From rmg3@access.digex.net Sat Oct  8 17:33:35 EDT 1994
Article: 79847 of talk.origins
Path: news1.digex.net!access.digex.net!not-for-mail
From: rmg3@access.digex.net (Robert Grumbine)
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Nickel Concentration Dates Ocean To 9000 Years
Date: 8 Oct 1994 17:28:02 -0400
Organization: Under construction
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References: <3713hm$18r@vega.ftlsw.telematics.com>
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Status: RO

In article <3713hm$18r@vega.ftlsw.telematics.com>,
Jack Nadelman 906  wrote:
>Measure the concentration of nickel in the ocean water at two points
>in time to find the rate at which rivers cause an increase. The rate
>is not necessarily a constant, but we are able to use it to
>approximate when the concentration was zero, and we find that it is
>about 9,000 years(1) ago. Zero nickel in the ocean and the approximate
>age of the ocean (and earth).
>
>(1) Henry M Morris, "Scientific Creationism," 1974, p. 153.

  Let's see, then, if we can corroborate that age estimate by using other
elements in the ocean.  I'm working from _Tracers In the Sea_ by
Wallace Broecker and T.-H. Peng, 1982, Eldigio Press (pp. 26-27)

Element    Residence Time (years)
Lithium     5.7E5
Boron       9.6E6
Fluorine    5.0E5
Sodium      8.3E7
Magnesium   1.3E7
Aluminum    6.2E2
Silicon     2.0E4
Phosphorous 6.9E4
Potassium   1.3E7
Calcium     1.1E6
Titanium    3.7E3
Vanadium    4.5E4
Chromium    8.2E3
Manganese   1.3E3
Iron        5.3E1
Cobalt      3.4E2
Nickel      8.2E3  -> Morris's Figure is approximately correct for Ni.
Copper      9.7E2
Zinc        5.1E2
Gallium     9.0E3
Arsenic     3.9E4
Selenium    2.6E4
Bromine     1.3E8

...
  Several elements are not listed with atomic number less than 35 (bromine)
due to the inaccuracy of the measurements, or to the irrelevance of the
question (hydrogen and oxygen, for example).  I quit here.  The remainder
of the table ranges from 8.1E1 (Lead) to 8.2E5 (Molybdenum).

  The range for the elements for which we have sufficiently accurate 
source functions to make an estimate is an age of the ocean anywhere from 
53 years (Iron) to 130 Million years (Bromine).  

  As the method give an answer which varies by over a factor of a million,
we must question its premises:
1) That the initial concentration of elements was zero.
2) That the rate of addition was constant.
3) That there are no mechanisms for removal.

  Further, since a single element (Ni) was chosen for the Morris method,
we must ask why that particular element was chosen.  It is not the
most common or best known element (best in terms of its source rate).
Nor is it particularly immune to being affected by removal mechanisms.

  Now, since there is a clear contradiction of the method both
with itself (the factor of a million variation in age estimates),
and with experience (dating the earth to be younger than many of
its occupants if you use Iron), it is time for the method
to be either retracted, or improved.

-- 
Bob Grumbine rmg3@access.digex.net
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much 
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they 
would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences