Institute for Creation Research - Age of the Oceans
The article “Evolution: The Ocean says NO!” argues that the oceans cannot be a billion years old because at the current rate of sedimentary deposits, it would only take 14 million years to reach the current level of underwater sediment we have today. Assuming all the numbers used are correct, such as the amount of sediment deposited annually today and the thickness of current sediment, I have a problem with the following omissions within the article:
- No mention of why or whether the long term rate of sedimentary deposits remains constant. If such rates are not constant, then it calls the articles conclusions into question.
- No mention of past and present river systems.
- No mention of how land might erode with no rivers nearby.
- No mention of plate tectonics, and how the ocean’s landscape has varied over time.
At one point, the author argues that if the ocean were indeed 1 billion years old, then current rates of sedimentary deposits would result in an ocean floor approximately 38 miles thick. Well, we do in fact know the ocean floor is only 3 miles thick, and so that should in theory make the author’s point. The problem is however that there are places around the world that were clearly under water at some time, and are now bared as eroding mountain sides.
Creationists are well aware of these mountains, because they argue for a Noah’s-flood origin. Therefore, at the very least, this argues for a cycle allowing for sediment to go from the ocean to the land, then back to the ocean again. Creationists believe it involves the flood. Likewise, any argument for an old earth must therefore explain how this cycle works, and why it results in a 3 mile thick crust under the ocean… and any argument criticizing the old earth theory must show why it is flawed. Alas, that is what the article fails to do.
Arguing that a 1 billion year period would produce a 38-mile deep crust under the ocean fails to acknowledge the scientific work that has been done to explain the history of the earth’s crust.  In fact, an exciting discovery about the ocean’s crust was written of in May 2006 at livescience.com:
“A huge slab of folded Earth that scientists think used to be part of the ocean floor has been detected near the planet’s core.
The discovery supports the theory that Earth’s crust is constantly recycled deep into the planet as molten material from below simultaneously pushes up to refresh the surface.
The structure is about 125 miles deep and at least 125 miles wide and 370 miles in the north-south direction.”
In fact, according to the article, the slab is still connected to the surface, “like a conveyor belt.” In fact, this conveyor belt starts in the Pacific Ocean:
“Along the west coast of North America, crust beneath the ocean dives under a continental plate, creating earthquakes and volcanoes. Geologists have long speculated that when crust is folded into the planet, it sinks to the bottom of the mantle, where it displaces the material down there and forces some of it up.”
And so it seems we have actually found some of the displaced ocean crust that the Institute for Creation Research concluded must exist. It is near the planet’s core, and it’s an old world after all.
I hope my Christian brother at the Institute for Creation Research will follow the links above, and marvel as I do at the wonderful and old planet our Creator has made.