Study: Comets Did Not Supply Earth's Water | The Institute for Creation Research

Study: Comets Did Not Supply Earth's Water
BY *  | 
MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2014

Slightly different versions of water's constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, are relatively common in the universe. But how did Earth's version of water get here? European Space Agency astronomers have been looking for clues using their Rosetta spacecraft to inspect Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Earlier this year, Rosetta orbited the comet while analyzing the gas the comet continually ejects. The findings show that the comet's water differs significantly from water on Earth.

A research team published details of their discovery in Science, noting that the comet's water molecules have about three times more deuterium than hydrogen.1 Deuterium is a heavy but stable isotope of hydrogen. It carries a proton and neutron in its nucleus, whereas the more abundant version of hydrogen carries just one proton.

If comets supplied the water to form Earth's oceans, then the ratio of deuterium to common hydrogen should be about the same, not three times higher in comets. Perhaps this comet's water does not represent water found in other comets—but that would throw a new kink in the secular notion that comets and Earth all formed from the same material.

Secularists, who by definition only consider natural sources of water when they reconstruct our home planet's origin, have long envisioned that—billions of years ago—a substantial torrent of comet impacts built Earth's oceans. This new evidence derails that old picture.

Kathryn Altwegg is the principal investigator on the project. She told BBC Radio, "It is the highest-ever measured ratio of heavy water relative to light water in the Solar System. It is more than three times higher than on the Earth, which means that this kind of comet could not have brought water to the Earth."2

If they can no longer assert that Earth's water was donated by fortuitous collisions of ancient, water-rich comets, then where else could the water have come from? The Science study authors suggested that asteroids would be the next place to look.

However, the heat resulting from either comet or asteroid collisions should have vaporized whatever water they had, sending it back out into space eons ago—supposedly back when Earth's atmosphere was not yet fully developed. Since secularists imagine that Earth formed from a molten mass that was too hot for water, their options for Earth water's origins are vaporizing.

Removing secularism reveals the possibility that water came not from a natural source, but from a supernatural one. Scripture is explicit, both in Genesis 1 and 2 Peter 3, that God formed Earth by water, not a molten mass. This would explain the otherwise muggy mystery of why Earth has so much wonderful and unique water.3

References

  1. Altwegg, K. et al. 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a Jupiter family comet with a high D/H ratio. Science. Published online before print, December 10, 2014. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261952.
  2. Water on Comets; DNA in Space; Sounds of the Ocean; Science in Fashion. BBC Inside Science. Posted on bbc.co.uk December 11, 2014, accessed December 16, 2014.
  3. Maybe that same Creator placed over three times more deuterium in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's water than in Earth's water just to point toward Himself as the answer to ultimate origins. See Thomas, B. European Spacecraft's Comet Close-up a World First. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org August 13, 2014, accessed December 16, 2014.

Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on December 29, 2014.

More Earth's Water Cycle Protects and Provides



	



	Some are concerned that global warming will melt the polar ice caps and lead to a rise in global sea level. Is this really happening?

    [abstract_edit] => 

	



	



	Some are concerned that global warming will melt the polar ice caps and lead to a rise in global sea level. Is this really happening?

    [stage] => 

	

    [stage_edit] => 

	

    [body] => 

	Some are concerned that global warming will cause the polar ice caps to melt, leading to an increase in global sea level. If such a rise in sea level occurred slowly, coastal peoples would have time to adjust to the change. But many are concerned that sea level could rise rapidly, leading to a humanitarian catastrophe.



	Although some scientists claim that satellite and tide-gauge data confirm a rapidly rising sea level, others are skeptical. In fact, two Australian scientists, Dr. Albert Parker and Dr. Clifford Ollier, have recently charged that Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped.1,2,3



	Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped. Tweet: Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped.

Is Global Sea Level Rising? http://www.icr.org/article/10403/

@icrscience



	Concerns over sea level rise are also being stoked by the way secular scientists interpret chemical wiggles within deep-seafloor sediments. These chemical wiggles (called oxygen isotope ratios) are thought to serve as “proxy” or “stand in” values for global ice volume: higher oxygen isotope ratios (denoted by the symbol δ18O) are thought to indicate ice ages, and lower values are thought to correspond to warmer “interglacial” periods.



	When water freezes to form ice, less of Earth’s total water is available to remain liquid. Since the total mass of water on Earth remains essentially constant, an increase in global ice volume should result in a decrease in global mean sea level, and vice versa. This means that δ18O values can presumably indicate past global sea levels.



	Most secular scientists assume the validity of the astronomical (or Milankovitch) ice age theory, which posits that ice ages are caused by slow, gradual changes in Earth’s orbital and rotational motions, which in turn are thought to affect the way sunlight is distributed on the Earth. Then they use astronomical calculations to infer times in the supposed prehistoric past when these sunlight variations are thought to have resulted in ice ages, and then these ages are assigned to the peak δ18O values.



	Then they use these ages to calculate past rates of sea level rise. These calculated rates have led secular scientists to worry about possible future catastrophic global flooding.



	Oceanographer Wolfgang Berger asked:



	Just when can we expect to see a rapid rise of sea level, ten times higher than the present values of a few millimeters per year? We do not know. All we can say, from experience with the many millennia of the ice-age records in the deep sea, is that once melting starts, it stimulates further melting for centuries. Deglaciation keeps going once begun in earnest: a great example of the dilemma of the sorcerer’s apprentice.4



	What Berger is calling “experience” is just a Milankovitch interpretation of the seafloor sediment data. But if the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise!



	If the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise! Tweet: If the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise!

Is Global Sea Level Rising? http://www.icr.org/article/10403/

@icrscience



	Despite its popularity, there are many problems with the astronomical theory.5 Moreover, recent ICR research has raised serious doubts about a key argument for the theory presented in a well-known paper titled “The Pacemaker of the Ice Ages.”6 The argument is so important that last year the journals Science and Nature both ran articles commemorating the paper’s 40th anniversary.7,8 More than a year later, secular scientists have yet to respond to this new research. Of course, they would probably claim that there is additional evidence for the theory, so that the theory is confirmed even without the Pacemaker paper’s validity. But if the Pacemaker paper is not essential to the argument for the Milankovitch theory, then why are supporters of the theory so reluctant to candidly acknowledge the paper’s problems?



	Since the argument for a rapidly rising sea level inferred from seafloor sediments is logically invalid, then evidence for such a claim, if it exists, can only come from satellite and tide-gauge data. Given the history of data manipulation in this field,9 including these recent allegations regarding Indian Ocean data, such claims should be heavily scrutinized before being accepted as valid. 



	References


    
	
  1. 
		Parker, A. and C. D. Ollier. 2017. Is the Sea Level Stable at Aden, Yemen? Earth Systems and Environment. 1: 18. doi.org/10.1007/s41748-017-0020-z.
    2. 
	
  2. 
		Richard, K. ‘Adjustments’ to Create Spurious Sea Level Rise Have Now Infected the PSMSL Tide Gauge Data. Posted at notrickszone.com December 4, 2017, accessed December 12, 2017.
    3. 
	
  3. 
		Delingpole, J. 2017. Tidalgate: Climate Alarmists Caught Faking Sea Level Rise. Posted at breitbart.com on December 6, 2017, accessed December 12, 2017.
    4. 
	
  4. 
		Berger, W. H. 2012. Milankovitch Theory—Hits and Misses. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 16. Emphasis added.
    5. 
	
  5. 
		Oard, M. J. 2007. Astronomical troubles for the astronomical hypothesis of ice ages. Journal of Creation. 21 (3): 19-23.
    6. 
	
  6. 
		Hebert, J. 2016. Revisiting an Iconic Argument for Milankovitch Climate Forcing: Should the "Pacemaker of the Ice Ages" Paper Be Retracted? Part 3. Answers Reserach Journal. 9:229-255.
    7. 
	
  7. 
		Hodell, D. A. 2016. The smoking gun of the ice ages. Science. 354 (6317): 1235-1236.
    8. 
	
  8. 
		Maslin, M. 2016. Forty years of linking orbits to ice ages. Nature. 540 (7632): 208-210.
    9. 
	
  9. 
		McIntyre, S. and R. McKitrick. 2005. Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters. 32, L03710.
    10. 




	*Dr. Jake Hebert is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.



	Article posted on January 4, 2018.

    [body_edit] => 

	Some are concerned that global warming will cause the polar ice caps to melt, leading to an increase in global sea level. If such a rise in sea level occurred slowly, coastal peoples would have time to adjust to the change. But many are concerned that sea level could rise rapidly, leading to a humanitarian catastrophe.



	Although some scientists claim that satellite and tide-gauge data confirm a rapidly rising sea level, others are skeptical. In fact, two Australian scientists, Dr. Albert Parker and Dr. Clifford Ollier, have recently charged that Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped.1,2,3



	Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped. Tweet: Indian Ocean sea-level data for the last 140 years were manipulated to show a dramatic rise in sea level, even though the raw data showed that sea level had remained steady, or even dropped.

Is Global Sea Level Rising? http://www.icr.org/article/10403/

@icrscience



	Concerns over sea level rise are also being stoked by the way secular scientists interpret chemical wiggles within deep-seafloor sediments. These chemical wiggles (called oxygen isotope ratios) are thought to serve as “proxy” or “stand in” values for global ice volume: higher oxygen isotope ratios (denoted by the symbol δ18O) are thought to indicate ice ages, and lower values are thought to correspond to warmer “interglacial” periods.



	When water freezes to form ice, less of Earth’s total water is available to remain liquid. Since the total mass of water on Earth remains essentially constant, an increase in global ice volume should result in a decrease in global mean sea level, and vice versa. This means that δ18O values can presumably indicate past global sea levels.



	Most secular scientists assume the validity of the astronomical (or Milankovitch) ice age theory, which posits that ice ages are caused by slow, gradual changes in Earth’s orbital and rotational motions, which in turn are thought to affect the way sunlight is distributed on the Earth. Then they use astronomical calculations to infer times in the supposed prehistoric past when these sunlight variations are thought to have resulted in ice ages, and then these ages are assigned to the peak δ18O values.



	Then they use these ages to calculate past rates of sea level rise. These calculated rates have led secular scientists to worry about possible future catastrophic global flooding.



	Oceanographer Wolfgang Berger asked:



	Just when can we expect to see a rapid rise of sea level, ten times higher than the present values of a few millimeters per year? We do not know. All we can say, from experience with the many millennia of the ice-age records in the deep sea, is that once melting starts, it stimulates further melting for centuries. Deglaciation keeps going once begun in earnest: a great example of the dilemma of the sorcerer’s apprentice.4



	What Berger is calling “experience” is just a Milankovitch interpretation of the seafloor sediment data. But if the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise!



	If the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise! Tweet: If the Milankovitch theory is wrong, then the ages assigned to the seafloor sediments are completely fictitious, as are the calculated rates of past sea level rise!

Is Global Sea Level Rising? http://www.icr.org/article/10403/

@icrscience



	Despite its popularity, there are many problems with the astronomical theory.5 Moreover, recent ICR research has raised serious doubts about a key argument for the theory presented in a well-known paper titled “The Pacemaker of the Ice Ages.”6 The argument is so important that last year the journals Science and Nature both ran articles commemorating the paper’s 40th anniversary.7,8 More than a year later, secular scientists have yet to respond to this new research. Of course, they would probably claim that there is additional evidence for the theory, so that the theory is confirmed even without the Pacemaker paper’s validity. But if the Pacemaker paper is not essential to the argument for the Milankovitch theory, then why are supporters of the theory so reluctant to candidly acknowledge the paper’s problems?



	Since the argument for a rapidly rising sea level inferred from seafloor sediments is logically invalid, then evidence for such a claim, if it exists, can only come from satellite and tide-gauge data. Given the history of data manipulation in this field,9 including these recent allegations regarding Indian Ocean data, such claims should be heavily scrutinized before being accepted as valid. 



	References


    
	
  1. 
		Parker, A. and C. D. Ollier. 2017. Is the Sea Level Stable at Aden, Yemen? Earth Systems and Environment. 1: 18. doi.org/10.1007/s41748-017-0020-z.
    2. 
	
  2. 
		Richard, K. ‘Adjustments’ to Create Spurious Sea Level Rise Have Now Infected the PSMSL Tide Gauge Data. Posted at notrickszone.com December 4, 2017, accessed December 12, 2017.
    3. 
	
  3. 
		Delingpole, J. 2017. Tidalgate: Climate Alarmists Caught Faking Sea Level Rise. Posted at breitbart.com on December 6, 2017, accessed December 12, 2017.
    4. 
	
  4. 
		Berger, W. H. 2012. Milankovitch Theory—Hits and Misses. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 16. Emphasis added.
    5. 
	
  5. 
		Oard, M. J. 2007. Astronomical troubles for the astronomical hypothesis of ice ages. Journal of Creation. 21 (3): 19-23.
    6. 
	
  6. 
		Hebert, J. 2016. Revisiting an Iconic Argument for Milankovitch Climate Forcing: Should the "Pacemaker of the Ice Ages" Paper Be Retracted? Part 3. Answers Reserach Journal. 9:229-255.
    7. 
	
  7. 
		Hodell, D. A. 2016. The smoking gun of the ice ages. Science. 354 (6317): 1235-1236.
    8. 
	
  8. 
		Maslin, M. 2016. Forty years of linking orbits to ice ages. Nature. 540 (7632): 208-210.
    9. 
	
  9. 
		McIntyre, S. and R. McKitrick. 2005. Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters. 32, L03710.
    10. 




	*Dr. Jake Hebert is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.



	Article posted on January 4, 2018.

    [typeID] => 9
    [visible] => t
    [pdf] => 
    [publishURL] => global-sea-level-rising
    [publishDate] => 0000-00-00
    [authorAsterisk] => t
    [domainID] => 1
    [publication] => 
    [volume] => 
    [issue] => 
    [page] => 
    [author] => Jake Hebert, Ph.D.
    [rand] => 1512917948.9980335
)
-->
Is Global Sea Level Rising?
Some are concerned that global warming will cause the polar ice caps to melt, leading to an increase in global sea level. If such a rise in sea level...
BY: JAKE HEBERT, PH.D.
New First Life Estimate Creates More Problems
How long would inanimate chemicals take to swirl themselves together and form a living cell? This unfair question assumes that such chemicals could...
BY: BRIAN THOMAS, PH.D.
Propane Eaters Spur Creation Questions
Asphalt volcanos really do exist on the ocean floor. They leak natural gas, oil, and the same type of black glop we use for road pavement. They have...
BY: BRIAN THOMAS, PH.D.
More Creation Science Update
How Sunflowers ''See'' the Sun
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are not only big and beautiful, but they also have an amazing biomechanism called heliotropism. ICR’s Dr. Jim...
BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)
Massive Tsunamis Generated by the Flood, Not an Asteroid
Two separate studies claim massive tsunamis and earthquakes from an asteroid impact profoundly affected the rock record. One research team modeled a...
BY: TIM CLAREY, PH.D.
March 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who...
BY: STAFF WRITER
The Latest
NEWS   ACTS & FACTS   PODCASTS
NEWS
Fast-Changing Cactus Flowers Still Point to Design
Cactus flowers have a striking range in size—they can be smaller than a grain of rice or longer than a school ruler. Such variation points to...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

NEWS
Wings of Beauty: Designed Detail in Butterflies
A butterfly wing may look like painted glass, but beneath its beauty is a living control system. A recent study on South American butterflies and a...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

NEWS
Jupiter's Moons Io and Ganymede: Still Problematic for ''Billions...
Two of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Io and Ganymede, were recently featured in science news stories—stories that remind us that these...
BY: JAKE HEBERT, PH.D.

NEWS
Can Ice Build Life?
Can a freezer make life? A recent paper in Chemical Science suggests that freezing and thawing may have helped early “protocells” grow,...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

NEWS
Conventional Scientists Still Struggle to Explain Saturn’s...
Saturn is famous for its beautiful rings, which are composed mostly of water ice particles. A team of scientists recently proposed that the rings were...
BY: JAKE HEBERT, PH.D.

NEWS
Centipede-Like Fossil Walked on Land, Not the Ocean Bottom
A new species of what appears to be a fossil centipede was found in sediments that conventional scientists believe were deposited offshore.1...
BY: TIM CLAREY, PH.D.

NEWS
Rewriting the Origin of Spiders and Horseshoe Crabs . . . Again
According to the fossil record, arthropods—in all their complexity—have always been arthropods.1,2 They belong to the phylum...
BY: FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.)

NEWS
June Wallpaper
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  (Matthew 6:33, NKJV) ICR's...
BY: STAFF WRITER

NEWS
Rapid Change, Fixed Design: Rethinking Genetic ''Accelerators''
What if so-called rapid evolution is not a process of building something new, but it simply reveals what was already there? A recent peer-reviewed study...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

NEWS
Designed to Adapt: Examining Plankton After Chicxulub
What if new species could appear in just a few thousand years? A recent study reports that many new plankton species showed up quickly after the supposed...
BY: JONATHAN K. CORRADO, PH.D., P. E.

Shop Related Products
Dinosaurs and the Bible
$4.99
Living in Light of Genesis
$15.99
Ancient and Fossil Bone Collagen Remnants
$29.99
Why the World Looks So Young
$7.99
Discovering Dinosaurs - Download
$4.99
$9.99