Posted on 10/23/2013 12:46:38 PM PDT by fishtank
Sun Paradox Challenges Old Earth Theory
by Tim Clarey, Ph.D. *
Scientists previously uncovered fossil algae in Archean rocks—evidence of life in a period that evolutionists date from 3.0 to 3.5 billion years ago.1 At that supposed time, the sun would have been 70 percent less luminous compared to today, making Earth's surface icy and uninhabitable.
But if those rocks are truly 3.0 to 3.5 billion years old, the meager solar energy delivered by the younger sun at that time would have prevented algae or any other life form from growing.
Attempting to come up with something to counter the icy-earth scenario, authors publishing in Science postulated that Earth was somehow warmed by high levels of greenhouse gases to compensate for the great lack of solar radiation.1 To investigate this possibility, the team sampled quartz veins from Archean rocks of the Dresser and Apex formations in Western Australia that were thought to be nearly 3.5 billion years old.
These quartz veins were formed by hydrothermal activity and contain trapped gases and fluids locked in crystals. The study authors assumed the trapped gases represent the ancient atmospheric gas levels.
However, the research results were discouraging, at best.
As researcher Dr. Ray Burgess from the University of Manchester said, "The amount of nitrogen in the [supposed ancient] atmosphere was too low to enhance the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide sufficiently to warm the planet."2 In fact, the study even showed that the so-called ancient atmosphere contained slightly less than today's levels of atmospheric nitrogen, making the "faint young sun paradox" even more perplexing to those committed to a billion-year history.
While the study authors point to a slight chance that the high carbon dioxide (CO2) pressures they found in the gaseous rocks might have helped sufficiently warm the earth, no conclusive research has yet proven this point.2 So, where did the 3.5 billion-year-old algae come from if it grew in a cold era without even the existence of atmosphere-warming gases?3
At the end of the day, when all the high-tech laboratory equipment has completed its tasks, the "faint young sun paradox" remains a "mystery" in the evolutionary time scale. But if these scientists considered that Earth is only thousands of years old—as clearly stated in the Bible—then there would be no need to reconcile old life with an old sun.
Creation scientists do not wrestle with this paradox, because the sun, planets, and Earth are all young and were created whole.4 Solar radiation on Day Four of the creation week, near the beginning of time itself, was not much different from today and perfectly suited for life—an explanation that frees scientists from this unnecessary conundrum.
References
Marty, B. et al. 2013. Nitrogen Isotopic Composition and Density of the Archean Atmosphere. Science. 342 (6154): 101-104.
Climate puzzle over origins of life on Earth. The University of Manchester press release, October 4, 2013.
Thomas, B. Can Solar 'Belch' Theory Solve Sun Paradox? Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org March 21, 2012, accessed October 22, 2013.
Lisle, J. The Solar System: The Sun. Acts & Facts. 42 (7): 10-12.
* Dr. Clarey is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on October 23, 2013.
man...that is grasping!!! I can see thru that (not you)
it hokey!!!
it is difficult enough to try and theorize early earth history (observe a problem) then explain it away with a stupid hypothesis.
Like (example) “oops we found soft tissue in a fossil, oh well, then that means it CAN survive millions of years...hehe..” poor man, just poor
no, it is an atheists grasp on reality as they see it.
(with out a Creator)
You cited Burgess and he explained the difficulty quite easily. How is that grasping? Do you read what you post?
yes, read it!! he use a contradiction.
“at odds with the estimates based on fossil soils “
but of course , a evolutionist would accept that!
The atheist is moving to towards an “ancient Alien” solution.
There seems to be some underlying uncertainty regarding evolution that accounts for the popularity of such programs.
Somehow these leftist atheists will say ALIENS before they even consider God
Somehow these leftist atheists will say ALIENS before they even consider God
An extraordinary display of uncertainty, if you ask me.
Only one. Any pair of docs will contradict each other.
As ever, I am amazed at how these ICR articles promulgate falsehoods almost reflexively, even when they don’t have to. The article says, “At that supposed time, the sun would have been 70 percent less luminous compared to today.” That makes it sound like the sun’s strength was bout 30% of what it is today.
But if you click through to the cited press release, it says “the Sun’s energy was roughly three-quarters the strength it is today...’During the Archean the solar energy received at the surface of the Earth was about 20 to 25 % lower than present.’” So the article first exaggerated (it’s not 70 percent, it’s 75 to 80 percent) and then misstated (it wasn’t that much *less* luminous, it was that percentage *as* luminous). You’d think a PhD wouldn’t make that mistake—unless he wanted to.
And then, at the end, the lead scientist says, “However, our results did give a higher than expected pressure reading for carbon dioxide – at odds with the estimates based on fossil soils – which could be high enough to counteract the effects of the faint young Sun and will require further investigation.” Yet somehow the ICR writer saw fit to leave that part out. Is all this deception intentional or accidental? After reading this kind of stuff for years, I know where I land on that question.
What is anti scientific about the article? The notion that because science readily admits it hasn’t figured out one thing, then all of geology, paleontology, cosmology, planetology, etc., is all wrong. Sorry, but science is all about identifying where you are wrong, and gathering evidence to come up with new ideas.
Quite. That one briefly described issue is not immediately understood does not totally dismantle the overall theory for which most such things make sense...and does not justify an alternate theory which fails to explain most obvious things like rock strata and fossils.
The “young earth” theory requires all history fit in just 100 hundred-year lifespans. What we plainly see and experience does not extrapolate to that short a span.
And I’ll repeat what I think is the sad part:
This anti-scientific crap keeps an emnity between science and religion which is badly damaging to both... Just as... I believe that just God created Adam to appear as if he had aged in many ways (he was a man, not a zygote), I have no problem believing that God created a universe that looked extremely aged in many ways.
Question would be...why? Why have processes indicative of cycle times of orders of magnitude of orders of magnitude of years, when they’ve in fact just barely started and only look billions of years old? Heck, with that theory we couldn’t even begin to rule out the world having been created 20 minutes ago.
“The notion that because science readily admits it hasn’t figured out one thing,...”
Scientist know little about many things, therefore it is proper to question ideas and prove them.
And if they are wrong about this , they can be wrong about that.
Science has become a religion to some.
(in place of God)
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