Allan and I had a long discussion about Ager a year or so ago on this list (or
maybe it was SCICHR, I forget). Anyway, YECs love this quote always use it out of
context to imply that Ager's ideas somehow support the idea of a global catastrophic
flood and the sedimentary processes that YEC's propose. Ager himself stated in one
of his later books that YEC is complete and utter nonsense and that his ideas in no
way support their agenda (I can dig up the exact quote if anyone cares). What Ager
did propose is that the strata we see in the sedimentary record are records of
"catastrophic" events. What did he mean by "catastrophic" events? Storms, hurricanes,
turbitity currents, etc. How many such "catastrophic" events are preserved in the
stratigraphic record? Millions. It's a long jump from Ager's ideas to the idea that
ALL sedimentary rocks record ONE global flood. Besides which, I think most geologists
think Ager overstated his case a bit (although the types of "catastrophic" events he
proposed are certainly recorded in the stratigraphic record). For the record, I am
a geologist and have taught a course called "Sedimentary Petrology and Depositional
Environments" here at Calvin so I'm pretty familiar with Ager's work and the latest
thinking in sedimentary geology. So, the next time you hear a YEC throw out that
quote by Ager, kindly remind them that Ager believed YEC to be complete nonsense and
his ideas in no way support their flood model.
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich Assistant professor of geology Department of Geology and Geography sschimmr@calvin.edu (office) Calvin College schimmri@earthlink.net (home) 3201 Burton Street SE 616-957-7053, 616-957-6501 (fax) Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 http://home.earthlink.net/~schimmrich/