Young World After All

Next, these rocks undergo erosion, which is the process of moving sediments from one place to another. Then, these sediments are deposited all at one place and over time they start to converge and cement as layers which are also known as strata. As time keeps going, new sediments deposit and cement together over old ones forming new layers. This is a repetitive process that eventually build up layers to make up a Sedimentary rock. Approximately 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. As you can see, sedimentary rock formation takes an excessive amount of time.

Evidence in the Mosaic Canyon; however, do suggest that the area was covered by a warm

Gerta Keller, professor of geosciences at Princeton University, has recently conducted research on the Chicxulub asteroid in which she analyzed new core samples taken from the asteroid site (Botzer 2004). These samples indicate that the impact that occurred at Chicxulub actually predated the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, which occurred at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary about sixty-five million years ago. Keller claims that the Chicxulub impact occurred approximately 300,000 years before the extinction (Keller 2004). Although previous researchers estimated that the Chicxulub asteroid was the cause of the extinctions, there had always been doubts about the exact age and size of the crater, and about the origin of the “mega tsunami deposits” that were located within the crater (Keller 2004). The focus of Keller’s recent research was on finding some answers to these questions. To do so she analyzed Cretaceous limestone, dolomite, and anhydrite deposits as the site of the Chicxulub crater (Keller 2004).

Despite a family history of geophysicists and rock enthusiasts, I’ve never found the subject of rocks particularly fascinating. However, an exploration of Earth Science has lead me to the discovery that rocks are actually hidden gems (often literally), and that there’s more to the topic than one would think.

Impact craters are geologic structures formed when a large meteorite, asteroid or comet smashes in to a planet or a satellite. Meteorites are small rocks in space that hit the earth's atmosphere at a high velocity. Throughout their history they have heavily bombarded all the inner bodies in our solar system. In this experiment we will use marbles as our meteorites, these will be free falling objects that will be used to copy an asteroid impact. The surfaces of the Moon, Mars and Mercury, where other geologic processes stopped millions of years ago, record this bombardment clearly. On the Earth, however, which has been

There is an abundant amount of history buried inside the walls of Little Cottonwood Canyon. This mountain range has existed since the Ice Age which was roughly 14,000-30,000 years ago. Consequently, the Ice Age and Lake Bonneville created a Delta at the base of the canyon and a long creek that carves its way down the mountain (Wilkerson 1987). It also created Cirques; which is a crescent formed slope on the faces of the mountains (Richmond 1964). Little Cottonwood Canyon also lies on an active fault, the Wasatch fault, and it has been active for the past 15 million years. This fault in the last 6000 years has had around 19 major earthquakes that instigated a large movement of about 6-10 feet of

Mesa Verde National Park on the Colorado Plateau contains many geological aspects of interest, including its sedimentary rock layers, its canyons, its alcoves utilized by ancient people and how these alcoves were formed. Mesa Verde National Park is located in the southwest corner of Colorado, close to the Four Corners area, on top of a high mesa overlooking the Mancos River (Harris et al. 2004). The park, covering 81 square miles, consists of several main sedimentary formations that are characteristic to the park (Encyclopedia Britannica 2015). Canyons are carved into the sedimentary rock, with the cave dwellings found high on their steep walls. These dwellings are an especially unique aspect to the Mesa Verde National Park, and are built out of large alcoves. The alcoves were produced by weathering and erosion of the sedimentary rock type. To better understand how these alcoves formed, we must understand the geology of Mesa Verde National Park and how it has developed over history.

This is a comparative essay and its purpose is to compare old-Earth and young-Earth viewpoints on Dating the rocks of the Grand Canyon. There are different views on this and no scientific method that can prove (completely) the age of the universe or the earth. There are the use of different types of calculations that can provide some guesses on the age of the earth. Many things need to be assumed such as a beginning date and the speed of change along with varying increases and decreases of material over time. “Young-Earth Creationism” (YEC) is based on a precept that earth and the universe were created by God, only 6,000 years ago in six days. Their position is that by examining geological records the scientific details of

Sedimentary rocks interpret dinosaur habitats through encased environmental structures of the past. Through sedimentary rocks, paleoecologists’ can examine the arranged formation of sedimentary structures to specify what type of environment the dinosaurs’ lived in. An example of a specific sedimentary rock structure can be seen through formed weathering and ripple marks by how wind and sand formed distinct patterns in the past layered sediment. These arrangements provide interpretations on the structure of the sediment and the habitat of encased fossils, through modern day comparisons

The land rose up and created a precipitous eastern edge of the batholith and a gentle western edge. 10 million years ago, uplift, which is the vertical rise of Earth’s surface due to natural causes, started to occur and accelerated quickly. Soon, the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range that we know today towered 14,000 feet in elevation. Throughout uplift, cracks formed in the granite of the mountains. They formed due to the pressure that came with the uplift. The erosion that stripped away most of the overlying rocks caused the remaining rock to expand and crack. These cracks are still forming today and they provide a template for future erosion.

Weathering, geologic processes such as erosion, and climatic shifts allow for this immense desert ecosystem to continually evolve and change which has taken place for millions of years. This geologically wealthy environment is composed of alternating flat-lying layers of soft and hard deposits of mostly sedimentary rocks. Interchanging slopes and cliffs along the landscape helped form these layers of rock which can be seen fully exposed in areas of the mesa. Deposition of this landscape mainly occurred during the Permian, Pennsylvanian, Triassic and Jurassic time periods. The assortment of warm hues of sandstone were produced by varying levels of iron oxide minerals during formation.

A period of volcanism resulted in igneous intrusions within the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province that was sourced from the upper mantle about 26. 6 billion years ago and is associated with parallel dikes and sills (Higley, 2007). Igneous rocks are common within the Raton Basin and include Tertiary dikes and sills that range in age from 6.7 to 29 5 million years ago (Flores and Bader, 1999). One of the main differences between dikes and sills is that dikes are longer lived magma conduits and sills are features that form when magma is in neutral buoyancy with the surrounding rock (Rooper et al., 2006). These volcanic events are associated with hydrothermal alteration of coal within the basin (Higley, 2007).

The final piece of evidence for a worldwide flood is the Grand Canyon. An article describing the Grand Canyon states, “The general scientific consensus, updated at a 2010 conference, holds that the Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon beginning 5 million to 6 million years ago.” (Zimmermann, 2013) However, it is obvious that the Colorado river could not have carved the Grand Canyon. It is much too small to carve such an enormous monument, and it shows a surprising lack of erosion for being millions of years old. (The Grand Canyon, n.d.) One problem with evolutionists’ theory is the numerous side canyons formed just as deep with no visible water source. (Brown, 1995-2013) Also, why are there no other Grand Canyons around the world that were created with larger and more powerful rivers? (Brown, 1995-2013) A massive amount of around eight hundred cubic miles of sediments were excavated from the Grand Canyon, yet the Colorado River’s delta, the section at the mouth of the river where sediments eroded by the river are deposited, contains less than one percent of this material. (Brown, 1995-2013) So where did it all go? A worldwide flood is the most plausible explanation. As the crust buckled and shifted, the water from the flood drained off of high levels into the ocean basins and any low places. (Brown, 1995-2013) The Colorado Plateau was lifted around six thousand two hundred feet, carrying two large post-Flood lakes with it, the Grand Lake and Hopi Lake. (Brown,

The Grand Canyon has plenty of volcanic rocks near the bottom and the top. ICR, Institute for Creative Research, has been involved in a project for years to date these volcanic rocks. this study has come a long way to show that many of the Grand Canyon strata could have formed rapidly, and that the erosion of the Canyon by the Colorado River has not been going on for millions of years.

Surprisingly, the clay held almost 30 times more iridium than the limestone layers above and below the clay. Similar layers in other parts of the world gave the same results. The conclusion was that a giant meteorite hit the Earth 65 million years ago and had released a large