You've got two decay products, lead and helium, and they're giving two different ages for the zircon.

Dr. Jake Hebert. He received his Ph.D. in physics from University of Texas at Dallas.

Radiometric Dating

For many people, radiometric dating might be the one scientific technique that most blatantly seems to challenge the Bible’s record of recent creation. For this reason, ICR research has long focused on the science behind these dating techniques.

Along with scores of other Bible-believing geologists, ICR scientists have made key observations that compel us to reject the millions-of-years apparent ages that these techniques yield:

  • First, rocks of known age always show vastly inflated radioisotope ages.
  • Second, various radioisotope methods or even various attempts using the same method yield discordant ages more often than concordant ages.
  • Third, many dating methods that don't involve radioisotopes—such as helium diffusion, erosion, magnetic field decay, and original tissue fossils—conflict with radioisotope ages by showing much younger apparent ages.

These observations give us confidence that radiometric dating is not trustworthy. Research has even identified precisely where radioisotope dating went wrong. See the articles below for more information on the pitfalls of these dating methods.