Rapid Formation and Cooling of Granite and Radioactive Polonium Halos
by Owen Borville
January 28, 2019
Geology
Evolutionists and old-earth advocates have used the perceived slow cooling of granite produced by plutons around the world for evidence of millions of years of time and a response to the young-earth position. However, young-earth creationists have countered the old-earth advocates by giving evidence that granite could have cooled quickly with in the creationist time frame of 6,000 years since the creation week. First, let us define granite: the very hard, course-grained, granular, crystalline igneous rock containing light colored quartz and feldspar minerals along with darker-colored mica and amphibole minerals and small amount of other minerals. Igneous rocks are formed as magma from inside the Earth rises toward the surface and cools just below the surface as granite does or on the surface as basaltic lava. Granite is well-known for its use in the construction industry and domestic counter-tops while it is mined from large mountain ranges around the world where igneous plutons from inside the earth have uplifted the ground surface. Granite is also the most common igneous rock found on the Earth's surface and well-known locations for granite include Yosemite Valley, California, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, Stone Mountain, Georgia, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Old-Earth geologists believe that the size of crystal grains in granite is dependent on the time allowed for cooling below the surface and therefore believe granite needs millions of years to cool off from its initial state of molten magma. In addition, old-earth geologists deny the year-long global Genesis Flood that covered the entire Earth 4,500 years ago, an event that would have saturated the surface and bedrock with water and would affect the cooling rate of granite and the speed in which large crystal grains form. Old-earth geologists believe that rapid cooling of magma would produce fine-grained rock with small or invisible crystal grains, which is known as rhyolite. Creationist research has provided evidence that the crystal size in granites depends on other factors than cooling rate (1), such as:
A) The nucleation rate of new crystals, or the rate at which enough of the chemical components of the crystal can come together in one place without dissolving
B) Magma viscosity, or the forces that cause resistance to flow of a fluid
C) The original composition of the melt
D) The pressure variation in the magma chamber
E) The amount of volatiles
Creationists also explain that laboratory experiments have shown that course-grained granite can form quickly.
(1) Journal of Creation 17(2):49–55 August 2003
Polonium Halos and Young Timeline
Physicist Robert V. Gentry has discovered the existence of polonium halos, or microscopic-sized, concentric circular rings found inside granite and other rocks that give evidence of a rapid formation of granite and therefore a young Earth. Some of these halos also featured pleochroism, or color variations in the rings. Polonium halos are produced by the radioactive decay of polonium inside granite. Because the polonium has a very rapid existence and very short half-life, and the fact that these polonium halos are preserved inside the granite indicates that formation of granite was very quick and not over millions of years as the evolutionists believe. If granite cooled slowly, the polonium halos would disappear and would not be visible, according to creationists, therefore implying a rapid formation. Polonium halos have been found in granites around the world, giving strong evidence for a young Earth described by the creationist model.
by Owen Borville
January 28, 2019
Geology
Evolutionists and old-earth advocates have used the perceived slow cooling of granite produced by plutons around the world for evidence of millions of years of time and a response to the young-earth position. However, young-earth creationists have countered the old-earth advocates by giving evidence that granite could have cooled quickly with in the creationist time frame of 6,000 years since the creation week. First, let us define granite: the very hard, course-grained, granular, crystalline igneous rock containing light colored quartz and feldspar minerals along with darker-colored mica and amphibole minerals and small amount of other minerals. Igneous rocks are formed as magma from inside the Earth rises toward the surface and cools just below the surface as granite does or on the surface as basaltic lava. Granite is well-known for its use in the construction industry and domestic counter-tops while it is mined from large mountain ranges around the world where igneous plutons from inside the earth have uplifted the ground surface. Granite is also the most common igneous rock found on the Earth's surface and well-known locations for granite include Yosemite Valley, California, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, Stone Mountain, Georgia, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Old-Earth geologists believe that the size of crystal grains in granite is dependent on the time allowed for cooling below the surface and therefore believe granite needs millions of years to cool off from its initial state of molten magma. In addition, old-earth geologists deny the year-long global Genesis Flood that covered the entire Earth 4,500 years ago, an event that would have saturated the surface and bedrock with water and would affect the cooling rate of granite and the speed in which large crystal grains form. Old-earth geologists believe that rapid cooling of magma would produce fine-grained rock with small or invisible crystal grains, which is known as rhyolite. Creationist research has provided evidence that the crystal size in granites depends on other factors than cooling rate (1), such as:
A) The nucleation rate of new crystals, or the rate at which enough of the chemical components of the crystal can come together in one place without dissolving
B) Magma viscosity, or the forces that cause resistance to flow of a fluid
C) The original composition of the melt
D) The pressure variation in the magma chamber
E) The amount of volatiles
Creationists also explain that laboratory experiments have shown that course-grained granite can form quickly.
(1) Journal of Creation 17(2):49–55 August 2003
Polonium Halos and Young Timeline
Physicist Robert V. Gentry has discovered the existence of polonium halos, or microscopic-sized, concentric circular rings found inside granite and other rocks that give evidence of a rapid formation of granite and therefore a young Earth. Some of these halos also featured pleochroism, or color variations in the rings. Polonium halos are produced by the radioactive decay of polonium inside granite. Because the polonium has a very rapid existence and very short half-life, and the fact that these polonium halos are preserved inside the granite indicates that formation of granite was very quick and not over millions of years as the evolutionists believe. If granite cooled slowly, the polonium halos would disappear and would not be visible, according to creationists, therefore implying a rapid formation. Polonium halos have been found in granites around the world, giving strong evidence for a young Earth described by the creationist model.