Dating Methods

Carbon-14 to Nitrogen-14 - Potassium-40 to Argon-40 - Uranium-238 to Lead-206 - Rubidium-87 to Strontium-87 - Samarium-147 to Neodymium-143 - Biostratigraphy - Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating - Palaeomagnetism - Optically Stimulated Luminescence - Thermoluminescence Dating

Radiometric Dating Methods

Evolutionary dating methods are often unreliable and inconsistent. Blind experiments have revealed that if the age of a fossil is known, then radiometric dating does not work. However, some scientists still assume that if the age of a fossil is not known, then the radiometric date is accurate. Not all dating methods give dates of millions of years; however, evolutionists will often use several dating methods and pick the one that gives them the date they are expecting. Radiometric dating methods are based on uniformitarianism. It is assumed that the present conditions have always existed, and there has been no catastrophes. In short, it is assumed that that evolution is true and the Bible is not.

Radiometric dating is basically like the formula 1A+2B+3C=X. If you know X, and you can measure A and B, then it is easy to find C. The problem is you have to assume X is a constant to determine C. Lets say there are two books sitting on a table in a room and they have the same amount of dust on them. We could do some empirical science and measure how long it takes dust to accumulate and how thick the dust is right now. Then we can calculate how long those books have been sitting there. What if one book was sitting there for 2 years, and 6 months ago someone came in and dusted it off and put another book right next to it? The dating method would give us the incorrect date. The same math can be used for a burning candle. You can measure the current length and at what rate it burns, but you still don't know how long the candle was when it started burning, or even if it was always burning at the same rate.

The following things have to be assumed for radiometric dating to work (Evolution Handbook):
- Each product has to be in a closed system (no contaminants).
- The amount of parent product is known in the beginning.
- The amount of daughter product is known in the beginning.
- The rate of decay has never changed.
- The chemical makeup of the atmosphere has never changed.
- The Van Allen belt has never changed (affects radioactivity).

Contrary to popular belief, radiometric dating is not often used to date fossils. Fossils are usually dated by the layer they are found in (Biostratigraphy), and the layer is dated by the index fossil they contain. This is known as the logical fallacy of begging the question (or circular reasoning) because the age of the layer/fossil is assumed before it is dated.

The RATE team from ICR recently has produced incredible evidence that accelerated nuclear decay has occurred in the past; however, the table below lists the current half-life of the elements most commonly used for radiometric dating.

Carbon-14 to Nitrogen-14 Dating

The Carbon-14 Cycle:

1. Cosmic rays hit our atmosphere and break the neutron out of an atom.

2. The free neutron combines with nitrogen-14 to create carbon-14.

3. This unstable ¹⁴C combines with oxygen to create CO₂.

4. Plants absorb the radioactive CO₂.

5. Animals eat the plants and absorb the radiocarbon.

6. We eat the animals and the plants, and we absorb the radiocarbon.

7. When we die we stop eating, and therefore stop absorbing ¹⁴C.

8. Carbon-14 continues to decay into stable nitrogen-14.

9. Every 5,730 years half of the ¹⁴C will decay.

10. An Accelerator Mass Spectrometer can be used to measure the remaining ¹⁴C.

Note:

Carbon dating only works on fossils that used to be alive. You can not carbon date a rock or sedimentary layer.

Does it work?

Diamonds are the hardest substance known and can not be penetrated with contaminants. Evolutionists teach that diamonds formed millions or billions of years ago out of carbon deep in the crust. If this is true then the radioactive ¹⁴C should be undetectable after 60,000 years due to its fast decay rate. However, diamonds sampled from 12 locations all over the world contained measurable amounts of ¹⁴C. http://www.icr.org/carbon-14/

Coal supposedly formed millions, or hundreds of millions of years ago according to evolutionists, but coal samples have also been tested and they also contain measurable amounts of ¹⁴C. These results support what the Bible says about the young age of the Earth, and the worldwide flood. http://www.icr.org/rate/

See: Carbon-14 Dating Confirms Earth is Young

Potassium-40 to Argon-40 Dating

1. Molten rock contains an average potassium ratio ⁴⁰K/³⁹K (0.0117%/93.2581%).

2. It is assumed molten rock contains no argon gas, because gas escapes from the liquid rock.

3. When the rock cools and turns solid some of the unstable ⁴⁰K decays into ⁴⁰Ar.

4. Every 1.25 billion years half of the ⁴⁰K will decay.

5. Mass spectrometry, or atomic absorption spectroscopy is used to measure captured ⁴⁰Ar.

6. The ³⁹K is measured and using the ⁴⁰K/³⁹K ratio the ⁴⁰K is calculated.

Note:

Potassium-Argon dating can only be used to calculate ages of igneous rocks (rock that used to be magma). It does not work on sedimentary layers because they are composed largely of smaller particles of other rock layers.

Does it work?

Samples from the 1986 dacite flow on Mount St. Helens, Washington, were K-Ar tested to a date of 350,000 years old! http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v10/i3/argon.asp

Mt. Ngauruhoe erupted several times in the past 25-50 years, and several of these samples have been K-Ar dated to ages of 250,000 – 3,500,000 years old! This is an 1,000,000% error! http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i1/dating.asp

Uranium-238 to Lead-206 Dating

1. Molten zircon strongly rejects lead but allows uranium to mix.

2. It is assumed that molten zircon contains no lead.

3. When the rock solidifies the ²³⁸U decays into ²⁰⁶Pb through several steps releasing helium.

4. Every 4.47 billion years half of the ²³⁸U will decay.

5. The amount of lead is measured and the age is calculated.

Note:

Uranium-Lead dating can only be used to date igneous or metamorphic rock. It does not work on sedimentary layers because they are composed largely of smaller particles of other rock layers.

Does it work?

Helium is a light weight atom that is much smaller than argon. It can escape easily out of the zircon by diffusing between the zircon crystals, and it gets released out to the atmosphere. If the earth is billions of years old, all the helium from this decay process should have escaped into the atmosphere, but helium is still found in large quantities in the rock. This indicates these zircons must be 4,000 – 14,000 years old and not billions of years old like the ²³⁸U-²⁰⁶Pb method claims. http://www.icr.org/pdf/research/Helium_ICC_7-22-03.pdf

Rubidium-87 to Strontium-87 Dating

1. When some molten rocks form they contain unstable ⁸⁷Rb and stable ⁸⁶Rb.

2. The amount of ⁸⁶Rb in the rock always stays constant.

3. The amount of ⁸⁷Rb in the rock decreases as it decays.

4. The amount of ⁸⁷Sr in the rock increases.

5. Several samples from the same rock formation are taken and the ratios are plotted.

6. The lines on the plot are called isochrons.

7. A steeper slope of the isochron indicates more half lives.

Note:

Rubidium-strontium dating can only be used to date igneous or metamorphic rock. It does not work on sedimentary layers because they are composed largely of smaller particles of other rock layers.

Does it work?

In the Grand Canyon the Cardenas Basalt layer is at the bottom of the canyon below many different layers. At the top of the canyon is a volcanic flow that flows on top of the upper most layers. The ⁸⁷Rb-⁸⁷Sr dating method showed the bottom layer to be 1.07 billion years old and the top layer to be 1.34 billion years old! Scientists generally thought the top layer was only a million years old but the Rb-Sr method failed to produce the correct results. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v23/i3/dating.asp

Samarium-147 to Neodymium-143 Dating

1. When some molten rocks form they contain unstable ¹⁴⁴Nd and stable ¹⁴³Nd.

2. The amount of ¹⁴⁴Nd in the rock always stays constant.

3. The amount of ¹⁴⁷Sm in the rock decreases as it decays.

4. The amount of ¹⁴³Nd in the rock increases.

5. Several samples from the same rock formation are taken and the ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios are plotted.

6. The lines on the plot are called isochrons.

7. A steeper slope of the isochron indicates more half lives.

Note:

Samarium-neodymium dating can only be used to date igneous rock. It does not work on sedimentary layers because they are composed largely of smaller particles of other rock layers.

Does it work?

Since samarium-neodymium dating uses the same basic method as rubidium-strontium dating the same defects also apply. Isochron discordance (large error values in test results) are common among the methods because of the assumptions inherent in the method. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i2/radioactive.asp

Biostratigraphy is a big fancy word for saying: The rocks date the fossils, and the fossils date the rocks. William Smith lived from 1769-1839 and was a Drainage Engineer and on the side a Surveyor and Geologist. He was the first to use fossils to date the rock layers. Charles Lyell lived from 1797-1875 and was a Lawyer and Geologist who made the greatest impact on Darwin by his book Principals of Geology. He was the one that started the worldview of uniformitarianism that says there was no catastrophe and everything that happened in the past is the same as it happens today. If there was not a worldwide flood, then that would mean the layers were laid down over long periods of time. When Lyell assigned ages to the fossils there was no other dating methods of determining their age so he guessed what order they should be in and correspondingly assigned them ages based on in what layer they were found. Later Darwin came along and gave those ages more exact numbers (based off of no evidence). This is the basis of the entire geological column we have today.

Biostratigraphy is the primary way that all fossils are dated. If radiometric or other dating methods do not give the correct date they are discarded, and the fossil is dated based off of what layer it is in. This form of circular reasoning because the age of the layer/fossil is assumed before it is dated.

Does it work?

The Coelacanth is a lobed fin fish that was found living off the coast of Madagascar. It was considered an index fossil for 325-410 million year old rock, because before its discovery it was thought to have been a transitional form. The Graptolite is also considered a good index fossil for 410 million year old rock; however, in 1995 Graptolites were found in the South Pacific still alive. See: Fossils Confirm the Biblical Creation & the Genesis Flood

Cosmogenic Nuclide Dating

Cosmogenic nuclide dating is basically radiometrically dating the elements in the ground (like beryllium) instead of in the atmosphere (like carbon). Since rocks are not alive they do not absorb the elements in the atmosphere like living plants. Rocks are constantly being bombarded with galactic cosmic radiation (high-energy protons and alpha particles) that hit certain particles to form cosmogenic nuclide's. Elements like beryllium and aluminum can have radionuclide's such as ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al.

¹⁰Be has a half life of 1.5 million years and ²⁶Al has a half life of 0.7 million years. These results were not obtained by actual observation over the past million years but were determined (using the uniformitarian worldview) by watching them for a short time and assuming that the production rate from ⁹Be to ¹⁰Be by natural processes has been constant.

Several assumptions need to be made:
- There was none of the radionuclide's in the layer to start with.
- The exposure time is known.
- The production rate has not changed.

Does it work?
There is no way to know the original conditions of the layer being tested. If there was even the slightest amount of the radioactive element in the layer it would greatly skew the final result. If the layer was only exposed for a very short time (or a very long time) it would have much less (or much more) of the radioactive element than predicted. If the decay rate of an element is unknown it renders the entire process useless. The RATE team from ICR has done much research experimentation on this subject and have determined that the decay rate in the past may have been thousands of times faster then it is today. Since it is not possible to determine the original nuclide count in the sample, it is impossible to calculate the age.  http://www.icr.org/rate/

Palaeomagnetism (Magnetostratigraphy)

Palaeomagnetism is the study of the magnetic orientation and inclination of magnetite crystals. When a volcano erupts the lava may contain iron that will become magnetized in the direction of the earth's magnetic pole, and will be locked in when it cools and hardens into rock. Currently the earth's magnetic field is changing direction at the rate of about a few degrees every century. In the lava layers around the world there is evidence that there have been several magnetic reversals that are believed to take thousands of years to complete, and then when they are finished they can stay that way for millions of years.

With a uniformitarian view of the world:
Slow change today = Always slow change
Orientation in rock is much different then today = Change occurred long time ago

The uniformitarian worldview does not account for the worldwide flood. When the fountains of the deep broke open there could have been a worldwide shift of the crust due to "the fountains of the great deep" ejecting the water. This kind of catastrophic event could have included rapid subduction that caused multiple reversals to occur rapidly.

Does it work?
At Steens Mountain in Oregon there has been palaeomagnetic analysis done on the 9 of the volcanic layers. In these layers there is observed a rapid transition from normal to 90 degrees out of orientation in the magnetic signature. Using the observed rate of flow from lava in Hawaii it has been determined that each of those 9 layers could have been laid down in as little as 15 days. The researchers that discovered this believed in millions of years, so finding that a magnetic reversal could happen in a few weeks was shocking. This evidence confirms the biblical account of a catastrophic event that caused reversals to occur very rapidly, and that magnetic reversals do not take thousands of years.

If rapid reversals were occurring during the flood event then we would expect to find many layers that have different magnetic orientations.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating (OSL)

1. 1. When quartz or feldspar is exposed to sunlight it releases its stored photons.
   2. The mineral must then be buried and not exposed to light.
   3. Radioactive elements in the soil and rock release ionizing radiation.
   4. The mineral captures the photons from the radiation.
   5. In the lab the mineral is stimulated with laser light.
   6. The number of trapped photons is measured with a photomultiplier.
   7. The radioactive elements in the mineral are also measured.
   8. The age is calculated by comparing the number of captured photons to the current photon release rate.

Note:

OSL dating assumes the sample has not been exposed to any light since its burial. It is assumed water and temperature do not affect the photon content and the mineral's ability to absorb energy has remained unchanged.

Does it work?

In Australia a discovery of human remains was both carbon dated and optically stimulated luminescence dated. The OSL date disagreed with the carbon date with an error of 2-3 times.

http://creation.com/the-dating-game

Thermoluminescence Dating (TL)

1. 1. Heating certain crystalline minerals causes them to release all their trapped photons.
   2. When these minerals are exposed to radiation (or light) they capture photons.
   3. In the lab the sample is heated releasing the trapped photons.
   4. The number of trapped photons is measured.
   5. The radioactive elements in the mineral are also measured.
   6. The age is calculated by comparing the number of captured photons to the current photon release rate.

Notes:

It is assumed that the mineral was heated sufficiently to have zero photons at the time of origin. The dates calculated would be in error if there were other sources of radiation or light exposure in the past, or if the crystals sensitivity to radiation has changed.

Does it work?

In Australia a discovery of human remains was both carbon dated and thermoluminescence dated. The TL date disagreed with the carbon date with an error of 2-3 times.

http://creation.com/the-dating-game