Contamination Claims Can't Cancel Radiocarbon Results | The Institute for Creation Research

Contamination Claims Can't Cancel Radiocarbon Results

Radiocarbon (C-14) keeps popping up in the wrong places. Carbon-dating labs have struggled to find ancient samples with zero radiocarbon levels. C-14 has turned up in coal, natural gas, and fossils. Naturalists believe all these specimens are many times older than radiocarbon can theoretically last, which is fewer than 100,000 carbon years.

In contrast, biblical scientists believe Noah’s Flood deposited these materials thousands, not millions, of years ago. A colleague and I expected to find radiocarbon in similarly old samples, and we did.1 Dinosaur and fish bones, wood, shell, and diamonds have detectable C-14.

Each of these measurements poses a dilemma for deep-time defenders. Logically, they must either reject their millions-of-years age assignments or claim that something is wrong with the measurements—for example, modern contamination. Secular experts argued in 2018 that those who report radiocarbon in coal and diamonds—without referencing ICR’s RATE results, their obvious target2—misunderstand background measurements for the instruments used in carbon dating.3 Dr. Vernon Cupps and I refuted their arguments in a 2019 technical article.4 Here are some highlights.

Measurements compare unknown samples with background samples. A perfect background sample has every component of the unknown sample except the one being measured—in this case, C-14. Levels of radiocarbon in materials such as diamonds are very close to the low levels found in background samples. The 2018 authors insisted that enough modern radiocarbon lurks in the lab, plus a few other places, to account for the low amounts measured in materials like diamonds.

But did they use lab measurements to back that assertion? No, they used circular reasoning in place of good measurement science. They argued that because background samples are millions of years old, they have no radiocarbon left in them. Therefore, any C-14 detected in an unknown sample of great age had to come from some place other than the sample.

Ironically, their own results refuted this logic. The same experts had measured C-14 in their own diamond samples.5 We compared their results to a standard background C-14 level, shown in the figure. Their 95% confidence error bars show C-14 above the background. Instead of reporting 99% confidence that their diamonds had more radiocarbon than the background, they said their C-14 came from lab contamination. Could it?

Background samples already account for lab contamination. Thus, the team bears two burdens of proof: 1) They need to show that in-lab C-14 can elevate levels high enough above the background to match the levels they found in their diamonds. 2) They need to show that lab contamination affects only the unknown samples and not background samples. Meanwhile, the reason Earth materials look thousands of years old is because they are thousands of years old!

References

  1. Thomas, B. and V. Nelson. 2015. Radiocarbon in Dinosaur and Other Fossils. Creation Research Society Quarterly. 51 (4): 299-311.
  2. Baumgardner, J. 2005. Carbon-14 Evidence for a Recent Global Flood and a Young Earth. In Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative. L. Vardiman et al, eds. San Diego, CA: Institute for Creation Research and Chino Valley, AZ: Creation Research Society, 587-630.
  3. Taylor, R. E., J. R. Southon, and G. M. Santos. 2018. Misunderstandings Concerning the Significance of AMS Background 14C Measurements. Radiocarbon. 60 (3): 727-749.
  4. Cupps, V. R. and B. Thomas. 2019. Deep Time Philosophy Impacts Radiocarbon Measurements. Creation Research Society Quarterly. 55 (4): 212-222.
  5. Taylor, R. E. and J. R. Southon. 2007. Use of natural diamonds to monitor 14C AMS instrument backgrounds. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B. 259: 282-287.
  6. Cupps and Thomas, Deep Time Philosophy Impacts Radiocarbon Measurements, 219. Data from Taylor and Southon, 2007.

* Dr. Thomas is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in paleobiochemistry from the University of Liverpool.

Cite this article: Brian Thomas, Ph.D. 2020. Contamination Claims Can't Cancel Radiocarbon Results. Acts & Facts. 49 (4).

The Latest
NEWS
Breaking News: Ancient Mollusks Were Complex
Mollusks consist of a wide range of invertebrates that include the intelligent octopus, pulmonated snails (gastropods), and bivalves (clams). They appear...

NEWS
Dino Trackway Leads Straight to a Young Earth
Uncovering animal tracks and trackways in sedimentary rocks is a testament to the Genesis Flood.1–4 Fascinating discoveries continue...

NEWS
February 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NKJV) ICR's...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Fascinating Dino Fossil Finds! | Creation.Live Podcast: Episode...
Dinosaurs are fascinating creatures and the fossils they've left behind inspire awe and wonder. Many scientists claim that the existence of...

NEWS
New Antarctic Ice Core: Good News for Creationists
Scientists have successfully drilled a fourth long ice core in East Antarctica.1 This new core, which reached to bedrock, has bottom ice...

CREATION PODCAST
Towers, Buttes, and Gardens of Stone - Exploring America's National...
America is home to stunning forests, mountains, monuments, and other wondrous features. The unique beauty of many of these locations has prompted...

NEWS
Oldest Dinosaurs in North America Explained by the Flood
A team of conventional paleontologists claims to have found the oldest dinosaur in North America, rivaling the oldest dinosaur remains found anywhere.1...

NEWS
Leaf and Stick Insect Variation
The phylum Arthropoda suddenly appears in the fossil record in a most un-Darwinian way.1 The largest group within the arthropods is the class...

NEWS
Snowflakes: A Symphony of Intricacy and Beauty
Snowflakes are among the most exquisite forms that nature has to offer, and no two flakes are alike. Several evolutionists have attempted to use the...

NEWS
Molecular Machines Twist Evolution
We read in the first chapter of Romans that God loves us so much that He has given us a general revelation of what He has created. Verse 19 states,...