ABSTRACTS
Could Magnetic MonopolesCause Accelerated Decay?
Bruce Oliver, Eugene Chaffin*
We study the effect of superheavy magnetic monopoles on nuclei such as Aluminum-26 and Potassium-40, to see if the rate of beta decay is enhanced by the nearby passage of a magnetic monopole. Following an idea of Carrigan (1980a, 1980b), we consider the possibility that monopoles are trapped in the earth’s interior by a balance between gravitational and magnetic forces from the earth’s fields. Magnetic reversals such as those considered by Humphreys sent the monopoles to the surface during the Genesis Flood, causing nuclear decay rates to seem to accelerate. We use theory developed by Lipkin in the 1980s to treat the theory of perturbation of the decay rates by the monopoles. We show that the monopole velocities attained during a field reversal are sufficient for them to escape during the Flood, but not large enough to produce tracks in rocks and minerals similar to fission tracks
Biogeography: A Creationist Perspective
Bill Johnson*
Biogeography, or the distribution of plant and animal life, is an important topic in helping to determine the origin of different life-forms. Creationists and evolutionists have tried to reconcile the geography of life with how they believe history unfolded, the latter far more than the former. While evolutionists argue that biogeography demonstrates their worldview, nothing could be farther from the truth. The evolutionary argument consists of ad hoc rationalizations and ruling out of alternative theories by straw-man argumentation. Furthermore, the creationist view, when presented fairly, provides a much simpler and compelling explanation for the geography of life.
The Little Ice Age in the North Atlantic Region Part III: Iceland
Peter Klevberg, Michael J. Oard
The first two parts of this series (Klevberg and Oard, 2011a, 2011b) introduced methods of studying past climate change, the historicity of the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age, and the importance of the Little Ice Age in understanding climate change and constraining climatic models. The reasons for concentrating on the North Atlantic region include the richness of the historiography for the period and the utility of the geography in studying climatic constraints on the inferred postdiluvial ice age. Nowhere is the historiography richer or the geographic setting better for this than Iceland. This paper summarizes observations of climate change in Iceland from Landnám to the present and the contemporary glacial fluctuations.