The Fine-tuned Watch Revealed in the Delicate Balance of the Earth’s Forces

Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.

A review of several energy-matter cycles reveals that the Earth can be compared to a finely tuned watch, adjusted to the degree that minor mistuning can have critical adverse repercussions for life here. Paley’s watch design argument thus applies not only to living organisms, but also to the complex entity called the Earth. We are only beginning to understand the workings of its complex balance and recycling mechanisms. In this paper I briefly review a few of the many mechanisms that exist illustrating Earth’s complexity.

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The Formation of Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park:Origin Speculations

Emmett L. Williams, Ph.D. and George F.Howe, Ph.D.

The formation of Santa Elena Canyon located in Big Bend National Park, Trans-Pecos Texas is discussed. Al speculations are developed within a young-earth Flood model. Two phases of canyon formation are suggested. One period of extensive erosion occurred during the time of exiting Flood water and another period of considerable erosion occurred during a post-Flood warm ice age to form the canyon.

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The Role of Geologic Energy in Interpreting the Stratigraphic Record

John K. Reed, Ph.D., Carl R. Froede, Jr., B.S., P.G., and Chris B. Bennett

A creationist "geologic column" has a place in Earth history interpretation. None has been widely accepted and applied, although preliminary constructs have been proposed. We suggest that a graph of geological energy vs. time, keyed primarily to events, can form a basis for future correlation and interpretation. Although creationist field synthesis is limited, recognition of the role of extrascientific information in Earth history validates the present graph as constrained by the Bible’s historical accounts. Complete development of this graph awaits extensive field research.

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A Sufficient Reason for False Rb-Sr Isochrons

G. Herbert Gill, B.S.

A mathematical answer is presented for the frequent occurrence of false or "fictitious" Rb-Sr isochrons. The reason for these inconsistencies is that a simple linear regression procedure is mathematically invalid if two or more independent variables influence a single dependent variable. In many data sets for the "isochron" procedure, there are two independent variables involved. First, there is the desired radioactive relation between the amount of the rubidium parent and the strontium daughter. Second, since the atomic strontium concentration in the samples is a variable, then the isotopic Sr-87 content of the atom is also a variable. In such a situation, the "Isochron" regression is mathematically invalid, so both its slope and intercept are erroneous.

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It’s Just a Matter of Time

Michael A. Maiuzzo, M.S.

Many people accept what they read as the clear message of Genesis: That the Earth was formed about 10 thousand years ago, on the first day, and that the stars were formed on the fourth day. This has led to disagreement with others who see the hugeness of the perceived distances to most stars and their apparent ages as a compelling argument against this reading. From discussions in which this writer has participated, the argument seems to be based on the required travel time of the light arriving from the distant stars and the estimated ages of stars.

However, there is a solution. This paper used the Theory of Relativity to illustrate the observed phenomenon that the measurement of travel time is a function of the time keeper. Furthermore, this allows for billions-of-years-old stars that were created after the creation of the few-thousand-year old Earth. The preceding statement is not self-contradicting. One could take the viewpoint that time-keeping processes, such as radioactive decay rates, occurring out in the universe proceeded at a rapid rate as measured by Earth time. Thus, old Earthers should recognize that the perceived size and age of the universe is no bar to a young Earth and universe, at least from the view of Earth time.

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Evidences of Catastrophic Subaqueous Processes at Goat Mountain, in Big Bend National Park

Carl R. Froede, Jr., B.S., P.G.

Today many geologists are more willing to consider catastrophic physical processes than in the past. However, these catastrophic events are postulated as having occurred over the millions of years necessary to validate the uniformitarian model. One such site where catastrophic physical processes have been proposed is at Goat Mountain in Big Bend National Park, Texas. This site has undergone significant volcanic deposition and erosion. All the volcanic sedimentation is viewed as having occurred rapidly and subaerially, with the intervening erosion being slow and uniformitarian. Tentatively, it appears that the evidence from the stratigraphic section exposed at Goat Mountain fails to support the present uniformitarian interpretation. Rather it appears to better fit subaqueous emplacement and subsequent massive erosion within a short timeframe. The author interprets the Goat Mountain exposure as having formed predominantly during the Flood (i.e., Middle to Upper Flood Event Timeframe).

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Opportunities for Creationist Studies at the Hanson Ranch, Roxson, Wyoming

Edmond W. Holroyd, III, Ph.D., Michael J. Oard, M.S., and Dennis Petersen, M.A.

The Hanson ranch at Roxson, Wyoming, has been made available to a limited number of investigators interested in documenting its deposit of Late Cretaceous dinosaur bones in the Lance Formation. A preliminary description of the site and some possible research topics are suggested.

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Confirmation from a Debris Flow at a Forest Fire Site

Edmond W. Holroyd, III, Ph.D.

The previously reported plant fossils at Dinosaur Ridge, Morrison, Colorado, are a mixture of broken charcoal pieces and their impressions, silt and sand. Normal sedimentation processes at a forest fire site indicated that buoyancy differences should strongly limit the mixing of sand and charcoal. Catastrophic mud or debris flows were suggested as the appropriate mechanism for much of the Dinosaur Ridge plant fossil deposit.

The contents of a catastrophic debris flow from the Storm King Mountain forest fire site at Glenwood Springs, Colorado, were examined to determine any similarities with the Dinosaur Ridge site. Charcoal fragments were found mixed throughout two cores taken from the mud flow component of the deposit. Two cores from other areas which experienced normal sedimentation conditions showed no mixing of sand and charcoal. These differing depositional frameworks are suggested as a basis for distin-guishing between slow and catastrophic sedimentation rates.