Carbon Release to Atmosphere 10 Times Faster Than in the Past, Geologists Find
ScienceDaily (June 5, 2011) — The rate of release of carbon into the atmosphere today is nearly 10 times as fast as during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 55.9 million years ago, the best analog we have for current global warming, according to an international team of geologists.1
These investigations are based on interpreting core samples from the bottom of the ocean but paleoclimate reconstructions of the alleged warm Early-Tertiary period are problematic.
First, they are partly based on circular reasoning, in that geologists will sometimes date a Tertiary paleoflora or paleofauna on its probable temperature preference.2 In other words, they assume the warm trend to arrange the evidence in a pattern that supposedly proves the warm trend.
Second, the scientists ignored the most significant event in world history—the global Flood, which occurred around 4,500 years ago. These sediments do not provide an analogue for the present climate situation on the earth because they were deposited during the recessive stage of the Flood, within a period of less than a year.2 As the waters receded from the continents, sedimentation occurred mostly at the edges of the continents on the shelves and on the newly forming ocean floor.
To interpret such rapidly deposited sediments as 55.9 million years old and representing progressive environments over long periods of time will yield wrong conclusions.3 And that is going to lead to wrong policy responses.
In other words, an appreciation of biblical geology is vital to properly understand our world today.
Further Reading
References
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110605132433.htm
- Oard, M.J., Is the K/T the post-flood boundary? part 2: paleoclimates and fossils, Journal of Creation 24(3):87–93, 2010.
- Beware of paleoenvironmental deductions
- Microscopy of Pollen and Spore Taxa from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, November 12, 2010. Transmitted light microscopy photos by Maria Carolina Vargas, Colombian Petroleum Institute.
arthur novis
Dear Tas,
My question not only is not directly pertinent tp your article but it is relevant to the global warming controversy, could you please comment
Recently I was in a discussion with a UNI graduate (I suspoect a professional student for he was pretty mature) anyway he told me he had been a champion of the global warming carbon emmission saga until recently when he had been forced to reconsider his stance because of a tv item about ice melting in the arctic.
He stated that in the item, the scientific team pointed to large areas where the polar ice had melted but at the same time made reference to the ruins of very old dwellings. My “new friend” said, and I had to agree, that what was shown clearly indicated that this had all happened long ago and what we were actually witnessing was another part of a great cycle. It could not be said that the activities that are now claimed to be resulting in climate change were in fact those that caused the ice to form all those years ago.
I know this is pretty simple stuff to you blokes but it would certainly help me if you have heard of the show, it was on the ABC, and if you have time to comment.
Tas Walker responds:
Hi Arthur, Sorry but I didn’t see the show. The article Erosion rates along the English Yorkshire coast may be relevant; something like that may have been involved.