ABSTRACTS
Novarupta and the Valley of 10,000 Smokes: Begging for a Biblical Interpretation
David E. Shormann
On June 6, 1912, the biggest eruption in over 100 years occurred in what is now Katmai National Park, Alaska. Ejecting over 30 times more material than Mount St. Helen’s, the Novarupta Volcano exploded for 60 hours. Novarupta contains a treasure trove of information just waiting to be interpreted within a Biblical framework. This article seeks to encourage further exploration of Novarupta and The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes by creation scientists. Details of the eruption are discussed, together with fi rst encounters of the eruption zone by Robert F. Griggs shortly after the 1912 eruption. Comparisons are made between Novarupta and other eruptions, and the local geology is discussed. Rates of glacial advance and retreat in the area may have implications for both global climate change and the causes of the Ice Age. Present-day bedrock incision rates are used to speculate about geologic timescales. The geologic history of Novarupta and The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes appears congruent with Biblical history.
Time Required for Sedimentation Contradicts the Evolutionary Hypothesis
Guy Berthault
Stratigraphy, the basis of geological dating, was founded in the seventeenth century on three principles proposed by Nicolas Steno: superposition, continuity, and original horizontality. Successive observations and experiments show that his stratigraphic model was not in line with experimental data, because it overlooked the major variable factor of sedimentation: the current and its chronological effects. Experiments simulating the formation of sedimentary layers at variable current velocities using different-sized particles show that Steno’s principles apply only to the case of deposition at zero current velocity. Since sedimentary processes affect stratigraphy and geological dating, paleohydraulic conditions must be considered in any stratigraphic analysis. The estimated time of deposition is often the crucial factor in developing a local timescale, and the paleohydraulic approach links deposition to the critical transport velocity of current as determined by particle size. From this velocity, the corresponding transport capacity in units of volume and time is calculated. The time of sedimentation is the quotient obtained from dividing the volume of sedimentary rocks by the transport capacity. A team of Russian sedimentologists have applied this method to geological formations of the Crimean Peninsula and of the Northwest Russian Plateau in the St. Petersburg region. They discovered that the time required for sedimentation was only 0.01% of the corresponding period of the geological timescale. This is at variance with the time required for species to evolve.
The Case for Holobaraminic Status in Bears (Family Ursidae) and the Implications within a Creation Model of Ecology
Tom Hennigan
Extant bears (Family Ursidae) are currently classifi ed into three subfamilies, three genera, eight species, and numerous subspecies. They inhabit the continents of Eurasia, North America, and South America. Previous research has identifi ed all eight species as sharing biologically meaningful similarity among its members, making them a monobaramin. A literature search was initiated to determine the extent of unique suites of ursid traits that signifi cantly distinguish them from other taxa, making them an apobaramin. In current baraminological thought, if a taxon is both monobaraminic and apobaraminic, it becomes a holobaramin, or the best determination of the created bear kind. Creation research should focus on revealing how genetic mechanisms may be infl uenced by environmental factors that trigger them. It is predicted that an understanding of these processes will reveal insights into how the Creator ensured creature persistence in the face of changing environments and the mechanisms involved with rapid ursid diversifi cation in less than 4500 years.
The Pleiotropy Problem for Evolution
Jerry Bergman
Pleiotropy is the effect resulting from an interconnected genetic system in which a single gene infl uences many different biological systems in positive or negative ways. Pleiotropy occurs because multiple phenotypic effects usually arise from each expressed gene. The adverse effects of pleiotropy on the effectiveness of natural selection is reviewed in this paper. It is concluded that pleiotropy creates a major problem for evolutionary theory because the accumulation of mutations, even benefi cial mutations, often has unintended negative effects.
The Origin of Grand Canyon Part II: Fatal Problems with the Dam-Breach Hypothesis
Michael J. Oard
Uniformitarian explanations of the origin of Grand Canyon all appear improbable. Thus, we turn to published catastrophic options. The most popular of these today is the dam-breach hypothesis. There are three versions of this general hypothesis, but all face major problems, of which two appear especially critical: (1) the lack of evidence for the existence of the breached lakes, and (2) the presence of the long Kanab and Havasu tributary canyons that enter Grand Canyon at the level of the Colorado River. There are no diagnostic bottom sediments, shorelines, raised deltas, or other geomorphological features at the proposed sites of the breached lakes, despite their common occurrence at the sites of other Ice Age lakes. Also, the erosion of the Kanab and Havasu canyons, a mile deep and a quarter mile wide at their mouths, would require vast quantities of rushing water over a wide area to erode these tributaries along with Grand Canyon, since the heads of the tributaries lie about 50 miles from Grand Canyon and over 100 miles from each other. This area seems too large for a breached lake to have fl ooded with suffi cient energy to erode the canyons. Another catastrophic alternative is needed.