What Is the Best Way to Date the Earth?
Evolution demands an old earth and evolutionists routinely speak of billions of years as proof of modern dating methods. The truth is, no reliable dating method can account for billions of years for the existence of the earth and the universe. Many of these methods are based on uniformitarian thinking, which means that catastrophes that would give the appearance of age have not existed. However, using this same logic, many dating methods indicate the universe, and this earth, are quite young.
Is There Proof for a Young Earth?
Previously we discussed how Radiocarbon dating works and why it indicates a young earth. Here are a few more.
Meteoritic dust. It is an accepted fact that 14 million tons of meteoritic dust fall to the earth each year. At this rate, if the earth were 5 billion years old, we would have 182 feet of this dust covering the earth. In fact, the amount of meteoritic dust we do have indicates the earth is only a few thousand years old.
Erosion. We know that 27.5 billion tons of sediment are being transported to the ocean every year. The total mass of sediments in the ocean is about 820 million billion tons. If this rate has continued constant, the earth could not be billions of years old. In fact, topsoil erosion in the past would erode more quickly and, of course, a worldwide flood described in the Bible would give the appearance of age the earth didn’t have. Delta formations at the end of rivers like the Mississippi also indicate this process hasn’t been going on for millions of years at all.
The magnetic field of the earth. Over the past 170 years, the strength of the earth’s magnetic field has been carefully measured. It has been decaying at a steady rate of a half-life every 1400 years. This means that 7000 years ago, it would be 32 times stronger. The outer reasonable limit would be 10,000 years, based on the present decay rate.
Moondust. The first fear in putting a man on the moon was that, since the moon had accumulated space dust for billions of years, the spacecraft would disappear in a cloud of dust. In fact, we know that only a fraction of an inch was found, consistent with the amount we would expect from a recent creation.
The decay of Niagara Falls. The present rate of recession of the Horseshoe Falls on the Niagara River is easy to measure. Based on this rate, and knowing where it began indicates it has only been eroding for a few thousand years.
Sun Shrinkage. The sun is shrinking at a rate of 0.1% per century or about 5 feet an hour. At this rate, if the sun is a few million years old, it would have been so large then, the heat would have destroyed all life on earth.
What Does the Data Tell Us?
These and scores of other dating methods indicate the earth cannot possibly be as old as evolutions say. Therefore, insufficient time is available for evolutionary accidents to take place at all.