Siberian and Deccan Traps cannot be long-age formations

As one of the commenters has posted on fossils and "paleosols" found in Deccan and Siberian Traps quite often, it is time to put an end to the topic with a flourish, hopefully.   In my last two posts I did try to make it clear to the reader that "paleosol" as used by Darwinists is typically a "pseudosol" or in other words, they are wrong about finding well-established soils forming atop lava flows and then covered up with new lava flows in formations like the Deccan and Siberian Traps.   

 We investigated some supposed "paleosols" and found them to be lacking in evidence but instead to be layers of more friable rock associated with the rapid formations of the lava flows occurring in association with the Noahic Flood.  See my last two posts:

Large Igneous Provinces support Creation while Darwinists flail at Straw Men!



 Now we move on to show that the Siberian Traps and Deccan Traps had to have formed quickly and in association with the Flood, thus dismissing the concept of long ages.   

 That fossils might be found is not surprising if the eruption of lava pierces through forming or already-formed sedimentary layers.  Here we go in three articles that, in order, present the reason Siberian and Deccan Traps are not long-age formations and therefore not of interest to Creation science other than to note their existence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


New Study Explains Fast-Moving Magma


by Brian Thomas, M.S. *

The Deccan Traps in India, and especially the Siberian Traps, have vast quantities of lava rock near the earth's surface. Many geologists have assumed that this formed over millions of years. However, recent studies testing that assumption have shown just the opposite—the magma moved rapidly from great depths.
A 2000 Science paper calculated that the magma that later hardened into surface rock traveled at about nine miles per hour.1 It started in deeply buried molten form and rose through pipes, penetrating more than 60 miles of continental crust before finally reaching the earth's surface. The 2008 film Journey to the Center of the Earth, adapted from the 1864 novel by Jules Verne, illustrated this kind of pipe—albeit in a highly fictionalized manner.
As the magma traveled from great depths, it carried several minerals, including diamonds. If it rose any slower than the calculated rate, the heat and pressure at depth would have reduced the diamonds to graphite.
Other studies reviewed by geologist Andrew Snelling in 2007 confirm that the magma rose rapidly.2 And with fast enough rates and large enough pipes, the earth's almost continent-size lava fields could have formed in just hundreds, rather than millions, of years.
But exactly how could the magma have risen that fast?
To answer that question, geologists recently proposed a model based on new experimental data on magma behavior. In their report published in Nature, the team explained how materials deep in the earth can rise rapidly to the surface. They wrote, "This mechanism enables the continuous and accelerating ascent of the magma."3
In their conception, when carbon-rich magma mixes with a silicon-containing material, like the pyroxene minerals that comprise crustal rocks, the silicon lowers the solubility of the magma's carbon content. This process discharges carbon dioxide gas from the molten solution.
Since the Nature study geologists knew that magma mixes with silicon-containing crustal minerals on its way up, they suggested that this causes the rising magma to continuously release carbon dioxide gas that propels the magma upward. As it ascends, the magma picks up even more silicon-based material to continue the process, like adding more fuel to a fire.
So now, not only are geologists confident that certain volcanic magmas rose rapidly through continental crust, but they also have a plausible mechanism to explain how it happened. Thus, Bible-believing scientists can have even more confidence that giant lava fields did not require vast time, but merely the right mixture of materials, lending support to the Bible's depiction of a young earth.
References
  1. Kelley, S. P. and J.-A. Wartho. 2000. Rapid Kimberlite Ascent and Significance of Ar-Ar Ages in Xenolith Phlogopites. Science. 289 (5479): 609-611.
  2. Snelling, A. A. 2007. The Rapid Ascent of Basalt Magmas. Acts & Facts. 36 (8): 10.
  3. Russell, J. K. et al. 2012. Kimberlite ascent by assimilation-fuelled buoyancy. Nature. 481 (7381): 352-356.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on February 8, 2012.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now a slightly more technical article that was referenced above that explains why we know the aforementioned traps are rapidly-formed.


The Rapid Ascent of Basalt Magmas


by Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D.


It is now well established that the earth's upper mantle is the source of the basalt magmas erupted by many volcanoes as lava flows1--for example, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. The earth's crust is predominantly of a granitic composition, whereas the mantle is closer to a basaltic composition. Pieces of mantle rock are often brought to the earth's surface in basalt lava flows. Other evidence also confirms that the basalt magmas are generated by partial melting of the upper mantle rock.
Explosive Eruptions and Mantle Water
Where such volcanic eruptions occur on the continents, the basalt magmas typically have to ascend some 60-80 kilometers (35-50 miles) from the upper mantle to the surface. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which magmas ascend and the rates of magma ascent are known to play a critical role in the dynamics of volcanic eruptions, but these phenomena have until now been poorly constrained. Critics of catastrophic Flood geology have thus used the presumed long, slow ascent of basalt magmas, and their uniformitarian extrapolation back into the past of the small volumes of basalt magmas delivered to the earth's surface today, to insist that many millions of years of eruptions would have been needed to produce the basalt lavas found in the geologic record.
However, the ascent rate of the gas-rich, explosively erupted kimberlite magmas that host diamonds has previously been determined as four meters per second (about 787 feet per minute or nine miles per hour)!2 Such a rapid ascent rate is crucial to survival of the diamonds carried by these unusual magmas from 200-400 kilometers (125-250 miles) down in the mantle up to the earth's surface. A slower ascent rate would result in the diamonds turning to graphite. To put this ascent rate into perspective, it only takes between 12 and 30 hours for the diamond-carrying kimberlite magma to travel from 200-400 kilometers depth in the mantle up to erupt at the earth's surface (Figure 1).
Small amounts of water have been found dissolved as hydrogen and hydroxyl ions (the dissociated components of water) in the minerals within fragments of mantle rocks (xenoliths) brought to the earth's surface in basalt magmas.3 Even those small amounts have major effects on physical and chemical processes in the mantle, also being critical to plate tectonics.4 Furthermore, experimental studies have shown that this water dissolved in mantle minerals would likely be partially lost during transport to the earth's surface, being partitioned into the ascending magma.5 Consequently, measuring the water still dissolved in such minerals within xenoliths in erupted basalts could provide clues to quantifying magma ascent rates prior to eruption.
Patagonian Basalt Study
Such a study has now been undertaken.6 Olivine crystals were separated from garnet-bearing mantle xenoliths within the Quaternary (post-Flood) alkali olivine basalt flows of Pali-Aike, Chile,7 for Fourier Transform Infrared at the centers of the mineral crystals in these xenoliths indicate that these pieces of mantle rock were originally under temperature and pressure conditions corresponding to a depth of 60-80 kilometers.8 Furthermore, there is no geophysical evidence below these lava flows of a magma chamber in which the xenoliths could have been stored for an extended period and become equilibrated with their host magma during transport from the mantle to the earth's surface.
The alkali basalts hosting the mantle xenoliths erupted at a temperature estimated to have been between 1200ºC and 1290ºC.9 Furthermore, FTIR measurements of the visible clinopyroxene crystals (phenocrysts) in the basalts show no evidence of hydroxyl (OH) incorporated in them. This, together with the absence of amphibole, indicates that the basalts were undersaturated in water, making the basaltic magma which transported the mantle xenoliths an effective "sink" (or potential receiver) for hydrogen. An environment thus existed in which the mantle xenoliths could have become progressively dehydrated during magma ascent, and in proportion to the rate of ascent.
Profiles of FTIR measurements across individual grains in the mantle xenoliths revealed that the water distribution in the pyroxene grains was homogeneous, in contrast to the olivine grains where their rims were hydroxyl depleted.10 In total, thirty olivine grains were studied, and all olivine grains larger than 0.8 mm across had hydroxyl-depleted rims. Additionally, profile measurements were repeated on two of the olivine grains while crystallographically oriented, because it is known that hydrogen diffusion in olivine is related to its crystal structure. These measurements confirmed that the rims of the olivine grains in the mantle xenoliths were hydroxyl-depleted. This indicates that this olivine was dehydrating in the water-undersaturated host basalt magma as the mantle xenoliths were engulfed by it and transported up from 60-80 kilometers depth to the earth's surface.
Calculating a Rapid Ascent Rate
Using experimentally-determined diffusion coefficients for hydration of olivine,11 water diffusion profiles were calculated for all three crystallographic axes of an olivine grain at a temperature of 1245±45ºC for various durations, with an initial water content of ~312 weight parts per million (wt ppm) and a final water content of 0 wt ppm at its rim. Thus it was possible to approximate the ascent rate of the mantle xenoliths and, by extension, their host basalt. The calculated ascent rates ranged from 1.9 hours at 1290ºC to 3.4 hours at 1245ºC and 6.3 hours at 1200ºC. Furthermore, FTIR analyses across cracks in the olivine grains did not exhibit any perturbations of the hydrogen profiles, so hydrogen diffusion from the grain rims occurred predominantly prior to the cracking of the grains near the earth's surface or after the eruption of the host basalt. Therefore, these mantle xenoliths must have reached the earth's surface in a matter of only several hours.
Assuming a depth of origin for the xenoliths of 60-80 kilometers, the corresponding ascent rate is 6±3 meters per second (13.5±6.5 miles per hour). Because these xenoliths are denser than the host magma, this estimate gives a minimum ascent rate for the host alkali basalt magma. That equates to this basalt magma only taking between two and eight hours to travel from the upper mantle to erupt at the earth's surface. Such a rapid ascent to the earth's surface is consistent with the freshness of these xenoliths and is similar to the ascent rate of four meters per second determined for volatile-rich kimberlite magmas containing diamonds.
Conclusions
Any claim that the eruptions of basalt lava flows are a timescale problem for the Genesis Flood on a young earth can now be easily dismissed. If it only takes basalt magmas between two and eight hours to travel from their upper mantle sources to erupt through volcanoes at the earth's surface, then many basalt volcanic eruptions could have easily occurred during the Flood year. Furthermore, the volume and scale of the basalt lavas found in the geologic record, such as the so-called flood basalts of the Deccan and Siberian Traps,12 testify to the global catastrophism operating in the Flood year, in contrast to today's occasional, small, and relatively insignificant basalt eruptions.
The bigger question is how so much of the upper mantle rock partially melted quickly enough to generate those enormous volumes of flood basalts. However, during the Flood year the pre-Flood ocean floor ruptured into plates that sank into the mantle via thermal runaway subduction, the resulting mantle-wide convective flow generating huge mantle plumes and rapid melting of enormous volumes of upper mantle rock beneath the mid-ocean rift zones.13 Thus catastrophic plate tectonics during the Flood is the only viable explanation for the many basalt flows found in the earth's rock record. And this new experimental evidence confirms the rapid ascent and eruption of basalt lavas, consistent with the Biblical framework of earth history.


References
  1. Hall, A. 1996. Igneous petrology, 2nd ed. Harlow, England: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd.
  2. Kelley, S. P., and J.-A. Wartho. 2000. Rapid kimberlite ascent and significance of Ar-Ar ages in xenolith phlogopites. Science
  3. Bell, D. et al. 2003. Hydroxide in olivine: A quantitative determination of the absolute amount and calibration of the IR spectrum. Journal of Geophysical Research 108 doi: 10.1029/2001JB000679.
  4. Hirth, G., and D. L. Kohlsedt. 1996. Water in the oceanic upper mantle: implications for rheology, melt extraction and the evolution of the lithosphere. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 144:93-108. Regenauer-Lieb, K., et al. 2001. The initiation of subduction: Criticality by addition of water? Science 294:578-580.
  5. Ingrin, J., and H. Skogby. 2000. Hydrogen in nominally anhydrous upper-mantle minerals: Concentration levels and implications. European Journal of Mineralogy 12:543-570.
  6. Demouchy, S. et al. 2006. Rapid magma ascent recorded by water diffusion profiles in mantle olivine. Geology 34:429-432.
  7. Skewes, M. A., and C. R. Stern. 1979. Petrology and geochemistry of alkali basalts and ultramafic inclusions from the Pali-Aike Volcanic Field in southern Chile and the origin of the Patagonian Plateau lavas. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
  8. Stern, C. R. et al. 1999. Evidence from mantle xenoliths for relatively thin (less than 100 km) continental lithosphere below the Phanerozoic crust of southernmost South America. Lithos 48:217-235.
  9. D'Orazio, M. et al. 2000. The Pali-Aike Volcanic Field, Patagonia: Slab-window magmatism near the tip of South America.Tectonophysics 321:407-427.
  10. Demouchy et al., ref. 6.
  11. Kohlstedt, D. L., and S. J. Mackwell. 1999. Solubility and diffusion of "water" in silicate minerals. In Microscopic properties and processes in minerals, ed. K. Wright and R. Catlow, 539-559. Dortrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  12. Jerram, D. A., and M. Widdowson. 2005. The anatomy of continental flood basalt provinces: Geological constraints on the processes and products of flood volcanism. Lithos 79:385-405.
  13. Austin, S. A., J. R. Baumgardner, D. R. Humphreys, A. A. Snelling, L. Vardiman, and K. P. Wise. 1994. Catastrophic plate tectonics, In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. E. Walsh, 609-621. Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship. 289:609-611. 6:3-25.
Cite this article: Snelling, A. 2007. The Rapid Ascent of Basalt Magmas. Acts & Facts. 36 (8): 10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following article is referenced, albeit with ages that I would disagree with, but if viewed from the standpoint of seeing these formations associated with The One Global Flood the author's assertions are validation of the assertions of Snelling:

The anatomy of Continental Flood Basalt Provinces : geological constraints on the processes and products of flood volcanism.

Jerram, D. A. and Widdowson, M. (2005) 'The anatomy of Continental Flood Basalt Provinces : geological constraints on the processes and products of flood volcanism.',Lithos., 79 (3-4). pp. 385-405.

Abstract


The internal architecture of the immense volumes of eruptive products in Continental Flood Basalt Provinces (CFBPs) provides vital clues, through the constraint of a chrono-stratigraphic framework, to the origins of major intraplate melting events. This work presents close examination of the internal facies architecture and structure, duration of volcanism, epeirogenetic uplift associated with CFBPs, and the potential environmental impacts of three intensely studied CFBPs (the Parana-Etendeka, Deccan Traps and North Atlantic Igneous Province). Such a combination of key volcanological, stratigraphic and chronologic observations can reveal how a CFBP is constructed spatially and temporally to provide crucial geological constraints regarding their development. Using this approach, a typical model can be generated, on the basis of the three selected CFBPs, that describes three main phases of flood basalt volcanism. These phases are recognized in Phanerozoic CFBPs globally. At the inception of CFBP volcanism, relatively low-volume transitional-alkaline eruptions are forcibly erupted into exposed cratonic basement lithologies, sediments, and in some cases, water. Distribution of initial volcanism is strongly controlled by the arrangement of pre-existing topography, the presence of water bodies and local sedimentary systems, but is primarily controlled by existing lithospheric and crustal weaknesses and concurrent regional stress patterns. The main phase of volcanism is typically characterised by a culmination of repeated episodes of large volume tholeiitic flows that predominantly generate large tabular flows and flow fields from a number of spatially restricted eruption sites and fissures. These tabular flows build a thick lava flow stratigraphy in a relatively short period of time (c. 1–5 Ma). With the overall duration of flood volcanism lasting 5–10 Ma (the main phase accounting for less than half the overall eruptive time in each specific case). This main phase or ‘acme’ of volcanism accounts for much of the CFBP eruptive volume, indicating that eruption rates are extremely variable over the whole duration of the CFBP. During the waning phase of flood volcanism, the volume of eruptions rapidly decrease and more widely distributed localised centres of eruption begin to develop. These late-stage eruptions are commonly associated with increasing silica content and highly explosive eruptive products. Posteruptive modification is characterised by continued episodes of regional uplift, associated erosion, and often the persistence of a lower-volume mantle melting anomaly in the offshore parts of those CFBPs at volcanic rifted margins.
Item Type:Article
Keywords:Flood basalt, Mantle melting, CFBP, Etendeka, Deccan, North Atlantic igneous province.
Full text:Full text not available from this repository.
Publisher Web site:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2004.09.009
Record Created:16 Feb 2007
Last Modified:05 Apr 2010 16:30

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bottom line is this - The Siberian and Deccan Traps are shown to have been rapidly formed in association with water (Noahic Flood comes to mind) and are NOT evidence of long ages.   Any fossils of any kind, be they foraminifera or fruit or frog, were in the sediments that were interrupted by the fast-moving lava that was extruded in enormous quantities very quickly.  Therefore, there is no chance that actual paleosols will be found but only portions of the flood sediments that may be found, the remains of the original layering displaced by the lava flow.    These were rapidly formed massive lava flows, part of the catastrophic Flood and Post-Flood age.   Some areas of these formations could have rapidly become weathered and able to sustain plant growth and become ordinary soil and perhaps we may see that a glacial lake dike break and associated flood might have captured and buried soil formed shortly after the Flood and before the end of the Ice Age.  Otherwise there is no possible way for actual soil to have had time to form here.

 Darwinist geologists appear to "find" paleosols where they do not exist.  The presence of preserved fossils is expected as the large igneous provinces were formed during the same time period as the sedimentary rock layers.   The total time from beginning of the Noahic Flood until the end of the Ice Age is not precisely known, but the formations of the Earth are being examined and understood within a Biblical Geological framework by men such as Walker, Snelling and Baumgardner.   

 I am now going back to my task of posting on the fossil record interspersed with a few articles relative to the Creation versus Darwinism theme that is the main topic on this worldview blog and I will not be moved by the complaints of Darwinists about the Traps.  They formed fast, they formed during the dynamic Flood and post-Flood era and surprise, the Darwinists are wrong again!
Email Post