UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS DERIVE MANY MORE ‘ANNUAL LAYERS’
IN THE GREENLAND ICE CORES THAN CREATIONISTS BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMED OLD
AGE TIME SCALE. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO PARADIGMS ALSO SHOW UP IN
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORES. LARGE CHANGES IN
OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO ARE INTERPRETED BY UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS AS WILD
FLUCTUATIONS IN TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC REGION. SUCH WILD FLUCTUATIONS
IN THE PREVIOUS ‘INTERGLACIAL’ SPARKED A REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME AND OTHER
SUCH FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’ IN OTHER DATA SETS, SUCH AS DEEP-SEA
CORES. THESE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ FLUCTUATIONS HAVE BEEN USED TO JUSTIFY SPECULATION
ON RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PRESENT CLIMATE DUE TO INCREASED GREENHOUSE
GASSES. THE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS ARE NOW SEEN BY MOST SCIENTISTS
AS AN ARTIFACT OF ICE FLOW. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ARE STILL PERPLEXED
OVER THE HUGE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS. CREATIONISTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAN
INTERPRET THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE SWINGS IN AT LEAST FOUR WAYS BY EVENTS WITHIN
A SHORT POST-FLOOD ICE AGE. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS COULD REPRESENT
SEASONAL CHANGES, LONGER PERIOD CLIMATE CHANGES CAUSED BY VARIABLE VOLCANIC
DUST LOADING, CHANGES IN SEA ICE, OR ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION CHANGES.
IN A COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE IN THE PREVIOUS
TJ,1 I COMPARED THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS
OF NEW ICE CORE DATA FROM THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET. THESE ICE CORES ARE
THE EUROPEAN GRIP CORE AND THE AMERICAN GISP2 CORE BOTH DRILLED AT THE
HIGHEST PART OF THE ICE SHEET. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ASSUME THE ICE
SHEET HAS BEEN MORE-OR-LESS IN EQUILIBRIUM FOR SEVERAL MILLION YEARS.
THUS THE ICE SHEET WOULD BE GAINING AS MUCH ICE AND SNOW FROM PRECIPITATION
AS IT LOSES BY MELTING AND CALVING OF ICEBERGS INTO THE OCEAN. BASED
ON THESE ASSUMPTIONS, THEY FERRET OUT 110,000 ‘ANNUAL’ LAYERS,
THE MAIN SUBJECT OF MY OTHER ARTICLE.1
BEFORE DERIVING SUPPOSED ANNUAL LAYERS, THE ICE CORE WAS
DATED BY FLOW MODELING IN WHICH TWO POINTS ON THE CORE WERE CALIBRATED
TO CERTAIN FLUCTUATIONS IN DEEP SEA CORES. ONE OF THESE POINTS IS THE
YOUNGER DRYAS (YD) FLUCTUATION, SHOWN IN FIGURE 1. THE SECOND POINT IS
STAGE 5D IN DEEP SEA CORES. KEIGWIN ET AL. STATE:
‘THE ICE-CORE CHRONOLOGY WAS DISCUSSED BY DANSGAARD
ET AL. AND IS PINNED TO THE DEEP-SEA CHRONOLOGY AT THE 110-KYR
LEVEL [STAGE 5D], DENOTED BY THE SOLID VERTICAL LINE [IN THEIR FIGURE
2].’2
FIGURE 1. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP ICE CORE,
CENTRAL GREENLAND (FROM WOLFF ET AL.).5 WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION, HOLOCENE REPRESENTS THE LAST 10,000 YEARS OR SO, YD
IS THE YOUNGER DRYAS COLD PERIOD, A/B IS THE ALLEROD/BOLLING WARM
PERIOD, 5A–D IS THE EARLY PART OF THE LAST ICE AGE, AND ‘EEM’
REPRESENTS THE PREVIOUS INTERGLACIAL. IN THE CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION,
THE HOLOCENE WOULD REPRESENT THE POST-ICE-AGE CLIMATE DURING THE PAST
4,000 YEARS (APPROXIMATELY 1,500 M OF ICE), WHILE THE RAPID POST-FLOOD
ICE AGE WOULD INCLUDE THE WHOLE CORE BELOW 1,500 M DEPTH. NOTICE
THE HIGH AMPLITUDE SHARP OSCILLATIONS IN THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO
IN THE GLACIAL PART OF THE CORE. |
FURTHERMORE, THE DEEP-SEA CORES ARE CALIBRATED TO THE ASTRONOMICAL
THEORY OF THE ICE AGE BASED ON CYCLICAL EARTH ORBITAL PARAMETERS. THESE
CYCLICAL VARIATIONS ARE SUPPOSED TO CAUSE GLACIAL AND INTERGLACIAL OSCILLATIONS
OVER THE PAST 2.5 MILLION YEARS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. IN DISCUSSING THE
THORIUM DATING TECHNIQUE FOR DEEP-SEA CORES, SCOTT LEHMAN3
POINTS OUT: ‘THEIR TECHNIQUE IS STILL HEAVILY RELIANT ON THE ACCURACY
OF THE ORBITALLY DERIVED MILE POSTS.’ THIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF
MASSAGING VARIOUS DATA SETS TO MAKE THEM SEEM CONSISTENT.4
ON THE OTHER HAND,
CREATIONISTS BASE THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE GREENLAND ICE CORES ON A RAPID,
700-YEAR-LONG, POST-FLOOD ICE AGE FOLLOWED BY THE PRESENT CLIMATE. IN THIS
MODEL ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE MUCH THICKER IN THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE ICE
SHEET, AND THE CLAIMED UNIFORMITARIAN ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE SUBANNUAL, EVEN
PICKING UP INDIVIDUAL STORMS. FIGURE 3 IN MY COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE1
CONTRASTS THE DIFFERENCE IN ANNUAL LAYER THICKNESSES DOWN THE CORE IN THE
TWO MODELS.
FIGURE 1 SHOWS THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP CORE5
WITH BOTH THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS OF EVENTS.6 THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO HAS BEEN GENERALLY CORRELATED
TO TEMPERATURE,7 THE COLDER
THE TEMPERATURE THE MORE NEGATIVE THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS. THUS, THE
ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORE IS THE LOWER 1,500 M. NOTICE THAT THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS DURING THE ICE AGE HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER AMPLITUDE.
THESE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION, AS WELL AS THE UNIFORMITARIAN
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE, ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS ARTICLE.
WILD INTERPRETATIONS OF THE HIGH-AMPLITUDE FLUCTUATIONS
THE WILD ICE AGE
FLUCTUATIONS REVEAL SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION.
BECAUSE OF THE RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS, UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS
NOW ARE FORCED TO BELIEVE THAT THE TEMPERATURE ON GREENLAND CHANGED UP TO
20°C IN PERIODS AS SHORT AS 1 TO 3 YEARS!8 THIS IS A RADICAL INTERPRETATION, BUT
THEY ARE FORCED TO ACCEPT IT ANYWAY, BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMPTIONS. SINCE
THESE CHANGES ARE BELIEVED TO REPRESENT THE CLIMATE AROUND THE NORTH ATLANTIC
OCEAN,9 WILD BACK-AND-FORTH CLIMATE FLUCTUATIONS
ARE ASSUMED FOR THIS AREA. WHAT KIND OF PROCESSES COULD POSSIBLY ACCOUNT
FOR SUCH RADICAL CHANGES, EVEN DURING THE ICE AGE? THE SCIENTISTS ARE DESPERATELY
SEARCHING FOR SOME SORT OF MECHANISM THAT WOULD CAUSE SUCH CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE
CHANGES. THE FLUCTUATIONS ARE MORE AN INDICATION THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION IS FAULTY.
IT IS INTERESTING THAT THE PREVIOUS EEM INTERGLACIAL PART
OF THE CORE, ACCORDING TO THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION, ALSO HAS
VERY RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS (FIGURE 1). THIS WAS INTERPRETED
AS CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGES DURING AN INTERGLACIAL PERIOD.10 RAPID ‘CLIMATE’ FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’
IN DEEP SEA CORES AND LAKE POLLEN DATA THAT ARE CORRELATED TO THIS PERIOD.11
HOWEVER, THIS PART OF THE GRIP CORE WAS LATER COMPARED TO THE GISP2 CORE
AND CLAIMED TO BE AN ARTIFACT OF ICE-FLOW DISTURBANCE.3
IT IS OF FURTHER INTEREST THAT SOME OF THE ORIGINAL CLAIMS OF CATASTROPHIC
CLIMATE CHANGE IN OTHER DATA SETS ARE NOW ‘QUESTIONABLE.’3
HOWEVER, THE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS NOW POSTULATED IN THE ICE AGE PORTION
OF OTHER DATA SETS STILL STAND. SARNTHEIN ET AL. STATE:
‘SINCE THESE
FIRST DISCOVERIES FROM THE GREENLAND SUMMIT CORES IN THE EARLY 1990S, THE
RECORD OF THIS UNEXPECTED CLIMATIC BEHAVIOR HAS BEEN FOUND IN MANY REGIONS,
INCLUDING POLAR ICE SHEETS; MARINE SEDIMENTS OF THE ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, AND
INDIAN OCEANS; AND IN TERRESTRIAL LAKES AND BOGS.’12
THIS SUDDEN DISCOVERY OF RADICAL CLIMATIC FLUCTUATIONS IN
OTHER DATA SETS AND THEIR EQUALLY SUDDEN QUESTIONABLE NATURE FOR THE PREVIOUS
‘INTERGLACIAL’ SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE UBIQUITOUS
REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME.13
IT SEEMS THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN VIEW IS MOST ACCOMMODATING TO RADICALLY
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS.
REGARDLESS OF
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE CORE, A LARGE NUMBER OF ARTICLES
HAVE APPEARED SUGGESTING THAT IF SUCH FLUCTUATIONS CAN OCCUR DURING THE ICE
AGE, OR EVEN DURING THE INTERGLACIAL, THAT IT CAN OCCUR DURING THE PRESENT
CLIMATE. MANY SUGGEST THAT GLOBAL WARMING WILL PERTURB THE CLIMATE SYSTEM
SO MUCH AS TO EVEN INITIATE AN ICE AGE. KENDRICK TAYLOR ASKS:
‘NEW EVIDENCE
SHOWS THAT EARTH’S CLIMATE CAN CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IN ONLY A DECADE. COULD
GREENHOUSE GASES FLIP THAT SWITCH?’14
WILLIAM CALVIN IN A POPULAR ARTICLE IS EVEN MORE DIRE:
‘BUT WARMING
COULD LEAD, PARADOXICALLY, TO DRASTIC COOLING—A CATASTROPHE THAT COULD THREATEN
THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION.’15
SO, A WARMING CLIMATE CAN LEAD TO A DRASTICALLY COOLER CLIMATE,
ACCORDING TO UNIFORMITARIAN THINKING.
THE MAIN MECHANISM
PROPOSED FOR SUCH RADICAL CLIMATE CHANGE, PAST AND FUTURE, IS THE STOPPING
OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN CIRCULATION SO THAT WARM WATER IS NOT TRANSPORTED NORTHWARD
TO GREENLAND AND EUROPE.16
THIS MECHANISM, INITIATED BY AN INCREASE OF MAN-MADE CO2, SEEMS
FAR-FETCHED.
CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION OF ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS
THESE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS IN OXYGEN ISOTOPES ARE DIFFICULT
TO EXPLAIN WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN MODEL. SARNTHEIN ET AL. ADMIT:
‘THE ORIGIN OF MAJOR RAPID, DECADAL CLIMATE CHANGE DURING THE LATEST
QUATERNARY REMAINS AN ENIGMA.’17
FIGURE 2. POSTULATED POST-FLOOD VOLCANISM UP TO GLACIAL MAXIMUM
(FROM OARD).22 |
How would creationists interpret the large-amplitude fluctuations during the Ice Age portion of the core? Since annual layers are much thicker in the creationist model, it is possible that the high amplitude oxygen isotope fluctuations are annual layers. However, some of the fluctuations would have lasted more than a year, since some of them are about 50 m thick. A second possibility is that these longer-lasting fluctuations could reflect variable volcanic dust and aerosol loads in the stratosphere. Figure 2 presents the postulated post-Flood volcanism up until glacial maximum.18 Notice the see-saw tendency superimposed on a gradual decline. During higher volcanism (the peaks), temperatures would be colder for a number of years. This could correspond to the more negative oxygen isotope values from the Greenland ice cores. Warmer periods would be caused by a thinning of volcanic dust and aerosols in the stratosphere.
A third possibility is that changes in sea ice, which affect the oxygen isotope ratios, could cause the fluctuations.19 A higher amount of sea ice will cause more negative oxygen isotope ratios and vice versa. I see this process operating late in the Ice Age, since it would take quite a while for the warm ocean after the Genesis Flood to cool enough for sea ice to form.20 But this mechanism could be responsible for the late Ice Age Younger Dryas and Allerod/Bolling fluctuations.
A fourth possibility is that the wild fluctuations reflect a changing atmospheric circulation, likely related and reinforced by any of the above three mechanisms. This is because temperature is only one variable out of many that affect the oxygen isotope ratios.UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS DERIVE MANY MORE ‘ANNUAL LAYERS’
IN THE GREENLAND ICE CORES THAN CREATIONISTS BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMED OLD
AGE TIME SCALE. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO PARADIGMS ALSO SHOW UP IN
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORES. LARGE CHANGES IN
OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO ARE INTERPRETED BY UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS AS WILD
FLUCTUATIONS IN TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC REGION. SUCH WILD FLUCTUATIONS
IN THE PREVIOUS ‘INTERGLACIAL’ SPARKED A REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME AND OTHER
SUCH FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’ IN OTHER DATA SETS, SUCH AS DEEP-SEA
CORES. THESE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ FLUCTUATIONS HAVE BEEN USED TO JUSTIFY SPECULATION
ON RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PRESENT CLIMATE DUE TO INCREASED GREENHOUSE
GASSES. THE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS ARE NOW SEEN BY MOST SCIENTISTS
AS AN ARTIFACT OF ICE FLOW. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ARE STILL PERPLEXED
OVER THE HUGE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS. CREATIONISTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAN
INTERPRET THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE SWINGS IN AT LEAST FOUR WAYS BY EVENTS WITHIN
A SHORT POST-FLOOD ICE AGE. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS COULD REPRESENT
SEASONAL CHANGES, LONGER PERIOD CLIMATE CHANGES CAUSED BY VARIABLE VOLCANIC
DUST LOADING, CHANGES IN SEA ICE, OR ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION CHANGES.
IN A COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE IN THE PREVIOUS
TJ,1 I COMPARED THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS
OF NEW ICE CORE DATA FROM THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET. THESE ICE CORES ARE
THE EUROPEAN GRIP CORE AND THE AMERICAN GISP2 CORE BOTH DRILLED AT THE
HIGHEST PART OF THE ICE SHEET. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ASSUME THE ICE
SHEET HAS BEEN MORE-OR-LESS IN EQUILIBRIUM FOR SEVERAL MILLION YEARS.
THUS THE ICE SHEET WOULD BE GAINING AS MUCH ICE AND SNOW FROM PRECIPITATION
AS IT LOSES BY MELTING AND CALVING OF ICEBERGS INTO THE OCEAN. BASED
ON THESE ASSUMPTIONS, THEY FERRET OUT 110,000 ‘ANNUAL’ LAYERS,
THE MAIN SUBJECT OF MY OTHER ARTICLE.1
BEFORE DERIVING SUPPOSED ANNUAL LAYERS, THE ICE CORE WAS
DATED BY FLOW MODELING IN WHICH TWO POINTS ON THE CORE WERE CALIBRATED
TO CERTAIN FLUCTUATIONS IN DEEP SEA CORES. ONE OF THESE POINTS IS THE
YOUNGER DRYAS (YD) FLUCTUATION, SHOWN IN FIGURE 1. THE SECOND POINT IS
STAGE 5D IN DEEP SEA CORES. KEIGWIN ET AL. STATE:
‘THE ICE-CORE CHRONOLOGY WAS DISCUSSED BY DANSGAARD
ET AL. AND IS PINNED TO THE DEEP-SEA CHRONOLOGY AT THE 110-KYR
LEVEL [STAGE 5D], DENOTED BY THE SOLID VERTICAL LINE [IN THEIR FIGURE
2].’2
FIGURE 1. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP ICE CORE,
CENTRAL GREENLAND (FROM WOLFF ET AL.).5 WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION, HOLOCENE REPRESENTS THE LAST 10,000 YEARS OR SO, YD
IS THE YOUNGER DRYAS COLD PERIOD, A/B IS THE ALLEROD/BOLLING WARM
PERIOD, 5A–D IS THE EARLY PART OF THE LAST ICE AGE, AND ‘EEM’
REPRESENTS THE PREVIOUS INTERGLACIAL. IN THE CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION,
THE HOLOCENE WOULD REPRESENT THE POST-ICE-AGE CLIMATE DURING THE PAST
4,000 YEARS (APPROXIMATELY 1,500 M OF ICE), WHILE THE RAPID POST-FLOOD
ICE AGE WOULD INCLUDE THE WHOLE CORE BELOW 1,500 M DEPTH. NOTICE
THE HIGH AMPLITUDE SHARP OSCILLATIONS IN THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO
IN THE GLACIAL PART OF THE CORE. |
FURTHERMORE, THE DEEP-SEA CORES ARE CALIBRATED TO THE ASTRONOMICAL
THEORY OF THE ICE AGE BASED ON CYCLICAL EARTH ORBITAL PARAMETERS. THESE
CYCLICAL VARIATIONS ARE SUPPOSED TO CAUSE GLACIAL AND INTERGLACIAL OSCILLATIONS
OVER THE PAST 2.5 MILLION YEARS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. IN DISCUSSING THE
THORIUM DATING TECHNIQUE FOR DEEP-SEA CORES, SCOTT LEHMAN3
POINTS OUT: ‘THEIR TECHNIQUE IS STILL HEAVILY RELIANT ON THE ACCURACY
OF THE ORBITALLY DERIVED MILE POSTS.’ THIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF
MASSAGING VARIOUS DATA SETS TO MAKE THEM SEEM CONSISTENT.4
ON THE OTHER HAND,
CREATIONISTS BASE THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE GREENLAND ICE CORES ON A RAPID,
700-YEAR-LONG, POST-FLOOD ICE AGE FOLLOWED BY THE PRESENT CLIMATE. IN THIS
MODEL ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE MUCH THICKER IN THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE ICE
SHEET, AND THE CLAIMED UNIFORMITARIAN ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE SUBANNUAL, EVEN
PICKING UP INDIVIDUAL STORMS. FIGURE 3 IN MY COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE1
CONTRASTS THE DIFFERENCE IN ANNUAL LAYER THICKNESSES DOWN THE CORE IN THE
TWO MODELS.
FIGURE 1 SHOWS THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP CORE5
WITH BOTH THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS OF EVENTS.6 THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO HAS BEEN GENERALLY CORRELATED
TO TEMPERATURE,7 THE COLDER
THE TEMPERATURE THE MORE NEGATIVE THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS. THUS, THE
ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORE IS THE LOWER 1,500 M. NOTICE THAT THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS DURING THE ICE AGE HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER AMPLITUDE.
THESE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION, AS WELL AS THE UNIFORMITARIAN
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE, ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS ARTICLE.
WILD INTERPRETATIONS OF THE HIGH-AMPLITUDE FLUCTUATIONS
THE WILD ICE AGE
FLUCTUATIONS REVEAL SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION.
BECAUSE OF THE RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS, UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS
NOW ARE FORCED TO BELIEVE THAT THE TEMPERATURE ON GREENLAND CHANGED UP TO
20°C IN PERIODS AS SHORT AS 1 TO 3 YEARS!8 THIS IS A RADICAL INTERPRETATION, BUT
THEY ARE FORCED TO ACCEPT IT ANYWAY, BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMPTIONS. SINCE
THESE CHANGES ARE BELIEVED TO REPRESENT THE CLIMATE AROUND THE NORTH ATLANTIC
OCEAN,9 WILD BACK-AND-FORTH CLIMATE FLUCTUATIONS
ARE ASSUMED FOR THIS AREA. WHAT KIND OF PROCESSES COULD POSSIBLY ACCOUNT
FOR SUCH RADICAL CHANGES, EVEN DURING THE ICE AGE? THE SCIENTISTS ARE DESPERATELY
SEARCHING FOR SOME SORT OF MECHANISM THAT WOULD CAUSE SUCH CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE
CHANGES. THE FLUCTUATIONS ARE MORE AN INDICATION THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION IS FAULTY.
IT IS INTERESTING THAT THE PREVIOUS EEM INTERGLACIAL PART
OF THE CORE, ACCORDING TO THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION, ALSO HAS
VERY RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS (FIGURE 1). THIS WAS INTERPRETED
AS CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGES DURING AN INTERGLACIAL PERIOD.10 RAPID ‘CLIMATE’ FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’
IN DEEP SEA CORES AND LAKE POLLEN DATA THAT ARE CORRELATED TO THIS PERIOD.11
HOWEVER, THIS PART OF THE GRIP CORE WAS LATER COMPARED TO THE GISP2 CORE
AND CLAIMED TO BE AN ARTIFACT OF ICE-FLOW DISTURBANCE.3
IT IS OF FURTHER INTEREST THAT SOME OF THE ORIGINAL CLAIMS OF CATASTROPHIC
CLIMATE CHANGE IN OTHER DATA SETS ARE NOW ‘QUESTIONABLE.’3
HOWEVER, THE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS NOW POSTULATED IN THE ICE AGE PORTION
OF OTHER DATA SETS STILL STAND. SARNTHEIN ET AL. STATE:
‘SINCE THESE
FIRST DISCOVERIES FROM THE GREENLAND SUMMIT CORES IN THE EARLY 1990S, THE
RECORD OF THIS UNEXPECTED CLIMATIC BEHAVIOR HAS BEEN FOUND IN MANY REGIONS,
INCLUDING POLAR ICE SHEETS; MARINE SEDIMENTS OF THE ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, AND
INDIAN OCEANS; AND IN TERRESTRIAL LAKES AND BOGS.’12
THIS SUDDEN DISCOVERY OF RADICAL CLIMATIC FLUCTUATIONS IN
OTHER DATA SETS AND THEIR EQUALLY SUDDEN QUESTIONABLE NATURE FOR THE PREVIOUS
‘INTERGLACIAL’ SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE UBIQUITOUS
REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME.13
IT SEEMS THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN VIEW IS MOST ACCOMMODATING TO RADICALLY
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS.
REGARDLESS OF
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE CORE, A LARGE NUMBER OF ARTICLES
HAVE APPEARED SUGGESTING THAT IF SUCH FLUCTUATIONS CAN OCCUR DURING THE ICE
AGE, OR EVEN DURING THE INTERGLACIAL, THAT IT CAN OCCUR DURING THE PRESENT
CLIMATE. MANY SUGGEST THAT GLOBAL WARMING WILL PERTURB THE CLIMATE SYSTEM
SO MUCH AS TO EVEN INITIATE AN ICE AGE. KENDRICK TAYLOR ASKS:
‘NEW EVIDENCE
SHOWS THAT EARTH’S CLIMATE CAN CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IN ONLY A DECADE. COULD
GREENHOUSE GASES FLIP THAT SWITCH?’14
WILLIAM CALVIN IN A POPULAR ARTICLE IS EVEN MORE DIRE:
‘BUT WARMING
COULD LEAD, PARADOXICALLY, TO DRASTIC COOLING—A CATASTROPHE THAT COULD THREATEN
THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION.’15
SO, A WARMING CLIMATE CAN LEAD TO A DRASTICALLY COOLER CLIMATE,
ACCORDING TO UNIFORMITARIAN THINKING.
THE MAIN MECHANISM
PROPOSED FOR SUCH RADICAL CLIMATE CHANGE, PAST AND FUTURE, IS THE STOPPING
OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN CIRCULATION SO THAT WARM WATER IS NOT TRANSPORTED NORTHWARD
TO GREENLAND AND EUROPE.16
THIS MECHANISM, INITIATED BY AN INCREASE OF MAN-MADE CO2, SEEMS
FAR-FETCHED.
CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION OF ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS
THESE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS IN OXYGEN ISOTOPES ARE DIFFICULT
TO EXPLAIN WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN MODEL. SARNTHEIN ET AL. ADMIT:
‘THE ORIGIN OF MAJOR RAPID, DECADAL CLIMATE CHANGE DURING THE LATEST
QUATERNARY REMAINS AN ENIGMA.’17
FIGURE 2. POSTULATED POST-FLOOD VOLCANISM UP TO GLACIAL MAXIMUM
(FROM OARD).22 |
HOW WOULD CREATIONISTS INTERPRET THE LARGE-AMPLITUDE FLUCTUATIONS
DURING THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORE? SINCE ANNUAL LAYERS ARE MUCH
THICKER IN THE CREATIONIST MODEL, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE HIGH AMPLITUDE
OXYGEN ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS ARE ANNUAL LAYERS. HOWEVER, SOME OF THE FLUCTUATIONS
WOULD HAVE LASTED MORE THAN A YEAR, SINCE SOME OF THEM ARE ABOUT 50 M
THICK. A SECOND POSSIBILITY IS THAT THESE LONGER-LASTING FLUCTUATIONS
COULD REFLECT VARIABLE VOLCANIC DUST AND AEROSOL LOADS IN THE STRATOSPHERE.
FIGURE 2 PRESENTS THE POSTULATED POST-FLOOD VOLCANISM UP UNTIL GLACIAL
MAXIMUM.18 NOTICE THE SEE-SAW
TENDENCY SUPERIMPOSED ON A GRADUAL DECLINE. DURING HIGHER VOLCANISM (THE
PEAKS), TEMPERATURES WOULD BE COLDER FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. THIS COULD
CORRESPOND TO THE MORE NEGATIVE OXYGEN ISOTOPE VALUES FROM THE GREENLAND
ICE CORES. WARMER PERIODS WOULD BE CAUSED BY A THINNING OF VOLCANIC DUST
AND AEROSOLS IN THE STRATOSPHERE.
A THIRD POSSIBILITY
IS THAT CHANGES IN SEA ICE, WHICH AFFECT THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS, COULD
CAUSE THE FLUCTUATIONS.19 A HIGHER
AMOUNT OF SEA ICE WILL CAUSE MORE NEGATIVE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS AND VICE
VERSA. I SEE THIS PROCESS OPERATING LATE IN THE ICE AGE, SINCE IT WOULD TAKE
QUITE A WHILE FOR THE WARM OCEAN AFTER THE GENESIS FLOOD TO COOL ENOUGH FOR
SEA ICE TO FORM.20 BUT THIS MECHANISM COULD BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE LATE ICE AGE YOUNGER DRYAS AND ALLEROD/BOLLING FLUCTUATIONS.
A FOURTH POSSIBILITY
IS THAT THE WILD FLUCTUATIONS REFLECT A CHANGING ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION,
LIKELY RELATED AND REINFORCED BY ANY OF THE ABOVE THREE MECHANISMS. THIS
IS BECAUSE TEMPERATURE IS ONLY ONE VARIABLE OUT OF MANY THAT AFFECT THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE RATIOS.7,21 Uniformitarian scientists usually interpret the oxygen isotope ratios mainly in terms of temperature fluctuations.
Conclusions
The wild oscillations in the oxygen isotope ratio during the Ice Age is interpreted by uniformitarian scientists as catastrophic changes in temperature in the North Atlantic region. These are used to justify speculation on rapid climate change in the present climate due to increased greenhouse gasses. It is the uniformitarian stretched-out time scale that is the main cause of the problem. Within a creationist model,UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS DERIVE MANY MORE ‘ANNUAL LAYERS’
IN THE GREENLAND ICE CORES THAN CREATIONISTS BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMED OLD
AGE TIME SCALE. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO PARADIGMS ALSO SHOW UP IN
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORES. LARGE CHANGES IN
OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO ARE INTERPRETED BY UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS AS WILD
FLUCTUATIONS IN TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC REGION. SUCH WILD FLUCTUATIONS
IN THE PREVIOUS ‘INTERGLACIAL’ SPARKED A REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME AND OTHER
SUCH FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’ IN OTHER DATA SETS, SUCH AS DEEP-SEA
CORES. THESE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ FLUCTUATIONS HAVE BEEN USED TO JUSTIFY SPECULATION
ON RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PRESENT CLIMATE DUE TO INCREASED GREENHOUSE
GASSES. THE ‘INTERGLACIAL’ ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS ARE NOW SEEN BY MOST SCIENTISTS
AS AN ARTIFACT OF ICE FLOW. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ARE STILL PERPLEXED
OVER THE HUGE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS. CREATIONISTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, CAN
INTERPRET THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE SWINGS IN AT LEAST FOUR WAYS BY EVENTS WITHIN
A SHORT POST-FLOOD ICE AGE. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS COULD REPRESENT
SEASONAL CHANGES, LONGER PERIOD CLIMATE CHANGES CAUSED BY VARIABLE VOLCANIC
DUST LOADING, CHANGES IN SEA ICE, OR ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION CHANGES.
IN A COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE IN THE PREVIOUS
TJ,1 I COMPARED THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS
OF NEW ICE CORE DATA FROM THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET. THESE ICE CORES ARE
THE EUROPEAN GRIP CORE AND THE AMERICAN GISP2 CORE BOTH DRILLED AT THE
HIGHEST PART OF THE ICE SHEET. UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS ASSUME THE ICE
SHEET HAS BEEN MORE-OR-LESS IN EQUILIBRIUM FOR SEVERAL MILLION YEARS.
THUS THE ICE SHEET WOULD BE GAINING AS MUCH ICE AND SNOW FROM PRECIPITATION
AS IT LOSES BY MELTING AND CALVING OF ICEBERGS INTO THE OCEAN. BASED
ON THESE ASSUMPTIONS, THEY FERRET OUT 110,000 ‘ANNUAL’ LAYERS,
THE MAIN SUBJECT OF MY OTHER ARTICLE.1
BEFORE DERIVING SUPPOSED ANNUAL LAYERS, THE ICE CORE WAS
DATED BY FLOW MODELING IN WHICH TWO POINTS ON THE CORE WERE CALIBRATED
TO CERTAIN FLUCTUATIONS IN DEEP SEA CORES. ONE OF THESE POINTS IS THE
YOUNGER DRYAS (YD) FLUCTUATION, SHOWN IN FIGURE 1. THE SECOND POINT IS
STAGE 5D IN DEEP SEA CORES. KEIGWIN ET AL. STATE:
‘THE ICE-CORE CHRONOLOGY WAS DISCUSSED BY DANSGAARD
ET AL. AND IS PINNED TO THE DEEP-SEA CHRONOLOGY AT THE 110-KYR
LEVEL [STAGE 5D], DENOTED BY THE SOLID VERTICAL LINE [IN THEIR FIGURE
2].’2
FIGURE 1. THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP ICE CORE,
CENTRAL GREENLAND (FROM WOLFF ET AL.).5 WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION, HOLOCENE REPRESENTS THE LAST 10,000 YEARS OR SO, YD
IS THE YOUNGER DRYAS COLD PERIOD, A/B IS THE ALLEROD/BOLLING WARM
PERIOD, 5A–D IS THE EARLY PART OF THE LAST ICE AGE, AND ‘EEM’
REPRESENTS THE PREVIOUS INTERGLACIAL. IN THE CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION,
THE HOLOCENE WOULD REPRESENT THE POST-ICE-AGE CLIMATE DURING THE PAST
4,000 YEARS (APPROXIMATELY 1,500 M OF ICE), WHILE THE RAPID POST-FLOOD
ICE AGE WOULD INCLUDE THE WHOLE CORE BELOW 1,500 M DEPTH. NOTICE
THE HIGH AMPLITUDE SHARP OSCILLATIONS IN THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO
IN THE GLACIAL PART OF THE CORE. |
FURTHERMORE, THE DEEP-SEA CORES ARE CALIBRATED TO THE ASTRONOMICAL
THEORY OF THE ICE AGE BASED ON CYCLICAL EARTH ORBITAL PARAMETERS. THESE
CYCLICAL VARIATIONS ARE SUPPOSED TO CAUSE GLACIAL AND INTERGLACIAL OSCILLATIONS
OVER THE PAST 2.5 MILLION YEARS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. IN DISCUSSING THE
THORIUM DATING TECHNIQUE FOR DEEP-SEA CORES, SCOTT LEHMAN3
POINTS OUT: ‘THEIR TECHNIQUE IS STILL HEAVILY RELIANT ON THE ACCURACY
OF THE ORBITALLY DERIVED MILE POSTS.’ THIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF
MASSAGING VARIOUS DATA SETS TO MAKE THEM SEEM CONSISTENT.4
ON THE OTHER HAND,
CREATIONISTS BASE THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE GREENLAND ICE CORES ON A RAPID,
700-YEAR-LONG, POST-FLOOD ICE AGE FOLLOWED BY THE PRESENT CLIMATE. IN THIS
MODEL ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE MUCH THICKER IN THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE ICE
SHEET, AND THE CLAIMED UNIFORMITARIAN ANNUAL LAYERS WOULD BE SUBANNUAL, EVEN
PICKING UP INDIVIDUAL STORMS. FIGURE 3 IN MY COUNTERING THE CRITICS ARTICLE1
CONTRASTS THE DIFFERENCE IN ANNUAL LAYER THICKNESSES DOWN THE CORE IN THE
TWO MODELS.
FIGURE 1 SHOWS THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DOWN THE GRIP CORE5
WITH BOTH THE UNIFORMITARIAN AND CREATIONIST INTERPRETATIONS OF EVENTS.6 THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO HAS BEEN GENERALLY CORRELATED
TO TEMPERATURE,7 THE COLDER
THE TEMPERATURE THE MORE NEGATIVE THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS. THUS, THE
ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORE IS THE LOWER 1,500 M. NOTICE THAT THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS DURING THE ICE AGE HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER AMPLITUDE.
THESE ICE AGE FLUCTUATIONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION, AS WELL AS THE UNIFORMITARIAN
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE, ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS ARTICLE.
WILD INTERPRETATIONS OF THE HIGH-AMPLITUDE FLUCTUATIONS
THE WILD ICE AGE
FLUCTUATIONS REVEAL SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION.
BECAUSE OF THE RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS, UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS
NOW ARE FORCED TO BELIEVE THAT THE TEMPERATURE ON GREENLAND CHANGED UP TO
20°C IN PERIODS AS SHORT AS 1 TO 3 YEARS!8 THIS IS A RADICAL INTERPRETATION, BUT
THEY ARE FORCED TO ACCEPT IT ANYWAY, BECAUSE OF THEIR ASSUMPTIONS. SINCE
THESE CHANGES ARE BELIEVED TO REPRESENT THE CLIMATE AROUND THE NORTH ATLANTIC
OCEAN,9 WILD BACK-AND-FORTH CLIMATE FLUCTUATIONS
ARE ASSUMED FOR THIS AREA. WHAT KIND OF PROCESSES COULD POSSIBLY ACCOUNT
FOR SUCH RADICAL CHANGES, EVEN DURING THE ICE AGE? THE SCIENTISTS ARE DESPERATELY
SEARCHING FOR SOME SORT OF MECHANISM THAT WOULD CAUSE SUCH CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE
CHANGES. THE FLUCTUATIONS ARE MORE AN INDICATION THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN
INTERPRETATION IS FAULTY.
IT IS INTERESTING THAT THE PREVIOUS EEM INTERGLACIAL PART
OF THE CORE, ACCORDING TO THE UNIFORMITARIAN INTERPRETATION, ALSO HAS
VERY RAPID CHANGES IN OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS (FIGURE 1). THIS WAS INTERPRETED
AS CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGES DURING AN INTERGLACIAL PERIOD.10 RAPID ‘CLIMATE’ FLUCTUATIONS WERE THEN ‘DISCOVERED’
IN DEEP SEA CORES AND LAKE POLLEN DATA THAT ARE CORRELATED TO THIS PERIOD.11
HOWEVER, THIS PART OF THE GRIP CORE WAS LATER COMPARED TO THE GISP2 CORE
AND CLAIMED TO BE AN ARTIFACT OF ICE-FLOW DISTURBANCE.3
IT IS OF FURTHER INTEREST THAT SOME OF THE ORIGINAL CLAIMS OF CATASTROPHIC
CLIMATE CHANGE IN OTHER DATA SETS ARE NOW ‘QUESTIONABLE.’3
HOWEVER, THE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS NOW POSTULATED IN THE ICE AGE PORTION
OF OTHER DATA SETS STILL STAND. SARNTHEIN ET AL. STATE:
‘SINCE THESE
FIRST DISCOVERIES FROM THE GREENLAND SUMMIT CORES IN THE EARLY 1990S, THE
RECORD OF THIS UNEXPECTED CLIMATIC BEHAVIOR HAS BEEN FOUND IN MANY REGIONS,
INCLUDING POLAR ICE SHEETS; MARINE SEDIMENTS OF THE ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, AND
INDIAN OCEANS; AND IN TERRESTRIAL LAKES AND BOGS.’12
THIS SUDDEN DISCOVERY OF RADICAL CLIMATIC FLUCTUATIONS IN
OTHER DATA SETS AND THEIR EQUALLY SUDDEN QUESTIONABLE NATURE FOR THE PREVIOUS
‘INTERGLACIAL’ SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE UBIQUITOUS
REINFORCEMENT SYNDROME.13
IT SEEMS THAT THE UNIFORMITARIAN VIEW IS MOST ACCOMMODATING TO RADICALLY
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS.
REGARDLESS OF
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE CORE, A LARGE NUMBER OF ARTICLES
HAVE APPEARED SUGGESTING THAT IF SUCH FLUCTUATIONS CAN OCCUR DURING THE ICE
AGE, OR EVEN DURING THE INTERGLACIAL, THAT IT CAN OCCUR DURING THE PRESENT
CLIMATE. MANY SUGGEST THAT GLOBAL WARMING WILL PERTURB THE CLIMATE SYSTEM
SO MUCH AS TO EVEN INITIATE AN ICE AGE. KENDRICK TAYLOR ASKS:
‘NEW EVIDENCE
SHOWS THAT EARTH’S CLIMATE CAN CHANGE DRAMATICALLY IN ONLY A DECADE. COULD
GREENHOUSE GASES FLIP THAT SWITCH?’14
WILLIAM CALVIN IN A POPULAR ARTICLE IS EVEN MORE DIRE:
‘BUT WARMING
COULD LEAD, PARADOXICALLY, TO DRASTIC COOLING—A CATASTROPHE THAT COULD THREATEN
THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIZATION.’15
SO, A WARMING CLIMATE CAN LEAD TO A DRASTICALLY COOLER CLIMATE,
ACCORDING TO UNIFORMITARIAN THINKING.
THE MAIN MECHANISM
PROPOSED FOR SUCH RADICAL CLIMATE CHANGE, PAST AND FUTURE, IS THE STOPPING
OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN CIRCULATION SO THAT WARM WATER IS NOT TRANSPORTED NORTHWARD
TO GREENLAND AND EUROPE.16
THIS MECHANISM, INITIATED BY AN INCREASE OF MAN-MADE CO2, SEEMS
FAR-FETCHED.
CREATIONIST INTERPRETATION OF ICE CORE FLUCTUATIONS
THESE RAPID FLUCTUATIONS IN OXYGEN ISOTOPES ARE DIFFICULT
TO EXPLAIN WITHIN THE UNIFORMITARIAN MODEL. SARNTHEIN ET AL. ADMIT:
‘THE ORIGIN OF MAJOR RAPID, DECADAL CLIMATE CHANGE DURING THE LATEST
QUATERNARY REMAINS AN ENIGMA.’17
FIGURE 2. POSTULATED POST-FLOOD VOLCANISM UP TO GLACIAL MAXIMUM
(FROM OARD).22 |
HOW WOULD CREATIONISTS INTERPRET THE LARGE-AMPLITUDE FLUCTUATIONS
DURING THE ICE AGE PORTION OF THE CORE? SINCE ANNUAL LAYERS ARE MUCH
THICKER IN THE CREATIONIST MODEL, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE HIGH AMPLITUDE
OXYGEN ISOTOPE FLUCTUATIONS ARE ANNUAL LAYERS. HOWEVER, SOME OF THE FLUCTUATIONS
WOULD HAVE LASTED MORE THAN A YEAR, SINCE SOME OF THEM ARE ABOUT 50 M
THICK. A SECOND POSSIBILITY IS THAT THESE LONGER-LASTING FLUCTUATIONS
COULD REFLECT VARIABLE VOLCANIC DUST AND AEROSOL LOADS IN THE STRATOSPHERE.
FIGURE 2 PRESENTS THE POSTULATED POST-FLOOD VOLCANISM UP UNTIL GLACIAL
MAXIMUM.18 NOTICE THE SEE-SAW
TENDENCY SUPERIMPOSED ON A GRADUAL DECLINE. DURING HIGHER VOLCANISM (THE
PEAKS), TEMPERATURES WOULD BE COLDER FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. THIS COULD
CORRESPOND TO THE MORE NEGATIVE OXYGEN ISOTOPE VALUES FROM THE GREENLAND
ICE CORES. WARMER PERIODS WOULD BE CAUSED BY A THINNING OF VOLCANIC DUST
AND AEROSOLS IN THE STRATOSPHERE.
A THIRD POSSIBILITY
IS THAT CHANGES IN SEA ICE, WHICH AFFECT THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS, COULD
CAUSE THE FLUCTUATIONS.19 A HIGHER
AMOUNT OF SEA ICE WILL CAUSE MORE NEGATIVE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS AND VICE
VERSA. I SEE THIS PROCESS OPERATING LATE IN THE ICE AGE, SINCE IT WOULD TAKE
QUITE A WHILE FOR THE WARM OCEAN AFTER THE GENESIS FLOOD TO COOL ENOUGH FOR
SEA ICE TO FORM.20 BUT THIS MECHANISM COULD BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE LATE ICE AGE YOUNGER DRYAS AND ALLEROD/BOLLING FLUCTUATIONS.
A FOURTH POSSIBILITY
IS THAT THE WILD FLUCTUATIONS REFLECT A CHANGING ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION,
LIKELY RELATED AND REINFORCED BY ANY OF THE ABOVE THREE MECHANISMS. THIS
IS BECAUSE TEMPERATURE IS ONLY ONE VARIABLE OUT OF MANY THAT AFFECT THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE RATIOS.7,21 UNIFORMITARIAN SCIENTISTS USUALLY INTERPRET THE OXYGEN
ISOTOPE RATIOS MAINLY IN TERMS OF TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS.
CONCLUSIONS
THE WILD OSCILLATIONS
IN THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIO DURING THE ICE AGE IS INTERPRETED BY UNIFORMITARIAN
SCIENTISTS AS CATASTROPHIC CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC REGION.
THESE ARE USED TO JUSTIFY SPECULATION ON RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PRESENT
CLIMATE DUE TO INCREASED GREENHOUSE GASSES. IT IS THE UNIFORMITARIAN STRETCHED-OUT
TIME SCALE THAT IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. WITHIN A CREATIONIST MODEL,1 the large fluctuations can be explained by events during the Ice Age. With much thicker annual layers in the Ice Age portion of the core, the oscillations could simply be annual layers caused by seasonal changes in temperature or more prolonged changes in temperature caused by variable volcanic dust loading in the stratosphere.
Interpretation of ice cores is another example where different assumptions, using the very same data, result in quite different conclusions.
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