Turbidites
are gravity flow formations often generated by earthquakes. [1] The
1929 Grand Banks earthquake (off Newfoundland, M=7.2) and turbidity current
caused telegraph cables to break and thus record its speed. The current deposited at least 175 km3
of sediment and formed a bed more than 1 m thick (gravel to coarse silt). A significant portion of the rock record is
made up of turbidites. If much of the
Geologic Column was formed rapidly, then maybe this is a young planet after
all. Young Earth Science? YES you
can!
The
Cambrian Burgess Shale is a significant challenge to evolution. Multiple phyla are found in the earliest
rocks and no transitional forms are found in Pre-Cambrian layers. This conundrum, known as the Cambrian
Explosion, is delineated in my book. [2]
The Burgess Shale is considered to be a turbidite! So we find more evidence that the rock record
was formed quickly. So the next time you bring up the Cambrian Explosion in a
conversation, be sure to point out that it favors Young Earth Science (YES).
A
classic turbidite follows the pattern of the Bouma sequence. Turbidites are very common. As Stéphanie Girardclos et al point out in Marine Geology, “Gravity
flow deposits, and particularly turbidite deposits, are ubiquitous in the
sedimentary and rock record, and are economically important as potential
hydrocarbon reservoirs.” [3] GerardMiddleton (Geology Dept., McMaster Univ., Canada) concurs: “Beds deposited from turbidity currents
(called turbidites) are one of the
commonest types of sedimentary rocks … the majority of sandstones in the
geologic record were deposited either from rivers or from turbidity currents …”
[4]
Even
some gypsum beds, often thought to be the result of a long process of
evaporation, have been interpreted as turbidites. [5] Actually, gypsum may form directly as a
precipitate from hot volcanic springs. [6]
So the next time you look at
your wall (gypsum board), know that it supports Young Earth Science (YES).
Notes:
1) YES – Young Earth Science by Jay Hall
(IDEAS, Big Spring, TX, 2014), p. 130.
2) Hall,
pp. 84, 85, 116.
3) “The
1996 AD delta collapse and large turbidite in Lake Brienz” by Stéphanie
Girardclos et al, Marine Geology 241
(2007) 137–154, p. 138, emphasis added.
4) “Sediment
Deposition from Turbidity Currents” by Gerard Middleton, Annual Review Of Earth And Planetary Sciences, Volume 21, pp.
89-114, p. 90, emphasis added.
5) Evaporites: Sediments, Resources and
Hydrocarbons by John Warren (Springer, 2006), p. 350.
6) Simon & Schuster’s Guide to Rocks and
Minerals by Annibale Mottana et al (Simon & Schuster, NYC, 1978), entry
122 (gypsum).
