Baumgardner's model of the Flood
John Baumgardner is a geophysicist who works at Los Alamos Labs. He has
suggested a model of the Flood which some have said should not be ignored.
A little background is necessary. The geologic column is divided into 12
periods, from top to bottom are Quaternary, Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic,
Triassic, Permian, Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician, Cambrian,
Precambrian. Historically, the rocks from the Cambrian up to the Quaternary
are the rocks which have the macroscopic fossils. An old quotation
illustrating this is:
"One place or another on earth there are also rich fossil
deposits of almost all ages since the early Cambrian. But in
rocks earlier than the Cambrian, representing the great span of
upwards of 2,500,000,000 years fossils are generally lacking and
even when present may be difficult to interpret."~George Gaylord
Simpson, The Meaning of Evolution, (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1967), p. 18.
The earth is composed of sediments, crust(or lithosphere) and mantle lying
below the crust. The differences between the continents and the oceans are
shown in the illustration below:
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
s-sediment---sssssssssssssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
ppppppppppppppppppppppppppssssssssww-sea water-wwwwwwwwwwww
-----------------------------ssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
---granite crust-------------ssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
-----------------------------ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
-----------------------------bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
-----------------------------bb-oceanic basaltic crust-bbbb
-----------------------------bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
-----------------------------bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
-----------------------------mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
-----------------------------mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
-----------------------------mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm--mantle-mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The sediments (s and p) above are thickest on top of the contentental
granite crust(-) and the sediment thins as it goes over the basaltic oceanic
crust (b). The precambrian (less fossiliferous) sediments (p) lie only ontop
of the granitic crust and no precambrian sediments are found in the ocean
basins. The fossiliferous sediments (s) lies above the precambrian
sediments. Over large areas of the world there is an unconformity between
the Cambrian and the Precambrian. This means that the rocks below the
unconformity lie at a different angle to those above the unconformity. This
can be seen below where the change in dirction of the between the lower (\)
and the upper (-) represents an erosional interval.
------
------
\\\\\\
Both the granitic crust and the basaltic crust lie atop the earths
mantle(m). The oceanic crust (b) is thinner than the granitic crust (-)
Baumgardner places the flood at the boundary between p and s, the
fossiliferous and generally non-fossiliferous sediments. He writes:
"It is that the beginning of the Flood must correlate with the abrupt
discontinuity in the fossil record at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary.
This point in the geological record not only marks a sharply-defined
beginning to the abundant occurrence of fossils, but it also represents a
nearly worldwide
stratigraphic unconfomrity in the rocks themselves." (Baumgardner 1986, p. 17)
Baumgardner accepts the evidence for the former uniion of all the continents
into a single continental landmass, known as Pangea (Baumgardner 1986, p.
18) and he believes that the earth is only a few thousand years
old(Baumgardner p. 21) . This means that the entire ocean floor which
separates the continents was molten at the time of the flood and has now
cooled and solidified to a depth of 5 km or more. All of this has taken
place in the past few thousand years.
Baumgardner believes that the continental shields (regions of thick granitic
crust which exists on every continent) are remnants of the preflood
continental lithosphere. Such a shield area is found in Canada north of the
Great Lakes and surrounds Hudson Bay. Baumgardner says that the preflood
oceanic crust broke and catastrophically plunged through the lithosphere to
the bottom of the mantle, pulling the continents behind them.
He claims the following effects:
1. a rise in sea level because the cold surface oceanic crust was replaced
by hot (more expanded) material. The thermally expanded material occupies
more space and raises the sea level. (Baumgardner 1986, p. 22)
2.Upheaval of the continental regions (Ibid.)
3.Huge outpourings of volcanic magma (Baumgardner 1990, p. 36)
4.The steam released from the magma (approximately 2% by mass) would create
the rain (Baumgardner, 1990, p. 36)
5. the formation of the Precambrian cambrian unconformity.
Problems with Baumgarnder's Runaway Subduction
Baumgardner writes:
"If the onset of the biblical Flood corresponds to the profound
stratigraphical and paleontological discontinuity at the
Precambbrian-Cambrian boundary, then a number of logical deductions follow.
Now only were huge quantities of sediment deposited on the continental
survaces, but a staggering amount of tectonic change also accompanied the
Flood. Not only did the earth's surface participate in this tectonic
change, but the mantle also must have played a critical role. That no
pre-Mesozoic ocean floor currently exists means that the entire pre-Flood
oceanic lithosphere has been recycled into the mantle since the beginneing
of the Flood just a few thousand years ago." (Baumgardner 1986, p. 24)
and
"If the earliest Cambrian rocks mark the beginning stage of Noah's Flood
just a few thousand yeras ago, then most of the subsequent geological
record, from Cambrian to recent, must be the product of a global catastrophe
of a magnitude beyond the ability of the human mind to imagine. This
catastrophe must involve, for example, deposition of more than a mile of
sediment on the average on top of the normally high-standing continents,
uplift and ersion of mountain belts like the Appalachians, uplift of all the
young mountain belts like the Andes, Alps, and Himalayas, formation of all
the coal and oil deposits, formation of all the present day ocean floor, and
separation of continents by several thousands of kilometers. The time scale
for the most intense phase of the catastrophe is constrained by the Biblical
description to be months, although it likely required centuries for the
earth to return to what one would consider a state of reasonable tectonic
and climatic stability." (Baumgardner, 1990, p. 35)
First problem is that Baumgardner's belief in the worldwide unconfomity
between the fossiliferous Cambrian and the non-fossiliferous Precambrian.
There are lots of regions around the world where there is no unconformity
between these two sedimentary realms. In Siberia the Precambrian strata are
totally conformable with the Cambrian strata. There is no unconformity.
Even the creationist Henry Morris acknowledges this. (Morris,, 1985, p.
243). Cheryl Simon wrote of the rocks at the Cambrian /Precambrian boundary
in Siberia:
"These rocks along the Aldan River in Siberia span the boundary with little or
no disruption, and clearly log the evolution of shelled animals and their soft-
bodied antecedents." Simon, 1983, p. 300
If, as the rock record shows, that there was nothing but tranquil deposition
in Siberia at the time that Baumgardner says the flood was ravaging the rest
of the earth, he needs to explain this. Several other areas of the world
also lack an unconformity at this time, Examples are Kunming, China, and
Fortune Head Newfoundland. (Landing, 1994, p. 179) The conformity of the
Siberian Cambrian-Precambrian record is quite inconsistent with
Baumgardner's claims for the flood.
Secondly, there is no sudden appearance of fossil life. Sponges appear
before the Cambrian during the Vendian, (Brasier et al, 1997, p. 303-307)
i.e., before the flood. Precambrian life extends into the Cambrian. There is
no evidence for the onset of the global Flood at this point in time.
Thirdly, Baumgardner's view all of the global volumes of volcanic rocks
would be required to be deposited in one year. This raises two issues, the
thermal issue and the breathability issue. Some of the outpourings of
volcanic rocks have been truly immense. The Deccan volcanic traps emitted
1.7 x 10^6 cubic kilometers of molten material and the East Coast of North
America also has a huge volcanic outpouring of 1.6 x 10^6 km^3. (Holbrook,
1993, p. 433-436). There are many other flood basalts such as the one on
the Washington/Oregon region known as the Columbia Pleateau. The volcanics
are up to 5000 feet thick there. Siberia also has a massive outpouring of
volcanism. Assuming that the volume of basalt output on the continents
during the year is 10 times the Deccan volcanic traps, then there are 1.7 x
10^7 cubic kilometers of molten material. Since the ocean basins are also
molten, the earth must radiate heat over the year at prodigious rates. In
fact in the math section below the references I show that if Baumgardner is
correct the earth must have radiated energy at 3 times the rate of energy we
receive from the sun just to get rid of the volcanic heat. The earth would
feel like it had four sun's shining on it.
The toxic gases emitted by such a volcanic outpouring would make the
atmosphere unbreathable. Paricutin, a Mexican volcano emitted .2 cubic
kilometers of magma during a year. and emitted 18,000 tons of water each
day. (Press and Siever, 1982, p. 362) This works out that one percent of
material emitted by the volcano was gaseous. Hydrogen sulfide ( H2S--an
extremely toxic gas) constitutes about .000225 of the steam (Bowen, 1973, p.
208). Working this out (see the second part of the math section) shows that
the atmosphere would have had 250 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide
assuming that it was thoroughly mixed throughout the entire atmosphere. But
since this is a heavy gas, and it is coming out of the earth, it will be
more concentrated at the earth's surface. I found this on the internet
"Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a good example of an acutely toxic substance
which is immediately lethal at relatively low concentrations. Exposure to a
concentration of only 300 PPM (parts per million) for a period of 30
minutes is enough to render a worker unconscious. Exposure to a 1,000
PPM concentration of H2S in air produces rapid paralysis of the respiratory
system, cardiac arrest, and death within minutes. "
(http://www.biosystems.com/appnotes/perilsof.htm)
At 100 ppm hydrogen sulfide will destroy the nerves in the olfactory region
of the brain. You lose the ability to smell. Continued exposure brings
greater nerve damage. I was trained in dealing with H2S as part of my work.
The trainers told us that if you smell H2S then sniff again and don't smell
H2S, you are probably a goner. We saw films of rats being given successively
larger doses of H2S. It is an ugly way to go.
One woman at a school who was exposed to levels of H2S of between 200 and
500 parts per million missed 3 months work because of this exposure.
(http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/clearview/magruder.html)
Baumgardner believes, as cited above that coal and oil must have all been
formed during the year of the flood. This requires that the coal deposits
be the result of one preflood biosphere which was buried. Considering that
there are 45 times more carbon in coal deposits around the world than there
is carbon in the entire biosphere today, this seems hard to swallow.
(Morton, 1984). If one accounts wants a more lush world, before the flood,
to account for the problem, one must consider that there is so much biomass
involved that there would be no place to live in such a pre-flood world.
Other Problems that Baumgardner admits to are:
In his 1994 version, he admits that the rise in sea level which he maintains
through out the former years, will not be large enough to cover the
continents. (Baumgardner, 1994, p. 61)
"A further major problem in interpreting geologic history in
light of the biblical Flood concerns the cooling of vast bodies of
rock on a short time scale. Since all the present-day ocean floor is
no older than Mesozoic, placing the onset of the Flood at the
Precambrian-Cambrian boundary means that the present oceanic
lithosphere must have cooled from near the molten state to its
current temperature distribution in only a few thosand years. Based
on measured values for the thermal conductivity of mantle rocks and
minerals, conductive cooling of the lithosphere to depths of tens of
kilometers on a time scale of a few thousand years is negligible."
(Baumgardner, 1986, p. 21)
He appeals to miraculous cooling in order to account for the thermal problems.
he writes:
"These observations all point to the need to remove large amounts of heat
from extensive bodies of rock in the earth in order to account for the
geological change proposed for the Flood. It is the author's conclusion
that this cannot happen within the framework of time-invariant physics."
Baumgardner, 1986, p. 21.
Since only God can change the physical constants, this is an appeal (without
specificity) to some change somewhere in the physical world. It would be
much better if he would define what God changed.
Baumgardner's original suggestion wouldn't work if the observed viscosity
values were used. Thus he wrote:
"Since the constant viscosity treatment does not permit the viscosity
reducing mechanism described earlier, a simulation was performed in which
the viscosity for the whole mantle was set to a low value of 10^14
Pa-s."(Baumgardner, 1986, p. 23)
This means that if you don't like the result, simply change the physics.
I think the worst critisism is his mixing of miracle with science where he
needs it.
He writes:
"Finally, it seems evident that the Flood catastrophe cannot be understood
or modeled in terms of time-invariant laws of nature. Intervention by God
in the natural order during and after the catastrophe appears to be a
logical necessity. Manifestations of the invervention appear to include an
enhanced rate of nuclear decay during the event and a loss of thermal energy
afterward." (Baumgardner 1986, p. 24)
Once he brings the miraculous in, which is certainly a possibility with God,
then all science goes out the window. Did God miraculously take care of the
hydrogen sulfide? Did God miraculously cause the oceans to cover all the
continents in Baumgardner's model? How do we know God used runaway
subduction? Why didn't God simply use his power to make water, flood the
earth, then remove it? How do we know that God behaved as Baumgardner
requires? Isn't this making God subject to Baumgardner's whims? With all
these problems, why must we pay any attention to what Baumgardner suggests?
references.
Baumgardner, John R., 1986 "Numerical simulation of the Large-Scale Tectonic
Changes Accompanying the Flood," in Robert Walsh, Christopher Brooks and
Richard S. Crowell, editors, Proc. First International Conference on
Creationism, II, (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 1986), pp 17-30,
Baumgardner, John R., 1990, "3-D Finite Element Simulation of the Global
Tectonic Changes Accompanying Noah's Flood," Proc. Second International
Conference on Creationism, II, (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship,
1990), pp 35-45
Baumgardner, John R., 1994, "Computer Modeling of the Large-Scale Tectonics
Associated with the Genesis Flood," Proc. Third International Conference on
Creationism, (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 1990), pp 49-62
Bowen, R. G. 1973. "Environmental Impact of Geothermal Development" in Paul
Kruger and Carel Otte, Geothermal Energy, (Stanford, Stanford University
Press, 1973).
Bowring, Sam and John Grotzinger, 1993, "Calibrating the Cambrian Explosion",
Geotimes, November 1993, p. 6.
Brasier Martin, et al, "Ediacarian Sponge spicule clusters from wouthwestern
Mongolia and the Origins of the Cambrian Fauna," Geology, April 1997.
Holbrook, W. S. and P. B. Kelemen, 1993. "Large Igneous Province on the U.
S. Atlantic Margin and
Implications for the Magmatism during Continental Breakup Nature July 29,
1993, p. 433-436
Landing, Ed, "Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary Global Stratotype Ratified and a
New Perspective of Cambrian Time," Geology 22:179-182
Morris, Henry, 1985, Creation and the Modern Christian (El Cajon, Master
Book Publishers, 1985).
Morton, G. R. (1984). The Carbon Problem. Creation Research Society
Quarterly. 20:212-219.
Press, Frank, and Raymond Siever, 1982, Earth (San Francisco: Freeman, 1982).
Simon, Cheryl, 1983, "In with the Older," Science News, 123, (May
7, 1983), p. 300-301.
****Math
The are 5.14 x 10^14 square meters on the earth's surface. 1.7 x 10^7 cubic
kilometers is 1.7 x 10^15 cubic meters So the Volcanic material ejected on
the continents would cover the entire earth to a depth of 3.3 meters. Since
the oceans are 70% of the surface area, there are 3.57 x 10^14 square
meters in the ocean basins with a depth of 5000 meters of molten rock
created by Baumgardner's model. This means that there is enough molten
material in the ocean basins to cover the entire earth to a depth of 3500
meters. This yields a total of 3503 meters of molten material average over
the whole earth. The heat capacity of molten rocks is about .2 calories per
gram per degree or 200 calories per kilogram per degree. Basalt has a
density of 3300 kg/cubic meter. The mass of molten material is 3300 * 3503
* 5.11 x 10^14 = 5.9 x 10^21 kilograms. Assuming the current temperature of
this basalt to be 200 deg C and when molten it was 1100 deg. C, this is a
loss of 900 deg C.
The heat radiated by the earth must have been
200 * 900 * 5.9 x 10^21= 1 x 10^27 calories.
Each square meter must emit
2,080,782,000,000 calories during the year.
This equates to 6.5 calories per square centimeter per second. which is
more than 3 times the amount of energy we receive from the sun. Considering
that the sun was also shining, this represents more than 4 times the energy
received by the noonday sun.
*** second part of math section***
5.9 x 10^21 kg volcanic material * .01 * .000225= 1.3 x 10^16 kg of hydrogen
sulfide.
The total mass of the atmosphere is 5.2 x 10^18 kg. (see Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics, 1966-67, p. f117.
The atmosphere would be .25% hydrogen sulfide. I believe this is a lethal
dose. The recommended time weighted average of exposure which will cause no
damage to people is 10 parts per million or .001%.
(http://www.airproducts.com/specgas/puregas2/h2s.htm)
***
glenn
Foundation, Fall and Flood
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm