Creation Science Book Review
Frozen In Time
Chapter 7: The Genesis Flood Caused the Ice Age
Review by Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
First Published 7 September 2005
Michael Oard claims that in order to understand the
mammoth, we need to understand the Ice Age, because it is “a denizen of the
ice age.” As stated before, mammoths have been around since 1.8 million
years ago…it is not specifically tied to the “ice age.”
He then goes into rapid fire statements in the second
paragraph, meant to show that science has utterly failed to answer what
causes an ice age (although Oard is about to astound us all with his
answer). If Oard’s theory is valid, has he submitted it to peer-reviewed
journals for publication? He has not, or, if he has, it was rejected. We
will see why.
The First Requirement – Cooler Summers (Page 71)
Actually, the first requirement is evidence of a
worldwide flood, however Oard’s theory fails on this point. Oard claims
there was “monumental geological and hydrological activity occurred early in
the Flood,” however, there is no evidence of monumental geological and
hydrological activity occurring only 4,300 years ago. He says the mountains
before the flood were fairly low, and the strong currents of the flood would
have eroded away those that existed. If that were the case, and the
mountains we have now were all built after the flood, then they would all be
the same age. However, the world’s mountain ranges have varying ages. By the
young earth model, they should all look alike, and be dated alike…hmmm,
something is fishy here with the young earth creation science model! Let’s
continue.
Oard mentions that “Interbedded within the sedimentary
rocks is evidence of incredible volcanic activity that has no parallel
today.” Notice it is interbedded…pure beds of ash. If this actually occurred
during the flood, what would happen when the ash fell into the ocean, an
ocean which he already said a few paragraphs earlier had strong currents,
enough to erode mountains? The currents would mix the ash with all the other
sediments, hence there would be no individual ash layers. The only way to
get a pure ash layer during the flood is to lower the water level, exposing
the land, and then have the volcano erupt, depositing the ash. Then, you
raise the water level, and deposit some more sedimentary layers, thus “interbedding”
them. The young earth theory fails to answer this problem. Hmmm, the fish
smell really is strong! Since you cannot have interbedded sedimentary and
volcanic layers on a globe full of water, Oard’s theory is sunk.
Yes, ash can cool the planet for a few years…no problem
here. He uses this to claim the one to three years of lowered temperatures
due to the massive amount of ash in the air from the Flood would be enough
to cause the ice age. He then says the volcanism would have to continue in
order to sustain the ice age. As evidence, he points to signs of Pleistocene
volcanic activity. Yes, there was Pleistocene volcanic activity…but we have
evidences of volcanic activity throughout the geologic record…not just in
the Pleistocene. He quotes a few random volcanic eruptions to support his
cause. No references are given. For instance, the New Zealand eruption is
one he really likes. Was this the Taupo eruption of 186 A.D.? Only he knows.
He says there were 68 different ash falls in the western United States,
roughly corresponding to the Ice Age. However, he gives no references. It is
my suspicion that he is hiding something. Perhaps it is the sequence of the
rock strata, which shows layers of ash, then sedimentary rock, then ash,
then sedimentary rock, etc. In order to get this, he must raise and lower
the flood waters many times!
For his theory to work, Oard packs all the volcanic
activity seen in the rock record into a short time frame of hundreds(?) of
years. Interestingly, the vast majority of volcanic activity in the rock
record is Precambrian in age. In other words, much of the volcanism that he
uses to support his flood theory is located below all of the fossils, with
the exception of stromatolites. If this volcanic activity started at the
flood, would not the fossils be co-existing with the layers of volcanic ash?
The dinosaurs appear around 220 million years ago. How did they survive all
this volcanic activity, with the rising and falling of the sea level during
the flood to produce the interbedded layering? Every dinosaur in the world
must have been an excellent swimmer! The elderly dinosaurs should have died,
and would be found early in the rock record…for instance, at the bottom of
the rock layers in the Grand Canyon. However, there are no dinosaur fossils
in the Grand Canyon rocks. How did they survive the flood, which deposited
over a mile of sediment in the Canyon, only to be killed and deposited in
the rocks several thousand feet above the Canyon rocks? And why is all trace
fossils of dinosaurs, (footprints, droppings, etc) all located in the rock
layers that contain the dinosaurs? Apparently, they were leading a normal
life…eating, breeding, pooping, walking, right in the middle of Noah’s
Flood! (For more, see www.answersincreation.org/poop.htm.) There is much
more, but you can check that out in other articles on this web site.
The Second Requirement – Heavy Snow (Page 74)
He correctly states that “cooling alone cannot generate
more precipitation, since cold air holds less moisture.” He says this is why
uniformitarian ice age theories fail. Not so! Although there is less
snowfall from colder temperatures, the uniformitarian model has something
the young earth model is lacking…time! When the snow builds up for 10,000
years, you don’t need as much snowfall.
Oard gets his moisture for the heavy snowfall from the
warm oceans…supposedly the warm water from the “fountains of the deep” and
from heating the water by volcanic activity. Thus the warm oceans evaporated
much water, and the colder air temperatures caused by the airborne ash kept
it cold enough to snow.
Based on this model, there was a continual supply of
volcanic ash, in order to maintain this condition. We should be able to see
this in the layers of ice cores that have been drilled. There should be
layers of ash indicating eruptions, but the periods in between eruptions
would also contain ash. Is this the case, or are the ice cores pure ice?
Anyway, on to other problems with Oard’s theory. The
whole thing driving the moisture content which provides for his snowfall is
evaporation. As evaporation occurs, the temperature of the remaining liquid
is cooled, thus leading to less evaporation. Sure, Oard can get a few
months, or perhaps a year, of increased snowfall, but at some point the
temperature of the water will be lowered, not only from the evaporation, but
also from the climate.
Since the volcanic ash is blocking out the sunshine, the
main heat source for Oard’s ocean is the oceanic volcanism. Where are these
oceanic volcanoes located? Over 99 percent are located at the rift zones in
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Since these rift zones are still active,
the oceans should reflect this today in their warm temperatures from pole to
pole. Oard claims there would have been no polar ice in his model…yet we
have polar ice today…under virtually the same conditions which Oard proposes
for his model during the flood. Why are the oceans still not warm?
Then there is the matter of ocean cooling potential that Oard has not
discussed. The difference in mid-latitude ocean temperature, from summer to
winter, is about 12 degrees Celsius (to a depth of ~500m). Keep in mind this
is under normal conditions, with the ocean receiving vast amounts of
sunlight to warm the water. These temperature differences are constantly
being distributed across the ocean via the currents. In Oard’s "young earth
creation science driven" model, with sunlight blocked, the oceans would cool
off much quicker.
However, the real killer to Oard’s idea of a
Flood-caused Ice Age is carbon dioxide. You see, volcanic activity also
emits large volumes of carbon dioxide. Using the lava flows that are
supposedly Flood related, it is a simple matter to calculate how much carbon
dioxide was emitted. In our current atmosphere, we have about 400 parts per
million CO2. Scientists are very concerned about this approaching 600 PPM,
as CO2 is a strong greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming.
Glenn Morton has calculated the amount of CO2 in Oard’s post-flood Ice age,
and it is a staggering 58,615 PPM (this is a “minimum!). In reality, Oard’s
post-Flood world would be boiling, not ice-covered. Noah would have been
roasted!1
1 Carbon Dioxide and the Flood, Glenn Morton
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