Baumgardner's BS and MS were in electrical engineering. And at UCLA, the Earth and Space sciences program doesn't require a "sound" foundation in geology or geophysics to get a specialist PhD. Baumgardner is pretty unsophisticated when it comes to geology. Cases in point:
(1) "The earth science community neglected and suppressed the evidences for catastrophism" Baumgardner makes a nonsensical argument. Geologists recognize the signature of catastrophic processes in the geologic record all the time - be it paleontology, sedimentary deposition, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. No good scientist ever suppresses evidence, or misrepresents the data.
(2) "The time scale the uniformitarian scientists use today is dramatically too long" Baumgardner is misrepresenting the data and the terminology. As a foundation of rational scientific thought, "... we accept the conclusion that nature's law are unchanging. This means we have no reason to doubt that the principles of physics and chemistry, the operation of gravity, and the essential nature of geologic processes are independent of time. During past earth history rocks must have been formed and some of them subsequently broken down physically or chemically in the same manner as now; we may be sure that rains fell, water flowed downhill, winds blew, and waves beat against the shore, just as they do today. This concept has come to be known as uniformitarianism, and holds that the present is the key to the past. Our ablity to analyze the rock record depends on the completeness and accuracy of these present-day processes and laws, and on the extent of the rock record available for us to study." (This quote comes from Page 2 of a 50-year old geology text.) Baumgardner, and other creation scientists choose to deny the fundamental nature of physical processes, such as radioactive decay constants, amino acid racemization, etc. Uniform time is the enemy of the creation scientist. For instance, potassium-argon isotope dating suggested there was a significant thermal event in the earth's early history, approximate 3.5 billion years ago (possibly related to the differentiation the the earth's core and mantle from the crust). If the earth has been around in more-or-less its present form for 3.5 billion years, that leaves a lot of time for the accumulation of "small scale" catastrophies and, by the way, evolutionary processes.
(3) "Rock that represents the ocean floor is colder, and therefore denser than the rock below it and so can sink into the earth's interior. And the properties of the rock inside the earth, especially at the high temperatures that exist there, make it possible for the colder rock from the earth's surface to peel away and sink in a runaway manner down through the mantle - very rapidly." This is pure and simple goobledegook. Baumgardener misunderstands or misrepresents fundamental rock mechanics - but of course, he is an electrical engineer filling a geophysical computer programming position. The density of any rock mass, be it a continent, the ocean floor, or the mantle, depends on it chemical make-up as well as its temperature. Continental crust, rich in Si and Al, is less dense that oceanic crust, which in rich in Mg and other heavy minerals. And so too, the upper mantle is much denser too, composed of rocks such as eclogites, peridotite, dunites, etc. Plate tectonic mechanisms have been argued since the 1950's. Density problems were one of the most compelling arguments against plate tectonics for years. Bumgardner's description of cold crustal rock sinking in a "runaway manner" into the upper mantle defies physics, logic, and measurement. Perhaps he should read a few petrologic papers on mineral phase equalibria. If Baumgardner reviewed solid evidence concerning rates of subduction on the continental margins, and rates of new crust forming at mid-ocean ridges and volcanic hot spots, he would clearly understand that the ocean basins have evolved over a the course of millions of years, and that several lines of evidence for dating the ocean basin support this model. Baumgardner's computer algorithms don't prove anything. The econazis have been using "sophisticate computer programs" to "prove" global warming too. Garbage in, garbage out.
(4) "Once this sinking of the pre-Flood ocean floor starts, it is not slow a slow process ... it's almost certain that it runs to completion and recycles all of the existing ocean floor in a few weeks or months." This is a breath-taking statement that explains why this guy has ZERO CREDIBILITY outside of creation science "research". He doesn't explain what happens to the continental crust during this process, nor does he suggest why the oceans must necessarily cover the continents. (In his and similar publications there is a vague suggestion that the suddenly exposed hot mantle vaporizes the oceans which then rain down endlessly - but this still does account for the ocean basin volume or lack thereof).
If you want to believe, literally, a biblical creation story, which probably had antecedants in Mesopotanian literature, be my guest. It is a matter of faith. Baumgardner and his cohorts distort science to fit their concepts. If he wants to recycle the ocean crust in a few weeks or months, instead of inventing outrageous and impossible processes while perverting science, why doesn't he just invoke an all-powerful diety to wave his hands and make it so? It has been said before, but it bears repeating, creation science is neither good creationism, nor good science.
His Terra project is world renowned. Here is one list of his accomplishments:
John R. Baumgardner, Ph.D. Geophysics/Space Physics
Education:
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Texas Tech University - 1968
M.S. Electrical Engineering, Princeton University - 1970
M.S. Geophysics and Space Physics, UCLA - 1981
Ph.D. Geophysics and Space Physics, UCLA - 1983
Organizations:
American Geophysical Union Mineralogical Society of America
Professional Experience:
Technical Staff Member/Scientist - Los Alamos National Laboratory, Theoretical Division, New Mexico (1984 - Present).
Member of Technical Staff and Consultant - Rockwell International, Rocketdyne Division, Laser Department (1978-1979, 1981-1984).
Graduate Research Assistant - University of California, Los Angeles, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences (1979-1983).
Consultant - R & D Associates (1980-1981).
Project Officer - U. S. Air Force, Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Laser Division, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico (1971-1975).
Current Research Interests:
Three-dimensional numerical simulation of planetary mantle dynamics, global climate change, and nonlinear rheological behavior.
Development of efficient hydrodynamics methods, suitable for 3-D, both explicit and implicit, for massively parallel supercomputers.
Publications:
W.-S. Yang and J. R. Baumgardner, "Matrix-dependent transfer multigrid method for strongly variable viscosity infinite Prandtl number thermal convection," Geophys. and Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., in press, 2000.
H. R. Wenk, J. R. Baumgardner, C. N. Tome, and R. Lebensohn, "A deformation model to explain anisotropy of the inner core," J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2000.
M. A. Richards, H.-P. Bunge, C. Lithgow-Bertelloni, and J. R. Baumgardner, "Mantle convection and plate motion history: Toward general circulation models," History and Dynamics of Global Plate Motions, AGU Monograph Series, 1999.
J. R. Baumgardner and W.-S. Yang, "Earthlike mantle convection from relatively simple rheology," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F26, 1999.
M. A. Richards, W.-S. Yang, and J. R. Baumgardner, "The effectiveness of finite yield stress in obtaining platelike surface velocities," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F962, 1999.
W.-S. Yang and J. R. Baumgardner, "Feasibility of the lava lamp model for the Earth's mantle," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F941, 1999.
D. R. Stegman, M. A. Richards, and J. R. Baumgardner, "A parallel implementation of Lagrangian tracers in TERRA," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F950, 1999.
C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, and J. R. Baumgardner, "Impacts and the thermal evolution of Mars," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 80, (1999 Fall Meeting Supplement), F618, 1999.
John R. Baumgardner, Mark A. Richards, Woo-Sun Yang, and Carolina R. Lithgow-Bertelloni, "3-D Spherical Models of Plate Motion With Laterally Varying Rheology," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 79, (1998 Fall Meeting Supplement), F911, 1998.
H.-P. Bunge, M. A. Richards, C. Lithgow-Bertelloni, J. R. Baumgardner, S. P. Grand, and B. A. Romanowicz, "Time scales and heterogeneity structure in geodynamic earth models," Science, 280, 91-95, 1998.
Hans-Peter Bunge, Mark A. Richards, and John R. Baumgardner, "A sensitivity study of 3-D spherical mantle convection at 108 Rayleigh number: effects of depth-dependent viscosity, heating mode, and an endothermic phase change," J. Geophys. Res., 102, B6, 11991-12007, 1997.
John R. Baumgardner and Woo-Sun Yang, "A finite element multigrid formulation for variable viscosity in 3-D spherical geometry," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 77, (Fall Meeting Supplement), F750, 1996.
Hans-Peter Bunge, Mark A. Richards, and John R. Baumgardner, "The effect of depth-dependent viscosity on the planform of mantle convection," Nature, 379, 436-438, 1996.
Hans-Peter Bunge and John R. Baumgardner, "Mantle convection modeling on parallel virtual machines," Computers in Physics, 9, 207-215, 1995. J. R. Baumgardner, "Thermal runaway in the mantle" (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 75, 687, 1994.
John R. Baumgardner, "3-D numerical investigation of the mantle dynamics associated with the breakup of Pangea," in Flow and Creep in the Solar System: Observations, Modeling, and Theory, D. B. Stone and S. K. Runcorn, eds., NATO ASI Series C, Vol. 391, 207-224, 1993.
John Baumgardner, "3-D numerical investigation of the mantle dynamics associated with the breakup of Pangea," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 73, 1992 Fall Meeting Abstract Volume, 576-577, 1992.
M. A. Moreno, G. Schubert, J. Baumgardner, M. G. Kivelson, and D. A. Paige, "Io's volcanic and sublimation atmospheres," Icarus, 93, 63-81, 1991.
John R. Baumgardner, "Application of supercomputers to 3-D mantle convection," in The Physics of the Planets, S. K. Runcorn, ed., John Wiley and Sons, 199-231, 1988.
J. Baumgardner, M. A. Moreno, G. Schubert, and M. G. Kivelson, "Two classes of volcanic eruptions and their corresponding atmospheres on Io," Bull. Am. Astr. Assoc., 19(3), 856, 1987.
John R. Baumgardner, "Three-dimensional treatment of convective flow in the earth's mantle," J. Stat. Phys., 39, 501-511, 1985.
John R. Baumgardner and Paul O. Frederickson, "Icosahedral discretization of the two-sphere," SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 22, 1107-1115, 1985.
Peter Bird and John Baumgardner, "Fault friction, regional stress, and crust-mantle coupling in southern California from finite element models," J. Geophys. Res., 89, No. B3, 1932-1944, 1984.
John R. Baumgardner and Paul O. Frederickson, "Three-dimensional treatment of mantle convection," (abstract) Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 63, 1105, 1982.