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False “Isochrons”Christopher Chui, PhD

Acknowledgment: I am indebted to numerous sources in the Internet, Andrew A. Snelling’s paper on “U-Th-Pb ‘Dating’: An Example of False ‘Isochrons’”, and Randy S. Berg’s paper on “Radiometric Dating and the Age of the Earth.”

http://ChristCenterGospel.org

ckchui1@yahoo.com

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False “Isochrons” -1 As with other isochron methods, the U-Pb isochron

method has been questioned in the open literature, because often an excellent line of best fit between ratios obtained from a set of good cogenetic samples gives a resultant “isochron” and yields a derived “age” that has no distinct geological meaning. At Koongarra, Australia, U-Th-Pb isotopic studies of uranium ore, host rocks, and soils have produced an array of false “isochrons” that yield “ages” that are geologically meaningless. Even a claimed near-concordant U-Pb ‘age’ of 862 Ma on one uraninite grain is identical to a false Pb-Pb isochron “age,” but neither can be connected to any geological event.

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False “Isochrons” -2 Open system behavior of the U-Th-Pb system is clearly

the norm, as is the resultant mixing of radiogenic Pb with common or background Pb, even in soils in the surrounding region. Because no geologically meaningful results can be interpreted from the U-Th-Pb data at Koongarra (three uraninite grains even yield a 232Th/208Pb “age” of 0 Ma), serious questions must be asked about the validity of the fundamental/foundational basis of the U-Th-Pb “dating” method. This makes the task of creationists building their model for the geological record much easier, since claims of U-Th-Pb radiometric “dating” having “proven” the claimed great antiquity of the earth, its strata and fossils can be safely side-stepped.

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False “Isochrons” -3 Zheng wrote: . . . some of the basic assumptions of the conventional

Rb-Sr isochron method have to be modified and an observed isochron does not certainly define a valid age information for a geological system, even if a goodness of fit of the experimental data points is obtained in plotting 87Sr/86Sr vs. 87Rb/86Sr. This problem cannot be overlooked, especially in evaluating the numerical timescale. Similar questions can also arise in applying Sm-Nd and U-Pb isochron methods.

Zheng, Y.-F., 1989. Influences of the nature of the initial Rb-Sr system on isochron validity.Chemical

Geology 80:14. 

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False “Isochrons” -4 Zheng documented the copious reporting of this

problem in the literature where various names had been given to these anomalous isochrons, such as apparent isochron, mantle isochron and pseudoisochron, secondary isochron, source isochron, erupted isochron, mixing line, and mixing isochron.

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False “Isochrons” -5 Similar anomalous or false isochrons are commonly

obtained from U-Th-Pb data, which is hardly surprising given the common open system behavior of the U-Th-Pb system. Yet in the literature these problems are commonly glossed over or pushed aside, but their increasing occurrence from a variety of geological settings does seriously raise the question as to whether U-Th-Pb data ever yields any valid “age” information. One such geological setting that yields these false U-Th-Pb isochrons is the Koongarra uranium deposit and the surrounding area (Northern Territory, Australia).

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Rock Sample Obtained From

Known Age from Historical

or Archaeological Data

Rocks Age from Radiometric

Dating

Method Used

Sunset Crater, Arizona 7 1,900 yrs 210,000--230,000 yrs K/Ar

Russian Volcano 8 24,000 yrs 50 m.---14.6 b. yrs K/Ar

Mt Rangitoto, New Zealand 9

3,300 yrs 485,000 yrs K/Ar

Vulcan's Throne, Grand Canyon 10

10,000 yrs max. 114,000--120,000 yrs K/Ar

Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii 11,12,13

200 yrs 140 m.---670 m. yrs Helium

Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii 11,12,13

200 yrs 160 m.---2.96 b. yrs K/Ar

*Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii 14 200 yrs 0 yrs at 1400 meters depth

K/Ar

*Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii 14 200 yrs 10-14 m.y. at 3420

meters depth K/Ar

*Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii 14 200 yrs 13-29 m.y. at 4680

meters depth K/Ar

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Rock Sample Obtained From

Known Age from Historical or

Archaeological Data

Rocks Age from Radiometric Dating

Method Used

Salt Lake Crater, Hawaii 15,16,17

Unknown 2.6 m.---140 m. yrs Helium

Salt Lake Crater, Hawaii 15,16,17

Unknown 400,000---3.3 b. yrs K/Ar

Cubic Diamonds, Zaire 18,19

Unknown 6,000,000,000 yrs K/Ar

KBS Tuff, E. Turkana, Kenya 20,21

Unknown 290,000---221 m. yrs K/Ar

KBS Tuff, E. Turkana, Kenya 22

Unknown 2,420,000 yrs Fission Track

Cardenas Basalts, Bottom of Grnd Canyn. 23,24,25,26

Unknown 715,000,000 yrs K/Ar

Isochron

Cardenas Basalts, Bottom of Grnd Canyon. 23,24,25,26

Unknown 1.17 b. yrs Rb/Sr

Isochron

Uinkaret Plateau, Top of Grnd Canyon 23,24,25,26

Unknown 0.01--117 million yrs K/Ar

Uinkaret Plateau, Top of Grand Canyon 23,24,25,26

Unknown 1,340 million yrs Rb/Sr

Isochron

Uinkaret Plateau, Top of Grnd Canyon 23,24,25,26

Unknown 2,600 million yrs Pb/Pb

Isochron

Morton gneisses, Minnesota 27

Unknown 2.5 billion yrs K/Ar

Morton gneisses, Minnesota 27

Unknown 3.3 billion yrs Ur/Pb

"Allende" Meteorite 28,29,30 Unknown 3.91 b.--11.7 b. yrs Ur/Th/Pb Isochron

"Allende" Meteorite 28,29,30 Unknown 4.49 b.--16.5 b. yrs Ur/Th/Pb

Moon Rocks 31 Unknown 4.6 b.--8.2 b. yrs Ur/Pb

Moon Rocks 32 Unknown 2.3 -- 3.76 b. yrs K/Ar

Moon Rock (breccia) 33 Unknown 123.8 -- 125.5 b. yrs K/Ar

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Dr. Plaisted, and many other scientists like him have also came to a similar conclusion.  For example, in his paper on this subject he stated that:

"After study and discussion of this question, I now believe that the claimed accuracy of radiometric dating methods is a result of a great misunderstanding of the data, and that the various methods hardly ever agree with each other, and often do not agree with the assumed ages of the rocks in which they are found.  I believe... there is a great need for this information to be made known, so I am making this article available in the hopes that it will enlighten others who are considering these questions...." 34 Emphasis Added