> GM>I am not trying to impress atheists. I am trying to prevent the
> >manufacture of more of them by Christians leaving the fold because they
> >were not taught observatioanly correct facts.
Hi Glenn,
If I might intrude into your and Steven's exchange, let me ask a
question. Recently, you and I had a mutually beneficial discussion of
the implications of the characteristics of the Pittsburg Coal. You
posted the following description:
To be more specific, I can't and you can't explain the features of the
Pittsburg coal seam.
"Given, a 'bench' or layer of good bituminous coal, of very
uniform quality, varying in thickness from say 22 to 27 inches,
with one or two more or less irregular slaty partings or binders
here and there in it; and imagine such a deposit spread out over
at least 15,000 square miles. The edges or outcroppings of this
layer of coal reveal no signs of a beginning or of an end; in
other words, there is nothing to indicate that this coal did not
originally extend hundreds of miles beyond any of its existing
limits. We will not now discuss the question. How did this
layer of coal get where it is? But proceed at once to observe
that it has a practically dead-level and even surface or top.
Suppose this vast expanse of dead-level coal vegetation to be
completely covered or sealed over by a thin layer or band of
shale, or 'slate' as miners call it. We will suppose the
thickness of this film of shale to be from 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch
only. Imagine a practically unbroken 15,000+ square mile sheet
of shale only 3/8 of an inch thick! On top of this shale-band
let a second and equally uniform layer of the same coal as the
thicker one below, be deposited, whose thickness is about 4
inches---a layer of coal practically free from impurities, and,
in every respect, similar to the rest of the seam, regarded as a
whole. Again, on top of this 4-inch band of coal conceive a
second layer of shale to exist, in thickness and kind just about
the same as the shale-layer 4 inches below it. Then above this
suppose we have a uniform bench of coal 3 to 5 feet high. Here,
then, we have three separate and distinct benches or divisions of
a coal-seam separated horizontally by a couple of thin, parallel-
bedded layers of shale; or looked at in another way, we have a
say, 15,000 square mile 4-inch band of excellent coal sandwiched
between two very thin, but remarkably persistent layers of what
is presumably hardened mud, these again being enclosed by thicker
layers of the same kind of coal. Now, the foregoing is in
reality a description of what actually occurs in nature; it is
the lower or workable division of the 'great Pittsburgh bed.'
These two 'slate-binders' seem to be so remarkable as regards
their geographical extent, uniformity in effort ought to be made
to explain: 1---What they are or signify; 2---How they got there;
and, 3---Whence they came,---three questions, so far as I know,
not at all satisfactorily answered, and much less easy of
solution than at first sight appears. My wish in this connection
is that this paper may stir up sufficient interest in this matter
to lead to further extended, and closer observation; and such a
detailed study of the Pittsburgh bed as it (a typical one) surely
deserves and ought to receive at the hands of all local
geologists and men capable of doing useful work on it. Of
course, the question of the origin and formation of the shale-
bands in the coal opens up that of the whole question of the
formation of coal-seams, for the bands are part and parcel of the
seam; the two substances (coal and shale) cannot be considered
separately."~W. S. Gresley, "The 'Slate Binders' of the
'Pittsburgh' Coal-bed," American Geologist, 14:(1894), p. 356-357
cited in William R. Corliss, Unknown Earth: A Handbook of
Geological Enigmas, (Glen Arm, MD: The Source Book Project,
1980), p. 155-156. (http://www.calvin.edu/archive/asa/199804/0059.html)
In the ensuing discussion, I did explain the features of the Pittsburg
within the "floating mat" (allochthonous) model. I felt that, at the
end of the discussion, you were still leaning toward the "swamp"
(autochthonous) model for the origin of the Pittsburg coal seam, even
though the observations do not support the autochthonous model for the
origin of this particular seam.
What is your opinion of the origin of the Pittsburg? Allochthonous or
autochthonous? What would the "observatioanly correct facts" about this
coal be?
Bill Payne