Seafloor Sediment Research: Exciting Results! | The Institute for Creation Research

Seafloor Sediment Research: Exciting Results!

Regular Acts & Facts readers may be aware that I have hinted at upcoming results from my research on deep seafloor sediments.1 Now I am pleased to share some preliminary results with you.

Uniformitarian scientists believe that there have been about 50 ice ages within the last 2.6 million years of alleged “prehistory.” They believe that slow changes in Earth’s orbital and rotational motions regulate the timing of these ice ages. This theory is called the astronomical, or Milankovitch, ice age theory. Uniformitarian scientists generally assume the Milankovitch theory is correct and use it to assign ages to seafloor sediments with a method called orbital tuning. They then use these ages to date the deep ice cores. My previous research focused on the fact that these age assignments involve a good deal of apparent circular reasoning, since ages in cores are often tied to ages in other cores.2

Yet, this method is only truly circular if the evidence for the Milankovitch theory is either weak or nonexistent. Although there are serious problems with the Milankovitch theory, uniformitarian scientists claim that an iconic 1976 paper provided strong evidence for the theory.3, 4 In the paper, analysis of data from two Indian Ocean sediment cores yielded results consistent with Milankovitch expectations. The authors concluded that Earth’s orbital motions acted as a climate pacemaker that regulated the timing of ice ages.

However, this 1976 “Pacemaker” paper has serious problems. For instance, the authors excluded nearly a third of the data from the second sediment core, probably needlessly. Likewise, an assumed age of 700,000 years for the most recent magnetic reversal played a key role in the Pacemaker paper. Yet uniformitarian scientists now claim that this reversal happened 780,000 years ago. This age revision is extremely problematic for the paper’s results.

I have reproduced results, which I hope to soon publish, from the first part of the Pacemaker paper, using reconstructed data and the same method as the paper’s authors.

However, the final phase of my research is to explore the effects that these changes (inclusive of the first third of the data from the second core and an age change from 700,000 to 780,000 years) have on the paper’s results. Preliminary analysis indicates that they will not be encouraging for Milankovitch believers—even if one accepts, for the sake of argument, the claim that the sediments are hundreds of thousands of years old!

The Milankovitch theory plays an important role in uniformitarian dating methods. Demonstrating that there is no sound logical basis for orbital tuning could call into question hundreds, perhaps thousands, of uniformitarian age assignments. Likewise, the Milankovitch theory may be making a subtle contribution to global warming alarmism, so this research has the potential to bring some perspective to this controversial topic.

I continue to find problems with this Pacemaker paper. Lord willing, I will publish these results in a series of future Impact articles. For those who can’t wait that long, my first paper may be freely read on the Internet.5 Although it is technical, I kept the mathematics to a minimum and took pains to explain the necessary background material so that non-specialists may get the gist of the argument.

References

  1. Hebert, J. 2015. Seafloor Sediment Research Continues. Acts & Facts. 44 (11): 9.
  2. Hebert, J. 2016. Deep Core Dating and Circular Reasoning. Acts & Facts. 45 (3): 9-11.
  3. Oard, M. J. 2007. Astronomical troubles for the astronomical hypothesis of ice ages. Journal of Creation. 21 (3): 19-23.
  4. Hays, J. D., J. Imbrie, and N. J. Shackleton. 1976. Variations in the Earth’s Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages. Science. 194 (4270): 1121-1132.
  5. Hebert, J. 2016. Should the “Pacemaker of the Ice Ages” Paper Be Retracted? Part 1. Answers Research Journal. 9: 25-56.

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

Cite this article: Jake Hebert, Ph.D. 2016. Seafloor Sediment Research: Exciting Results!. Acts & Facts. 45 (6).

The Latest
NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...

NEWS
Acoustic Communication in Animals
We are all familiar with vocalizations in the animal world. For example, dogs bark, birds sing, frogs croak, and whales send forth their own distinct...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Crystals!
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

APOLOGETICS
Playing Chess with Little Furry Critters
God’s multifarious and marvelous designs for basic creature needs are so innovatively clever and providentially purposeful that Christ’s...

ACTS & FACTS
Credit Only Our Creator
History was my favorite subject as a young kid. But it always puzzled me when my teachers said, “We study history so that we don’t repeat...

ACTS & FACTS
Genomic Tandem Repeats: Where Repetition Is Purposely Adaptive
Tandem repeats (TRs) are short sequences of DNA repeated over and over again like the DNA letter sequence TACTACTAC, which is a repetition of TAC three...

ACTS & FACTS
Dinosaur National Monument: Fossil Graveyard of the Flood
Straddling the border of Utah and Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument (DNM) is one of the richest exposures of dinosaur fossils in the world.1...

ACTS & FACTS
The Transforming Influence of Genesis: Worker Dignity and Safety
When Pharisees questioned the Lord Jesus about marriage, He answered by quoting Genesis 1:27: “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made...

NEWS
Giant ''Meg'' Shark: Longer and Leaner?
Fossil remains of the giant shark Otodus megalodon have been found in Miocene1 and Pliocene2 rock layers, which ICR scientists...