Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Recent Developments in Young-Earth Creationist Geology

  • Published:
Science & Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Young-earth creationism has undergone a shift in emphasis toward building of historical models that incorporate Biblical and scientific evidence and the acceptance of scientific conclusions that were formerly rejected. The RATE Group admitted that massive amounts of radioactive decay occurred during earth history but proposed a period of accelerated decay during Noah’s Flood to fit the resulting history into a young-earth timeframe. Finding a mechanism for the acceleration and dealing with the excessive heat and radiation it would generate posed major problems for the project. Catastrophic plate tectonics was proposed to explain continental movements in a short timeframe and serve as a trigger for Noah’s Flood, but other creationists rejected the idea citing hopeless chronological problems. Creationists have also sought to explain the order of the fossil record and the Ice Age in a young-earth timeframe. An examination of these efforts demonstrates the anti-scientific nature of using the Bible as a non-negotiable framework for earth history.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Austin SA (1994) Grand canyon: monument to catastrophe. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin SA, Baumgardner JR, Humphreys DR, Snelling AA, Vardiman L, Wise KP (1994) Catastrophic plate tectonics: a global Flood model of earth history. In: Walsh RE (ed) Proceedings of the third international conference on creationism. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 609–621

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (1987) Numerical simulations of the large-scale tectonic changes accompanying the Flood. In: Walsh RE, Brooks CL, Crowell RS (eds) Proceedings of the first international conference on creationism, vol 2. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 17–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (1990) 3-D finite element simulation of the global tectonic changes accompanying Noah’s Flood. In: Walsh RE, Brooks CL (eds) Proceedings of the second international conference on creationism, vol 2. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 35–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (2002a) Dealing carefully with the data. J Creat 16(1):68–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (2002b) A constructive quest for truth. J Creation 16(1):78–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (2003) Catastrophic plate tectonics: the physics behind the Genesis Flood. In: Ivey RL Jr (ed) Proceedings of the fifth international conference on creationism. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 113–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumgardner JR (2005) 14C evidence for a recent global flood and a young earth. In: Vardiman L, Snelling AA, Chaffin EF (eds) Radioisotopes and the age of the earth, vol II: results of a young-earth creationist research initiative. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, pp 587–630

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark H (1946) The new diluvialism. Science Publications, Angwin

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark H (1968) Fossils, flood, and fire. Outdoor Pictures, Escondida

    Google Scholar 

  • DeYoung D (2005) Thousands… not billions: challenging an icon of evolution, questioning the age of the earth. Master Books, Forest Green

    Google Scholar 

  • Froede CR Jr (2000) Questions regarding the Wilson cycle in plate tectonics and catastrophic plate tectonics. In: Reed JK (ed) Plate tectonics: a different view. Creation Research Society, St. Joseph, pp 147–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Horstmeyer MF, Baumgardner JR (2003) What initiated the Flood cataclysm? In: Ivey RL Jr (ed) Proceedings of the fifth international conference on creationism. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 155–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys DR (1986) Reversals of the earth’s magnetic field during the Genesis Flood. In: Walsh RE, Brooks CL, Crowell RS (eds) Proceedings of the first international conference on creationism, vol 2. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 113–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys DR (1990) Physical mechanism for reversals of the earth’s magnetic field during the Flood. In: Walsh RE, Brooks CL (eds) Proceedings of the second international conference on creationism, vol 2. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 130–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys DR (2000) Accelerated nuclear decay: a viable hypothesis? In: Vardiman L, Snelling AA, Chaffin EF (eds) Radioisotopes and the age of the earth: a young-earth creationist research initiative. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, pp 333–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys DR (2005) Young helium diffusion age of zircons supports accelerated nuclear decay. In: Vardiman L, Snelling AA, Chaffin EF (eds) Radioisotopes and the age of the earth, vol II: results of a young-earth creationist research initiative. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, pp 25–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh FL (1941) Fundamental Biology. Self-published, Lincoln

  • Marsh FL (1944) Evolution, creation, and science. Review and Herald, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris HM (1972) The remarkable birth of planet earth. Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris HM (1974) Scientific creationism. Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris JD (2003) Creation ministry’s strategy for the future. In: Fifth international conference on creationism, evening session 1, audio MP3. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh

  • Oard MJ (1990) An ice age caused by the Genesis Flood. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (1997) Ancient ice ages or gigantic submarine landslides? Creation Research Society Monograph Series, No. 5

  • Oard MJ (2000) Subduction unlikely—plate tectonics improbable. In: Reed JK (ed) Plate tectonics: a different view. Creation Research Society, St. Joseph, pp 93–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (2002a) Is catastrophic plate tectonics part of earth history? J Creat 16(1):64–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (2002b) Does the catastrophic plate tectonics model assume too much uniformitarianism? J Creat 16(1):73–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (2002c) Dealing carefully with the data. J Creat 16(1):82–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (2005) The frozen record: examining the ice core history of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Oard MJ (Undated) Evidence for the run-off of the flood waters. http://www.answersingenesis.org/events/bio.aspx?Speaker_ID=24

  • Price GM (1916) Back to the Bible or the New Protestantism. Review and Herald Pub, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Price GM (1935) The modern Flood theory of geology. Fleming H. Revell, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed JK, Bennett CB, Froede CR Jr, Oard MJ, Woodmorappe J (2000) An introduction to plate tectonics and catastrophic plate tectonics. In: Reed JK (ed) Plate tectonics: a different view. Creation Research Society, St. Joseph, pp 11–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Vardiman L (1993) Ice cores and the age of the earth. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Vardiman L (2001) Climates before and after the Genesis Flood: numerical models and their implications. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Vardiman L (2005a) Introduction. In: Vardiman L, Snelling AA, Chaffin EF (eds) Radioisotopes and the age of the earth, vol II: results of a young-earth creationist research initiative. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, pp 1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Vardiman L (2005b) What comes after RATE? Acts and facts, impact article #387. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon

    Google Scholar 

  • Vardiman L, Austin SA, Baumgardner JR, Boyd SW, Chaffin EF, DeYoung DB et al (2005) Summary of evidence for a young earth from the RATE project. In: Vardiman L, Snelling AA, Chaffin EF (eds) Radioisotopes and the age of the earth, vol II: results of a young-earth creationist research initiative. Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, pp 735–772

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitcomb JC, Morris HM (1961) The Genesis Flood: the biblical record and its scientific implications. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise KP (2002) Faith, form, and time. Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise KP (2003) The pre-Flood floating forest: a study in paleontological pattern recognition. In: Ivey RL Jr (ed) Proceedings of the fifth international conference on creationism. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, pp 371–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise KP (2005) The flores skeleton and human baraminology. Occasional Papers of the Baraminology Study Group, No. 6

  • Wood TC (2002) The AGEing process: rapid post-Flood intrabaraminic diversification caused by altruistic genetic elements (AGEs). Origins 54:5–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood TC (2006a) The Chimpanzee genome and the problem of biological similarity. Occasional Papers of the Baraminology Study Group, No. 7

  • Wood TC (2006b) The current status of baraminology. Creat Res Soc Q 43(3):149–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood TC, Murray KJ (2003) Understanding the pattern of life: origins and organization of the species. Broadman & Holman, Nashville

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA

    Timothy H. Heaton

Authors
  1. Timothy H. Heaton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy H. Heaton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heaton, T.H. Recent Developments in Young-Earth Creationist Geology. Sci & Educ 18, 1341–1358 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-008-9162-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-008-9162-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation