Do analyses of the radioactive isotopes of rocks give reliable estimates of their ages?
That is a good question, which ordinarily requires a lengthy and technical answer.
Each flow was sampled in at least four sites, in order to unravel between site variations.
9), the K-Ar method cannot be used to date samples that are much younger than 6,000 years old (Dalrymple, 1991, p.
93)Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, performed the K-Ar dating for Austin et al. However, when they did, their website clearly stated in a footnote that their equipment could not accurately date rocks that are younger than about 2 million years old ("We cannot analyze samples expected to be younger than 2 M.
However, rather than dealing with this issue and critically evaluating Austin's other procedures (including the unacceptable mineral and glass impurities in his 'fractions'), YECs loudly proclaim that the results are discrepant with the 1986 AD eruption.
Considering that the dacite probably erupted in 1986 AD, Austin should have known that at least some of the samples would have given dates that were younger than 2 million years old and that Geochron Laboratories could not have provided reliable answers.
The study, focuses on the world’s mid-ocean ridges formed thousands of meters underwater by volcanic eruptions on divergent tectonic plate margins, where the Earth’s tectonic plates are moving apart.
“About 70 percent of the surface of the Earth was formed by volcanic eruptions at mid-ocean ridges, where depressurization in the mantle underneath the ridge allows melts to form and travel up to the seafloor where they erupt, so what we’re doing here is trying to understand the fundamental processes that created our planet,”“The tectonic plates move at different speeds, but most of the time they are moving slowly apart and where this happens lava can’t easily reach the seafloor.
Scientists at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel trying to understand how the Earth’s surface was formed have used new technology to date lava flows at the North Kolbeinsey Ridge about 500 kilometers north of Iceland.
They found evidence of large, deep-sea volcanic eruptions, which probably formed almost half of the Earth’s crust.
While we have some good estimates and hypotheses, the frequency and size of these eruptions, which are occurring under the oceans globally, is basically unproven,” said Dr. However, using a new method developed at GEOMAR the scientists have been able to simultaneously survey and date young lava flows on a segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge north of Iceland and show that large volume, episodic eruptions must be occurring.