RE: [asa] radiometric question

Bernie,

You might enjoy this site regarding the K-Ar testing of Mt. St. Helens.

http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/mt_st_helens_dacite_kh.htm

Coope

From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of Dehler, Bernie
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 11:36 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [asa] radiometric question

I went to talk origins to learn about radiometric dating, and was happy to
see it referred to this ASA article:

"Radiometric Dating - A Christian Perspective"
 <http://www.asa3.org/ASA/resources/Wiens.html>
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/resources/Wiens.html

I have a question. It says:

14. A young-Earth research group reported that they sent a rock erupted in
1980 from Mount Saint Helens volcano to a dating lab and got back a
potassium-argon age of several million years. This shows we should not trust
radiometric dating.

There are indeed ways to "trick" radiometric dating if a single dating
method is improperly used on a sample. Anyone can move the hands on a clock
and get the wrong time. Likewise, people actively looking for incorrect
radiometric dates can in fact get them. Geologists have known for over forty
years that the potassium-argon method cannot be used on rocks only twenty to
thirty years old. Publicizing this incorrect age as a completely new finding
was inappropriate. The reasons are discussed in the Potassium-Argon Dating
section above. Be assured that multiple dating methods used together on
igneous rocks are almost always correct unless the sample is too difficult
to date due to factors such as metamorphism or a large fraction of
xenoliths.

Let me ask a clarifying question. Suppose a YEC takes a rock from Mt. St.
Helen's and asks for a date due to radiometric dating. I assume various
dating methods will be used. will they get the correct recent date? I
didn't see a clear, blunt, answer.

.Bernie

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Received on Tue Nov 4 13:28:09 2008