dates than biostratigraphy or radioisotope dating. Originally, it was pioneered to date Pleistocene glacial/interglacial intervals, but its reach has been steadily extended back through the Cenozoic and into earlier eras using sedimentary cycles. Unfortunately, enthusiasm for its potential has blinded geologists to its problems. Six problems are addressed, revealing the influence of subjective factors not commonly noticed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclostratigraphy claims to rely on an accurate astronomical time scale and further on a clear imprint it supposedly makes on the sedimentary record. Grounded upon the Milankovitch theory, geologists first sought to apply this method to develop a timescale for Quaternary glacial/interglacial oscillations. But there are several glaring unresolved problems with this approach. Although solar radiation measurements at high latitude appear to lend support to the mechanism, the data are carefully selected, typically restricted to the summer solstice or the months of June or July. By contrast, the larger dataset for the warm half-year for the whole hemisphere shows the Milankovitch effect is very small. Moreover, geologists believe glacial episodes over the past 900,000 years have been controlled by the 100,000-year eccentricity cycle, but that cycle has a very small effect relative to other cycles. Further, glacial cycles should be out of phase between the hemispheres, yet they are not. Finally, proponents rely on correlation between Milankovitch cycles and deep-sea cores, but these appear to be the result of circular reasoning and the reinforcement syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

William Buckland is the prototypical "Christian-finds-science" straw man of secular propaganda. He appears as a pre-incarnation of Henry Morris, wrestles with geological facts that contradict the Flood, sees the light, and finally repudiates the Flood—just another tragic zealot finding true enlightenment through "science." The false moral is clear; Christians who open their eyes convert to secularism. Like many other secular myths, that view of Buckland is absurd. The real Buckland was an elite geologist with a brilliant career, receiving accolades from society and peers. The real tragedy was not an imaginary psychological conflict between science and religion, but the long road of compromise that marked his career, and the real moral is the necessity of fidelity to Scripture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]