Craters are the result of impacts. They are something
that is completely at odds with YEC timescales. With
the exception of were geologic activity is obvious (i.e.
erosion, volcanism, etc.) every planetary body with
a solid observable surface is just plain litered with
Tethys (a moon of Saturn): Source
Think of the Moon. It is just plain loaded with them including
some that are hundreds of miles wide. The Moon is extremely close to
the Earth (in astronomical terms). Earth, because it has 81 times the
mass of the Moon, has 81 times the gravity. Hense one would expect
that Earth has been hit even more often. If all those hits had
happened in the last 10,000 years it would have been very noticable
to anyone living at the time to say the least. And we should be
surounded by many very obvious craters since there has not been enough
time for them to be eroded away, subducted, etc. One of the few
obvious craters is in Arizona (and it is worth the visit BTW). It
is still fairly clear. It is actually one of smallest craters
known on Earth. Over the last few decades geologists have found
many other craters, sometimes over a hundred miles across.
Now it would seem reasonable that if the biggest craters are
going to remain obvious for far longer than the "small" ones
like the one in Arizona.
Now lets look at Ganymede: Source
Notice we have a history here. An old surface that has been
hit by impacting objects many times. One section got
reworked geologically and then started getting hit also.
Finally an train of meteors hit it. This is not
unlike what happened to Jupiter a few years back when a comet
that was ripped into many pieces by Jupiter's gravity impacted
It also happened on Earth. A few years back it was noticed
that several craters on Earth had about the same age. These
craters were plotted on a map of what the Earth looked like
214 million years ago (i.e. where the continents were at
according to models using data from radiometric dating). The
results were extremely consistent with chain of meteors forming
a series of craters on Earth. The ages of the craters was
determined by several different dating methods.
You can find out more about this amazing bit of science at:
Are Radioactive Dating Methods Consistent With Each Other?
Lets quote the conclusion:
These dates were obtained by several different radioactive methods,
on rocks of several different kinds, by geologists from four different
countries. But the dates are consistent. That is the usual case, so
the article didn't bother to comment on it.
The K/T is what geologists call the boundary
between the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. It is when a mass extinction
took place. No dinosaurs (non-avian dinosaurs) are found after this
event. A crater that dates back to this time has been found showing
that an extremely large impact occured at this time. Whether this
killed the dinosaurs is still under debate. In any event, this
event through up a large amount of debris into the atmosphere.
This included a large amounts of the element iridium which is rare
on Earth but common in meteors. This resulted in an iridium-rich
layer found at the K/T all around the world. Now if the geological
column was some fantasy invented by Charles Lyell in the 19th
Century, as most YECs would have us believe. Why is there a
consistent feature about it that is world-wide in extent?
The reason is simple, the K/T represents a real place in time.
And the dating of the layer and things formed by the impact like tektites
give very consistent results from radiometric dating:
Table 2. 40Ar/39Ar ages for K-T tektites and related K-T boundary deposits
Location Material Method #tests Age (Ma)
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fusion 52 64.4 +/- 0.1
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 4 64.4 +/- 0.4
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 2 64.5 +/- 0.2
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 4 64.8 +/- 0.2
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fusion 18 64.9 +/- 0.1
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fusion 3 65.1 +/- 0.2
Haiti (Beloc Formation) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 9 65.0 +/- 0.2
Mexico tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fusion 2 65.1 +/- 0.5
Hell Creek (Z-coal) tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fusion 28 64.8 +/- 0.1
Hell Creek (Z-coal) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 1 66.0 +/- 0.5
Hell Creek (Z-coal) tektites 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 1 64.7 +/- 0.1
Hell Creek (Z-coal) tektites 40Ar/39Ar total fussion 17 64.8 +/- 0.2
Hell Creek (Z-coal) b,s K-Ar 12 64.6 +/- 1.0
Hell Creek (Z-coal) b,s Rb-Sr isochron (26 data) 1 63.7 +/- 0.6
Hell Creek (Z-coal) zircon U-Pb concordia (16 data) 1 63.9 +/- 0.8
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) sanidine 40Ar/39Ar total fussion 6 64.7 +/- 0.1
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) sanidine 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 1 64.6 +/- 0.2
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) b,s K-Ar 7 65.8 +/- 1.2
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) various Rb-Sr isochron (10 data) 1 64.5 +/- 0.4
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) zircon U-Pb concordia (16 data) 1 64.4 +/- 0.8
Saskatchewan (Ferris Coal) sanidine 40Ar/39Ar total fussion 11 64.8 +/- 0.2
Saskatchewan (Nevis coal) sanidine 40Ar/39Ar age spectrum 1 64.7 +/- 0.2
Saskatchewan (Nevis coal) biotite K-Ar 2 64.8 +/- 1.4
Saskatchewan (Nevis coal) various Rb-Sr (7 data) 1 63.9 +/- 0.6
Saskatchewan (Nevis coal) zircon U-pb concordia (12 data) 1 64.3 +/- 0.8
The source is from an article by one the top researchers in the field
of radiometric dating.
Note that I shortened a few things: b=biotite, s=sanidine, Hell Creek
is in Montana, etc. If you can't figure it out check the original
article. If you want to know what an isochron is see this
The odds of such such consistent results if radiometric dating was
wrong is pretty much zero.