The Role of Catastrophes in Scientific Thinking
The degree of importance of catastrophes for the geologic history of the earth has been the basis of a long scientific controversy that involves deep time questions.
The degree of importance of catastrophes for the geologic history of the earth has been the basis of a long scientific controversy that involves deep time questions.
The first book of the Bible states that following a recent creation by God, there was an astonishing worldwide Flood. In that context, the Flood would have been responsible for most of the great fossil bearing layers of the earth. However, current scientific interpretations propose that these layers slowly accumulated over billions of years thus allocating more time for the slow gradual evolution of…
Glaciations are defined as periods of temperature reduction in the Earth's climate which result in the onset or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Does the geologic record preserve evidence for the occurrence and extent of former ice ages? What kind of information is used to make these inferences? The answer to these questions has the potential for influencing our models…
The rocks found on the surface of the Earth did not form all at the same time. Geologists schematize this different order of formation using a column, of which the lower layers represent older rocks and top layers represent younger rocks. Archean rocks are the ones at the very bottom of this geologic column, and are therefore interpreted as the oldest rocks. They are often heavily deformed and altered…
To model the motion of Earth's plates, Baumgardner uses a Fortran program he developed called TERRA that must be run on a supercomputer. It is one of four models in the world capable of modeling Earth in a global manner.
Plate tectonic theory seems to be well-founded, but the science does not fit easily with a recent one-year flood. However, as is the case in many other areas of human investigation, when we study origins issues, we must trust the details to an all-wise God, since His “foolishness” is greater than our wisdom.
To consider a much more rapid, catastrophic geological past challenges the naturalistic origin of life and of major categories of life forms. Do we want to know if that naturalistic interpretation is really correct or not? As scientists, are we open to consider what really happened in the past, or are we satisfied to limit our explanations to fit a pre-determined set of assumptions?
This article details examples of megabreccias of truly immense proportions, ranging from car-sized rocks to rocks a hundred kilometers in length. Such phenomena, spectacular as they seem, are not rare.
In spite of their proposed long ages of formation, the flat gaps show very little or no weathering or erosion weathering or erosion of the underlying layers. This clearly indicates a different mechanism is responsible for their formation and is what would be expected in the context of rapid deposition during the astonishing Genesis Flood described in the Bible.
There is significant scientific data consistent with the biblical record of history, EZT represents one scientific theory that seems to explain historical data from the Bible and data from paleontology thought to challenge the Biblical record.
There is broad agreement among Christian earth scientists who trust the biblical account that the general aspect of the fossil record is catastrophic—one of destruction and death.
EDITORIAL The geological column presents features that are difficult to explain, either from a secular or biblical viewpoint. Because the question is historical, scientific experiments are very limited in application to this question. More study is needed. Published in Origins, n. 61.
Traditional flood geology theory interprets much or all of the Phanerozoic part of the geologic column as formed during the one year of the biblical flood. Some geological and paleontological data are, in my opinion, difficult to explain in this theory. Wholistic geology endeavors to explain more of the earth science data while remaining true to a literal understanding of biblical creation and a global flood. Published in Origins, n. 61.
A collection of short commentaries on scientific papers published in 2007, covering topics such as Antarctic biogeography, body plan development, English Channel flood, snowball Earth, fossil collagen, death posture in fossils, dinosaur swimming, parallel speciation in songbirds, and a gene for dog size. Published in Origins, n. 61.
How do dinosaurs fit into a biblical worldview?
The Sixtymile Formation in the Grand Canyon is proposed as a possible geologic layer tmarking the beginning of the Genesis flood. Published in Origins n. 58.
A collection of short commentaries on scientific papers published in 2005, covering topics such as mutations, Upheaval Dome, Homo floresiensis, origin of life, dinosaur blood vessels, petrification of wood, carbon 14 in coal, and radiohalos.
A collection of short commentaries on scientific papers published in 2003, covering topics such as bird conservation, convergence in corals, biogeography, banded iron formations, Cretaceous and Permian mass extinctions, Mediterranean evaporite, Homo floresienses, Archaeopteryx brain, fossil patterns, fossil insect, fossil hummingbird, fossil mammals, and speciation. Published in Origins n. 57.
Ecological Zonation Theory suggests that the order of fossils in sedimentary basins reflects landscapes sequentially eroded by rising Flood waters.
Currently evolutionary geology explains the fossil record as the result of slow processes and change occurring over long periods of time. However, an increasing number of rock formations and fossil occurrences previously interpreted within such an evolutionary framework must be reinterpreted as the result of rapid, or even catastrophic, processes operating on a different time scale.