Young earth evidence

Image by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

Young earth evidence consists of observations that support a belief in a "young" earth (i.e., recent creation) that is only thousands of years old more easily than belief in an "old" earth that is billions of years old. Such evidence may be found in logical arguments regarding scientific data, historical documents, or some combination of the two.

Age is an effect of time, not an intrinsic property of matter. The only way to indirectly determine the age of an artifact is through comparative analysis against a similar artifact of known age. But how can we know the age of this second artifact? The only means to absolutely know the age of anything is through a "birth certificate", that is an eyewitness who saw it happen and documented the event for later examination. Otherwise, age is only a human perception through comparative analysis, not a property of matter itself.

Some forms of evidence simply place an upper limit on the age of the Earth, solar system, or universe, which is inconsistent with "deep time". For example, Steven Austin's and Russell Humphreys' argument based on the amount of salt in the ocean is designed to show the maximum possible age of the oceans based on uniformitarian assumptions, and thus shows that the oceans could not be as old as claimed. The argument is not designed to show the actual age of the oceans, so the resulting "age", although far too great for the young Earth view, is not inconsistent with it. Other evidence more directly verifies the Biblical chronology, which has its basis primarily in genealogies (such as the one in Genesis 5 ), the lengths of reign of various kings, and the lengths of two key intervals in the history of the people of Israel.

Human Population Growth Rates

I have seen a number of Bible critics in the past question how population could have grown quickly enough within 10,000 years to reach today's population. What is ironic is they've never done the math to check for themselves, because population growth at today's rates very definitely indicates a young creation, in fact it's too rapid even for Young Earth Creationists. Even Young Earth Creationists must concede it's gone at most half today's rates.

List of Countries by Population Growth

See Human Population Growth

Annual population growth rates today are above 1% in most of the world's countries. Globally population growth is 1.07%. Ultimately 51 of the world's 233 countries have rates above 2.00% and 119, over half of them, have rates above 1.00%. 155 of 233 countries have rates in excess of 0.50%. Surprisingly, many of these countries have very low life expectancies as well, and the higher a country's growth rate, the more disease, death, and war there tends to be in the country. (ranks shown out of 223 countries) The following are the 20 highest annual population growth rates among the world's countries as way of illustration:

Pop. Growth Rank	Country	Pop. Growth Rate	Life Expect. Rank	Life Expect. (years)
1	Lebanon	9.37%	69	77.22
2	Zimbabwe	4.36%	204	55.68
3	South Sudan	4.12%	185	63.32
4	Jordan	3.86%	117	74.10
5	Qatar	3.58%	53	78.38
6	Malawi	3.33%	194	59.99
7	Niger	3.28%	208	54.74
8	Burundi	3.28%	196	59.55
9	Uganda	3.24%	209	54.46
10	Libya	3.08%	86	74.04
11	Burkina Faso	3.05%	207	54.78
12	Mali	3.00%	206	54.95
13	Gaza Strip	2.91%	109	74.64
14	Ethiopia	2.89%	193	60.75
15	Western Sahara	2.89%	189	62.27
16	Zambia	2.88%	216	51.83
17	Benin	2.81%	191	61.07
18	Tanzania	2.80%	190	61.24
19	Angola	2.78%	205	55.29
20	Yemen	2.72%	175	64.83

Years to Reach 7 Billion Population

At a 1% growth rate (which most countries in the world have) one goes from 8 people (the survivors of Noah's Ark - Genesis 7:13) to 7 billion in just 2,071 years. Human population growth rates seen today are a strong evidence that the Bible is correct that human civilization is young.

Year	2.00% Growth Rate	1.00% Growth Rate	0.50% Growth Rate	0.20% Growth Rate	0.10% Growth Rate	0.05% Growth Rate
Year 1	8	8	8	8	8	8
Year 500	156,522	1,147	96	22	13	10
Year 1,000	3,123,644,327	166,013	1,167	59	22	13
Year 2,000	1.244 x 10 ^ 18	3,479,494,693	171,020	434	59	22
Year 5000	7.859 x 10 ^ 43	3.204 x 10 ^ 22	538,558,280,604	174,112	1,183	97
Years To Reach 7 Billion Population	1,041	2,071	4,130	6,849	13,690	41,191

Even as seen above, if population growth rates were less than 1/10th as fast as they are today's (0.1% as opposed to 1.07%) the human population should only be 13,690 years old. Even if population growth rates were less than 1/20th as fast as they are today's (0.05% as opposed to 1.07%) the human population should only 41,191 years old. Evolutionists cannot begin to use the principle "the present is the key to the past" to claim human population is millions of years old. Human population growth rates clearly indicate a young Earth, and are part of a broader pattern of microevolutionary rates that are too rapid for an old Earth.

Critic Arguments

Slower Rates

The Evolutionist will of course argue that population growth rates were far slower than today's rates, but even at rates just 1/5 those seen today, 0.20%, human population still should not be more than 7,000 years old. So what about disease, death, war? Certainly the Black Death and other severe plagues delayed human population in the past, right? Under such extreme circumstances there was likely some delay, but remember, countries with lower life expectancies and greater disease, death, and war actually have HIGHER population growth rates as seen from table 1.

“

"Evolutionists claim that mankind evolved from apes about a million years ago. If the population had grown at just 0.01% per year since then (doubling only every 7,000 years), there could be 10^43 people today—that’s a number with 43 zeros after it. This number is so big that not even the Texans have a word for it! To try to put this number of people in context, say each individual is given ‘standing room only’ of about one square metre per person. However, the land surface area of the whole Earth is ‘only’ 1.5 x 10^14 square metres. If every one of those square metres were made into a world just like this one, all these worlds put together would still ‘only’ have a surface area able to fit 10^28 people in this way. This is only a tiny fraction of 10^43 (10^29 is 10 times as much as 10^28, 10^30 is 100 times, and so on). Those who adhere to the evolutionary story argue that disease, famine and war kept the numbers almost constant for most of this period, which means that mankind was on the brink of extinction for most of this supposed history. This stretches credulity to the limits." -Don Batten, Creation Ministries International

”

The Evolutionist will also argue, as Infidels.org does, that "The human exponential growth rate of the last few hundred years is possible only because of technology" which sounds good superficially until you realize that the countries today with the fastest population growth, rates in excess of 3% annually, are third-world countries such as Lebanon, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Uganda - places where there is sometimes not even running water and which are certainly not known for their technology.

Matson's argument in particular is very dishonest though, as he concludes by attempting to claim that "real data" consists of population rates of 0.07% prior to 1650 A.D. So much for "the present is the key to the past." However, even if one were to accept Matson's ridiculous claim of .07% growth rates (which would be less than 1/140th those seen today) humans still would go from 8 individuals to 7 billion in 29,426 years, still far too short for the hundreds of thousands that are claimed by Evolutionists.

For an Evolutionist to argue that human population has been around millions of years they must argue that growth has been at a standstill all that time, and that human population did not begin growing substantially until the past 10,000 years.

Ancient Historical Census Records

Another argument I've seen evolutionists make in debate is that historical records do not support ancient population growth rates near today's levels, which is false. Although there is not much in the way of ancient census data, ancient Chinese census records show a substantial population growth rate from 680 B.C. to 2 A.D., and the 2 A.D. Han Dynasty census is widely regarded as the most accurate example of an ancient census. A 680 B.C. census in ancient China showed a population of 11,841,923 people, whereas the 2 A.D. census showed 59,594,978 people. Thus over 682 years this was a 0.238% growth rate. And at a .238% growth rate one goes from eight people to 7 billion in just 8,663 years.

Ancient Roman censuses likewise show growth too rapid for the millions of years claimed by evolutionists. The 465 B.C. census counted 104,714 people. The 264 B.C. census counted 382,234 Roman citizens. Thus there was a population growth rate of 0.646% over a 201-year period in ancient Rome. At a 0.646 population growth rate one goes just from the eight survivors of Noah's Ark to 7 billion people in just 3,199 years.

Rapid Microevolutionary Rates

If the world is as old as is commonly claimed, we should see animals today evolving at a rate consistent with this, over thousands and millions of years. That is why it is shocking for the scientific community that the accumulating evidence shows instead that Microevolution occurs over decades, rather than thousands and millions of years. David Skelly of Yale University has observed that the evolutionary rates are far faster than those presumed by evolutionary theory:

“

"Ecology is being transformed by the recognition that ecological and evolutionary timescales are not easily differentiated. A 1999 review of evolutionary rates by Andrew Hendry and Mike Kinnison (The pace of modern life: measuring rates of contemporary microevolution. Evolution 53:1637-1653) provided the striking conclusion that rates of contemporary evolution are much faster than generally appreciated... Our work reveals that a number of traits including critical thermal maximum, embryonic development rate, and thermal preference behavior all show variation consistent with local adaptation that occurs on the scale of decades and tens of meters. These findings offer a startlingly different picture of interactions between organisms and their environment prompting us to rethink, in larger sense, how we should conceive of ecological assemblages." -David Skelly, "Rapid Evolution," Yale University.

”

It also raises the question why, since species can adapt so quickly to their environments, do we only ever see the microevolution compatible with the Bible occurring, and not the macroevolution needed to prove a common ancestor? In 2010 it was discovered that bacterial evolutionary rates could even be accelerated enough to allow major changes in bacteria within a few days. Given such new discoveries, why can't macroevolution be readily observed, where bacteria evolve into a brand new type of life?

Australia's 'Toxic Toad'

In one of the most widely publicized cases of unexpected rapid Microevolution, Australian Cane Toads defied predictions based on evolutionary theory by experts about how they would react after being introduced to Australia. Within decades they evolved longer legs and heat tolerance, running amok and causing havoc for the wildlife; and instituting a national catastrophe for the continent.

“

"The evolutionary processes spawned by the cane toad invasion have occurred in a span of just 70 years. This adds to evidence from the past two decades that populations can adapt quickly when selection pressure is strong. 'We're taught evolution occurs over these very, very long time frames. But in systems like these, it's incredibly fast,' Shine, the study co-author, said." -John Roach, "Toxic Toads Evolve Longer Legs, Study Says," National Geographic.

”

“

'All of a sudden in the last 10 years it changes,' said Skelly. 'They're moving into areas where the physical environment is not like anything in their native range.' That implies that the cane toads have evolved more tolerance for the hotter climates they are now encountering. This is on top of the discovery last year that the toads at the forefront of the invasion had evolved longer legs than those in the interior of their range. The ability of animals to evolve so quickly needs to be factored into invasions, or the dangers of invasive species will likely be underestimated, argue Skelly and his colleagues Mark Urban, Ben Phillips and Richard Shine in an article in the March 28 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society-B." -Larry O'Hanlon, "Toxic Toads Evolving Quickly," DiscoveryNews.

”

Human Evolution

According to the assumptions of evolutionary theory, if evolution always went at the rate that we see today, there should be 160 times more differences between humans and apes. So rather than assume 'the present is the key to the past', scientists then decided that evolutionary rates today have accelerated for some reason.

“

"If humans had always evolved at this rate, the difference between modern humans and chimps should be 160 times greater than it really is. 'We realized we must be in a transient [phase], that evolution hasn't been going this fast for long in our species,' Harpending said. 'And so we wondered why.'" -John Roach, "Human Evolution Speeding Up," National Geographic.

”

“

"'I was raised with the belief that modern humans showed up 40,000 to 50,000 years ago and haven't changed,' explained Henry C. Harpending, an anthropologist at the University of Utah. 'The opposite seems to be true.'... If evolution had been proceeding steadily at the current rate since humans and chimps separated 6 million years ago there should be 160 times more differences than the researchers found. That indicates that human evolution had been slower in the distant past, Harpending explained." -Randolph E. Schmid, "Human Evolution Speeding Up," Washington Post.

”

Italian Wall Lizards

In 1971, scientists introduced 5 pairs of Italian Wall Lizards to a small island off the coast of Croatia. However, the Croatian War of Independence prevented the scientists from returning to the island for more than 30 years. When the war ended, tourism finally began again in 2004, allowing them to return. The researchers were unsure if the lizards would still be alive. Instead, they found the island swarming with lizards, which genetic testing showed to be descendants of their original 5. The new lizards had wiped out native lizard populations by evolving cecal valves, muscles between the large and small intestines, with which to digest native vegetation, an expanded gut structure, as well as a harder bite.

“

"Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out, new research shows. In just a few decades the 5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) lizards have developed a completely new gut structure, larger heads, and a harder bite, researchers say... Such physical transformation in just 30 lizard generations takes evolution to a whole new level, Irschick said. It would be akin to humans evolving and growing a new appendix in several hundred years, he said. 'That's unparalleled. What's most important is how fast this is,' he said." -Kimberly Johnson, "Lizards Rapidly Evolve After Introduction to Island," National Geographic.

”

Plant Evolution

Contrary to theoretical predictions based on evolutionary theory, genomes for the Angiosperm Silene (a flowering plant) evolved far more rapidly than was expected, as reported in the January 2012 issue of PLoS Biology. Researchers are now trying to find an explanation for why such rapid Microevolution is occurring, and a new model that will avoid such surprises in the future.

“

"Contrary to theoretical predictions, these genomes have experienced a massive proliferation of noncoding content... The evolution of mutation rate, genome size, and chromosome structure can therefore be extremely rapid and interrelated in ways not predicted by current evolutionary theories... We discuss the implications of the unprecedented mitochondrial genome diversity found within Silene and possible alternative explanations for the rapid genome evolution in this genus." -Sloan et. al., "Rapid Evolution of Enormous, Multichromosomal Genomes in Flowering Plant Mitochondria with Exceptionally High Mutation Rates," PLoS Biol.

”

Rodent Evolution

A 2009 study observed that rodents evolve at "unprecedented rates" given climate change and population growth, and that rapid evolutionary change in rodents has been occurring for over a century. The article also notes research on rapid Micrevolution has previously been "infrequently documented", but that despite this, more and more evidence is cropping up for it.

“

"Our results indicate that over the last 100+ years, rapid morphological change in rodents has occurred quite frequently, and that these changes have taken place on the mainland as well as on islands. Our results also suggest that these changes may be driven, at least in part, by human population growth and climate change." -Oliver R.W. Pergams and Joshua J. Lawler, "Recent and Widespread Rapid Morphological Change in Rodents," PLoS ONE.

”

Geomagnetic field decay

Main Article: Geomagnetic field decay

Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, a physics teacher at the University of Texas, has authored a widely used college textbook on electricity and magnetism. His examination of the data of 135 years shows that the earth's magnetic field is decaying exponentially, according to a decay law similar to that observed in radioactive decay.

In 1835 the German physicist Karl Friedrich Gauss made the first measurement of the earth’s magnetic dipole moment. Additional evaluations have been carried out every decade or so since then. Since 1835, global magnetism has decreased 14 percent. The record of measurements from 1835 to 1965 shows a magnetic half-life of {{#show:Earth|?Magnetic half life#years}}. Thus even 7,000 years ago, the earth would have had a magnetic field 32 times stronger than it now has. 20,000 years ago, this field would have generated enough Joule heat to liquefy the earth. One million years ago the earth would have had greater magnetism than all objects in the universe, and would have vaporized. Thus the earth could not be over 6,000 or 7,000 years old.

“

The over-all intensity of the field is declining at a rate of 26 nanoteslas per year...If the rate of decline were to continue steadily, the field strength would reach zero in 1,200 years.

”

“

In the next two millennia, if the present rate of decay is sustained, the dipole component of the [earth’s magnetic] field should reach zero.

”

This magnetic decay process is not a local process, such as one would find in uranium, but is global. It has been accurately measured for over 150 years, and is not subject to environmental changes since it is generated deep in the earth’s interior. If any fundamental planetary process ought to be a reliable indicator of the earth’s age, it should be our earth’s magnetic field–and that field indicates an upper limit significantly less than 10,000 years for the age of the earth.

Pleochroic halos

Main Article: Pleochroic halos

Radioactive inclusions in rock often cause concentric spheres of discoloration due to the damage caused by alpha particles as they are emitted by the radioactive substance. Pleochroic halos are the scars of radioactive decay, particularly alpha decay. These scars appear as spheres (rings when views in cross-section) in the rock surrounding a crystal rich with decaying radioactive atoms. The size of the halo is a signature of the energy of the emission and therefore the element and isotope involved. Creationists use these halos in several ways to suggest problems with the standard uniformitarian model.

Zircon Elemental Ratios

This and the next discovery were made by R. V. Gentry; both are discussed in detail in chapter 3, Origin of the Earth, and in his book, Nature’s Tiny Mystery.

Zircon lead ratios

Zircon crystals were taken in core samples from five levels of a 15,000-foot (45,720 dm) shaft in New Mexico, with temperatures always above 313 °C (595.4 °F). The sea-level boiling point of water is, of course, defined at 100 °C.

Radiogenic lead gradually diffuses out of zircon crystals, and does so more rapidly at increased temperatures. But careful examination revealed that essentially none of the radiogenic lead had diffused out of the examined zircon samples.

Zircon helium ratios

Main Article: Helium diffusion

Uranium and thorium are subject to alpha decay, i.e. they emit alpha particles, which are actually nuclei of helium. Analysis of the helium content of those same zircon samples revealed strikingly high helium retention in those crystals. The helium should have diffused out of the zircon samples even more rapidly than the lead would have, if the earth were more than several thousands of years old. Thus if the zircons were really 1.5 billion years old, as conventionally assumed, then nearly all the helium should have dissipated from the samples. Furthermore, accelerated decay appears to have produced a billion years worth of helium within not more than 6000 years, give or take 2000.

Helioseismology

Main Article: Helioseismology

The core of the sun produces deuterium from hydrogen fusion at 5 million degrees K. The heat is transferred from the core by convection currents so it could reach surface in days, not a million years. It also leads to an age for the sun based on the deuterium/hydrogen ratio of the local interstellar medium of 6,000-12,857 years.

Faint Young Sun

Main Article: Young solar system evidence

The Earth's crust has recorded the presence of water since the earliest days of Earth's existence. Likewise, the early Earth needed liquid water for life to form, but this would not be available to the Earth if the standard model of a faint-young-Sun is true. The "faint young Sun" is the presupposition that the early Sun had to be quite faint and substantially lacking in enough radiant strength to melt water-ice on the Earth (into liquid water for life to form).

Carbon 14 in Diamonds and Strata

Main Article: Carbon-14 dating

The RATE Group from Institute for Creation Research performed extensive tests with diamonds to detect measurable levels of carbon 14. As a carbon-based substance, diamonds are a perfect candidate to contain the isotope. As the world's hardest natural substance, a diamond is not subject to contamination/adulteration from external sources over time as may be the case with softer substances. As one of the oldest substances on Earth, diamonds should not contain any measurable Carbon-14.

The RATE group detected measurable Carbon-14 in diamonds. The opponents of this assertion attempted to show that other isotopes such as Uranium could cause the spontaneous formation of Carbon-14. The samples in this case were sufficiently isolated and their context documented such that no such evidence of other isotopes ever existed in the near-term since the purported formulation of the detected Carbon-14.

The same is true, however, for strata. In general the strata ostensibly laid down by gradual processes should have carbon-14 measurements increasing as the samples rise through the surface. No detectable carbon-14 should be in lower strata (generally speaking, owing to water percolation and the like). Pervasively however, carbon-14 measurements are inconsistent with the notion of gradual deposition of strata and as a rule have inconsistent measurements throughout the rock layers.

Soft Tissues in Fossils in Strata

Main Article: Soft_tissue_in_fossils

Hundreds of fossil samples have been discovered that still contain various relatively fast decaying bio-materials such as collagen, blood vessels, blood cells, various proteins, and DNA. Although they have different measured rates of decay they place a hard upper limit on the age of themselves as well as the rock encasing them much younger than millions of years. See: List of Fossils with Soft Tissues

Accelerated Nuclear Decay

Main Article: Accelerated Nuclear Decay

The main assumption of radiometric dating is that the decay rates are constant with time. If the decay rate has varied significantly over time then any date based on radioactive decay is worthless. However, if radioactive decay has been happening for Billions of years then there is insufficient argon diffusion, insufficient lead diffusion, insufficient helium in the air, and too much Helium in Rocks. Recent experiments commissioned by the RATE group indicate that "1.5 billion years" worth of nuclear decay has taken place, but in one or more short periods 4000 - 8000 years ago. This would shrink the alleged 4.5 billion year radioisotope age of the earth to only a few thousand years.

The ability for electromagnetic waves to accelerate decay is experimentally known and mature area of scientific study.

Researchers have also noted that solar flares measurably affect nuclear decay rates. Such events are common and intermittent, effectively nullifying nuclear decay as a valid means of determining age. Another study shows that nuclear decay is affected by the Earth's proximity to the Sun because the Earth's orbit is slightly elliptical and passes nearer the Sun once per year. This also throws-off the "constant" rate of nuclear decay required for deep-time extrapolation with nuclear clocks.

The Sun's magnetic field is declining in strength. This field the foundation of the heliopause, the boundary of the heliosphere which keeps cosmic radiation at bay. This decline naturally leads to an increase of cosmic radiation on the Earth. Cosmic radiation is what produces carbon-14 and can generally affect the rate of nuclear decay. While some have suggested that the rate-change necessary to deliver a 6000-year-old earth would be very dramatic, this ignores the fact that all nuclear clocks have been steadily accelerating over the entire duration of Earth's history. If nuclear clocks ran very slow in the beginning and accelerated as years passed by, this throws-off every known nuclear clock and invalidates every old-age assertion that is based on nuclear decay, regardless of whether it supports a very-young age of the earth. If methods are invalid, they should be replaced with valid methods.

Lunar samples

Project Apollo is the most successful and extensive sample-return project to date. Six two-man teams landed on the moon and returned various samples. The project was curtailed before it could achieve its ultimate objectives, after many began to question the value of repeated sample collections and the other stated mission objectives.

However, two rather striking findings from the study of these samples are seldom mentioned.

Short-lived isotopes

One of these findings is the presence in those samples of the short-lived isotopes Uranium-236 and Thorium-230. Short-term radioactive isotopes decay quickly into lead. If the moon were even 50,000 years old, these short-lived radioisotopes would not be present, but indeed they are abundant in the collected samples. The moon therefore cannot be older than several thousand years.

Paleomagnetic signatures

In addition, many of the lunar samples were magnetic. This in itself is remarkable, because the magnetic dipole moment of the moon is very low ({{#show:Moon|?Present magnetic moment}}). Magnetic lunar samples are of two types: basalt and breccia. A magnetic basalt sample returned by the crew of Apollo 16 had formed in a magnetic field of flux density 0.12 mT, corresponding to a magnetic dipole moment of 6.3 * 10²¹N-m/T. A magnetic breccia sample returned by the crew of Apollo 15 had formed in a field of flux density 2100 nT, corresponding to a magnetic dipole moment of 1.1 * 10²⁰N-m/T.

The problem for old-earth theories is evident and considerable. How could the moon have had a magnetic field as strong as it must have been when either of the two lunar samples formed, and not have nearly as strong a magnetic field today? By uniformitarian theories, any celestial body either has a magnetic field or it doesn't—and if it doesn't, then it never did. And so, while some evolutionist scientists insist that the moon had an internal dynamo that later ran down (and cannot explain how that happened), others insist that the moon never had a dynamo, and never had a magnetic field, and therefore the magnetism in the two lunar samples resulted from a magnetic field outside the moon (and, like the first group, cannot explain where this external field came from or where it went).

Russell Humphreys calculates that the moon's magnetic dipole moment at creation was {{#show:Moon|?Creation magnetic moment}}, with a half-life of {{#show:Moon|?Magnetic half life#years}}. Given that the radius of the lunar core is 350 km, the conductivity of the lunar core is 75 percent of that of the Earth's core. Thus the earth and the moon could have cores of similar composition. He then suggests that the basalt, a remnant of the lava flows that created the lunar maria, formed about 370 years after creation, and that the moon then suffered a meteoric bombardment less than two centuries following the global flood.

Meteorites

Meteors of various types fall to earth continually; some reach the surface and are then called meteorites. Nearly all the rocky bodies in the solar system have suffered similar bombardment, which according to uniformitarian theories occurred at least 3.5 billion years ago. Yet all the meteorites discovered on earth, without exception, are present in the most superficial stratum. No meteorites have ever been found in the deeper ("older") sedimentary strata. This finding shows that the sedimentary strata were laid down rather quickly and far more recently than is conventionally supposed.

“

No meteorites have ever been found in the geologic column.

”

Isaac Asimov has propounded a theory that "crustal mixing" has removed all trace of the meteorites. But the constituent elements, especially nickel, from those meteorites should still be present and would not have been removed. The lack of nickel bears further witness against this theory.

“

For many years, I have searched for meteorites or meteoric material in sedimentary rocks [the geological strata] . . I have interviewed the late Dr. G.P. Merrill, of the U.S. National Museum, and Dr. G.T. Prior, of the British Natural History Museum, both well-known students of meteorites, and neither man knew of a single occurrence of a meteorite in sedimentary rocks.

”

Earth's Rotation

The rotational speed of the earth (about {{#show:Earth|?Rotation speed#mph}}) is gradually slowing down on account of the gravitational drag forces of the sun and moon along with other factors. If the earth were really billions of years old, as claimed, it should already be in tidal lock with the sun.

Lord Kelvin (the 19th-century physicist who introduced the Kelvin temperature scale) used this slowing rotation as a reason why the earth could not be very old. He calculated that had the earth existed for 7.2 billion years, its rotational speed would have been twice the present speed. This would have produced a difference of 86 kilometers between the equatorial and polar radii of the earth. The actual equatorial radius is {{#show:Earth|?Equatorial radius#km}}, and its polar radius {{#show:Earth|?Polar radius#km}}, a difference of 21 km, not 86.

The decline in rotation rate is now known to be greater than previously thought. If the earth had existed for 5 billion years, then the difference between polar and equatorial radii would still have been significantly greater (64 km) than it actually is. Furthermore, the continents would have been distributed in the tropical regions, and the world's oceans would have collected in the temperate and polar regions. This is a distribution that Kelvin also would have predicted, and he cited the lack of such a finding as a falsification of a great age of the earth. Thus by either Lord Kelvin's original calculation or a more modern one, the earth cannot be more than a few thousand years old.

Ocean Salt Levels

Main Article: Ocean salinity

The accumulated salt in the world's oceans provides a maximum age of the Earth far below 4.6 billion years of age. Sodium ions from weathered minerals is carried to the oceans from rivers and other sources. It has been reliably estimated that 457 million tons of this sodium is added to the oceans annually by river drainage. Sodium also leaves the ocean via salt spray and ion exchange in a measured amount. If these rates were consistent throughout the past, then salt accumulation can be used to measure the ocean's age. It is apparent that the oceans have not yet reached equilibrium. Instead, they keep getting saltier every year. Sodium input and output rates can be used to estimate an Earth's oceans age of only 40 to 60 million years. It should be noted that ocean salt levels are not meant to show the actual age of the oceans, so the resulting "age", although far too great for the young Earth view, is not inconsistent with it.

Soil/Water Ratio

The soil beneath our feet is still in a partially water-soaked condition that dates from the global flood. This is shown by water table levels, which today are rapidly draining.

Sea Ooze

As fish and plants in the ocean die, they drop to the bottom and gradually form an ooze, or very soft mud, that is built up on the ocean floors. This occurs at the rate of about 1 inch (2.54 cm) every 1,500 years. This ooze is far more shallow than it would be if the earth were as old as is conventionally claimed.

Tree Rings

The giant sequoias of California have no known enemies except man. They are not subject to attack by any known insect pest and are nearly impervious to fire. These giant redwoods appear to be the original trees that existed in their timber stands. Sequoia gigantea, in their groves in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, never have any dead trees ("snags") among them. Yet no sequoia has ever been found to be older than about 4,000 years.

History and civilizations

For a non-exhaustive list of young Earth evidences in history, see Historical evidences for a young Earth

No truly verified archaeological datings predate about 3000 BC. When larger dates are cited, they come from radiocarbon dating, from methods other than written human records, or from Manetho's Egyptian king-list, which is highly suspect.

Indeed, modern Egyptian chronology now shows that ancient Egypt most likely has existed only since the global flood, and does not predate the flood. The suspicion that Egyptian civilization was older than the flood was one of the key causes of the initial decline in the acceptance of flood geology and the rise of uniformitarianism.

The finding of out-of-place artifacts provide confirmation, not so much of a young earth per se as of an advanced antediluvian civilization that might have existed before the global flood and was destroyed by it.

Population Growth

A present-day observation for human population growth is to double every seventy (70) years. Currently the Earth's population produces some 74 million people per day.

Using uniformitarian assumptions, that present-day processes may be extrapolated into the past, if we cut the world's population in half (as of 2-20-2014 around 7 billion people) each time we subtract 70 years, we will reach a population of zero in a few thousand years. If we were to double this value to 140 years, and halve the world's population every 140 years going into the past, we still end up at zero population within a few thousand years. In fact, starting with today's population to reach a population of 1 million just 1 million years ago, means that the population could only double every seven-thousand years which makes no sense whatsoever. Clearly the present-day observations cannot be reconciled with an old-earth.

Cultural Growth

Secularists claim that in order for evolution to gain a genetic foothold for increasing human functionality, at least one million new individuals per year are required. This means one billion people every thousand years. Going backwards into the past, at just 100,000 years (1/20th of the time that secularists claim humans have been on the Earth) would yield 100 billion people.

The logical question to ask: Where are all the bodies? Where is the evidence of their culture? Realistically speaking, every square mile of the Earth's habitable surface should be a graveyard many times over. A reasonable assumption is that we don't see the evidence of their culture because they were never here. Mankind has not been on the Earth for very long at all.

Cultural Explosion

Historians and archaeologists readily recognize the "Cultural Explosion" that occurred in Mesopotamia some 5000 years ago. In a very short period of time, civilization saw the advent of arts, metallurgy, war weapons, fashion, furniture, language, writing, mathematics, science, architecture, music, large-scale construction and many other aspects of human culture.

Either we are led to believe that all these millions of "evolved" humans simply walked around "waiting for a cultural traffic light to change" or the simpler explanation: that this explosion naturally followed the proliferation of humans as they departed the Ark on Ararat and moved toward Shinar and Babel (Babylon) in Mesopotamia, what is modern-day Iraq. In Genesis Chapter 10 is the Table of Nations. Each nation mentioned in the table can be traced down to a modern-day country, and it is considered to be one of the most accurate records of the ancient world.

In 1964, the city of Ebla was discovered, including a library of over 17,000 clay tablets. Ebla dates back to before 2000 BC and was a thriving cultural center. Its records contain references to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genetics

Recent Genetic Variance and Mutation Rates

The field of genetics is acknowledging the genetic differences between humans are traceable in origin back to one original human only a few thousand years ago. One study of 15,336 genes from 6515 persons concluded, using darwinian assumptions, 73% of the protein-coding single nucleotide variants and about 86% of those predicted to be deleterious were believed to hve arisen in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. One example of this is in the study of the Y Chromosome. The differences amongst all men are traceable to a single "Genetic Adam" only a few thousand years ago. Secular geneticists mistakenly associate our most recent common human elder as Adam when it correctly should be called "Genetic Noah".

Geneticists have known since the mid 1900s mutation rates are far too high for evolution to have been possible as the conventional standard was any mutation rate higher than 1 per generation would be too fast to select out of a population as well as rendering beneficial mutations unselectable amongst the deleterious mutations. While this is detrimental to the case for evolution it also provides a metric under uniformitarian constant rate assumptions to trace when our "Genetic Noah" lived. Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson did research in this field for his book Traced: Human DNA's Big Surprise and found the rate of mutation in the Y-Chromosome shows Genetic Noah to have lived within a few thousand years ago.

Genetic Entropy

It is now well established in the field of genetics by both secular and theist researchers by the laws of genetics and by repeated observations both predict and experimentally confirm a continual degeneration of our DNA by accumulation of deleterious mutations. Numerous books have been written on this research. Creation & Intelligent Design Authors:

• Genetic Entropy by Dr. John Sanford
• Evolution's Blunders, Frauds And Forgeries by Jerry Bergman Ph.D.
• Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution by Michael Behe Ph.D.

Evolutionist Authors:

• Crumbling Genome: The Impact of Deleterious Mutations on Humans by Dr. Alexey S. Kondrashov

The research demonstrates that if genetic life was really any older than on the order of millenia then we all should have gone extinct a long time ago. The findings made a secular researcher Dr Alexey Kondrashov to ask the question:

“

"Contamination of the genome by very slightly deleterious mutations: Why have we not died 100 times over?"

”

See Also

• Young earth creationism
• Young solar system
• Geochronology
• Cosmic chronology
• Creationist group

External links and additional resources

Articles

• Many Earth Clocks Indicate Recent Creation by the Institute for Creation Research
• Age of the earth -101 evidences for a young earth and universe by Creation Ministries International
• How old is the earth? First published in Refuting Evolution, Chapter 8 by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati.
• Evolution Handbook, Chapter 4: The Age of the Earth
• Young age of the Earth & Universe Q&A by Answers in Genesis
• Young age of the Earth & Universe Q&A by Creation Ministries International
• Humphreys, R., Evidence for a Young World, ICR Impact No. 384, June 2005.
• Evidence Supporting a Recent Creation by the Northwest Creation Network

Books

• Virtually any book concerning creation and Christian apologetics published by MasterBooks

Movies

• Is Genesis History? [1] (2017)