Opals Form Rapidly Within the Creationist Time Frame
by Owen Borville
January 25, 2019
Geology
Opal is a hard, naturally occurring material and popular gemstone that forms inside the earth from a solution of silica (silicon dioxide) and water. As geothermally-heated subsurface waters flow, silica is acquired from surrounding rock and dissolved into the solution. This silica rich solution is carried into faults and void space inside the earth and as the water evaporates, the silica precipitates into solid deposits. Evolutionists believe that this process takes millions of years, however, laboratory research has proven otherwise. More than 90 percent of the world's supply of opal comes from Australia while smaller quantities are found in every continent.
Work by Len Cram of Australia has given evidence that opals can form quickly in the time frame of a few months. Cram used an electrically-charged solution (electrolyte), silica, water, aluminum, and feldspar rock to spur a chemical reaction that would grow new opals inside glass jars. Cram also uses the same soil to grow the new opals in which the opals grow naturally in an effort to recreate natural conditions as much as possible. The opals that Cram created were indistinguishable from natural opals, even by trained scientists (1).
Some fossilized bones have also become "opalized" as the process that creates natural opals can be applied to fossils. The rapid time frame of opal formation also helps explain the rapid formation of opalized fossils in agreement with the Biblical time scale. (2) Creationists believe that the global Genesis Flood less than 5,000 years ago created the ideal conditions for opal formation with abundant silica from sandy sediment carried by the floodwaters.
(1) Snelling, A., Growing Opals—Australian Style, Creation 12(1):10–15, 1989.
(2) Snelling, A. Creating Opals, Creation 17(1):14–17—December 1994.
by Owen Borville
January 25, 2019
Geology
Opal is a hard, naturally occurring material and popular gemstone that forms inside the earth from a solution of silica (silicon dioxide) and water. As geothermally-heated subsurface waters flow, silica is acquired from surrounding rock and dissolved into the solution. This silica rich solution is carried into faults and void space inside the earth and as the water evaporates, the silica precipitates into solid deposits. Evolutionists believe that this process takes millions of years, however, laboratory research has proven otherwise. More than 90 percent of the world's supply of opal comes from Australia while smaller quantities are found in every continent.
Work by Len Cram of Australia has given evidence that opals can form quickly in the time frame of a few months. Cram used an electrically-charged solution (electrolyte), silica, water, aluminum, and feldspar rock to spur a chemical reaction that would grow new opals inside glass jars. Cram also uses the same soil to grow the new opals in which the opals grow naturally in an effort to recreate natural conditions as much as possible. The opals that Cram created were indistinguishable from natural opals, even by trained scientists (1).
Some fossilized bones have also become "opalized" as the process that creates natural opals can be applied to fossils. The rapid time frame of opal formation also helps explain the rapid formation of opalized fossils in agreement with the Biblical time scale. (2) Creationists believe that the global Genesis Flood less than 5,000 years ago created the ideal conditions for opal formation with abundant silica from sandy sediment carried by the floodwaters.
(1) Snelling, A., Growing Opals—Australian Style, Creation 12(1):10–15, 1989.
(2) Snelling, A. Creating Opals, Creation 17(1):14–17—December 1994.
