Customer Reviews (3)

Nothing new here
I picked up a copy of this thinking it might different from all the other creationist garbage out there.Maybe, because this one actually had "radiometric" on the cover I thought the author might have some valid scientific research.Alas, there was nothing in this but the same tired old arguments that have been addressed, AD NAUSEUM, by real scientists that do understand how science is done.
It's a pity that more people don't understand how scientific research is conducted and how rigorously every single proposal in every paper that is published is challenged and tested by other scientists.The idea that almost all scientists in every field over the last 150 years have been part of massive conspiracy to destroy religion is so ridiculously absurd that it makes the "Elivis is alive" group look quite sensible in comparison.
Fact is any scientist that could find definitive proof that the entire theory of Evolution is wrong and/or that radiometric dating is invalid would join the pantheon of great names like Newton, Copernicus, Einstein, Maxwell, Rutherford, Bohr and Darwin.Given this incentive in a highly competative profession, the fact that millions of scientist publishing millions of papers working for 150 years have not found a single result that is inexplicable using Evolutionary theory or Atomic theory.Add to this the fact that everything that has been uncovered since then only supports these theories, even when the goal of the reasarcher was to disprove some aspect of them, and you begin to understand how utterly hollow these creationist arguments really are.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone, there is nothing new here. Same old arguments that are still just as invalid as they were 30 years ago.If your belief in God is so fragile that you need the mythological lessons in Genesis to be literal truth then your faith is as shallow as a puddle.

Good general introduction, but scientifically weak
This book does a nice job in discussing problems associated with radiometric dating (RMD).The author provides simple descriptions of the concepts of radioactive decay (although sometimes too simple).The main strength of the text is to make the reader aware that the RMD method is far from perfect by pointing out several key (and often unrealistic) assumptions forced upon the method.

He does not provide rigorous science (which was not his point), but rather adequate examples of errors in RMD.The book is remotely humorous, and is a light read.Much of the geological data in the book is a bit old (1960's,70's); I don't know if newer data is availible.If you are looking for a general layman's-terms description of problems in RMD, this is a great place to start. If you want a detailed scientific treatise, this is not for you.

Very low actual proof
This book is similar to a summary on every creationism book ever written. There is no new information, and no new statistics.In Fact very littleimportance is placed on the statistics.I recommend to the very simpletonsin Christianity. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Earth Science Reviews, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Recent advances in the field of geochronology have led to a greater understanding of the scale and duration of geological processes. It is currently possible to date igneous and metamorphic rocks by a variety of radiometric methods to within a million years, but establishing the depositional age of sedimentary rocks has remained exceedingly difficult. The problem is most pronounced for Precambrian rocks, where the low diversity and abundance of organisms have prevented the establishment of any meaningful biostratigraphic framework for correlating strata. Also, most Precambrian successions have been metamorphosed, rendering original minerals and textures difficult to interpret, and resetting diagenetic minerals. Xenotime (YPO"4) is an isotopically robust chronometer, which is increasingly being recognized as a trace constituent in siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. It may start to grow during early diagenesis, typically forming syntaxial outgrowths on detrital zircon grains. Diagenetic xenotime occurs in a wide variety of rock types, including conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale, phosphorite and volcaniclastic rocks, varying from early Archaean to Mesozoic in age. The formation of diagenetic xenotime is principally related to redox cycling of Fe-oxyhydroxides and microbial decomposition of organic matter, leading to elevated concentrations of dissolved phosphate and rare earth elements (REE) in sediment pore-waters. Xenotime has the properties of an ideal U-Pb chronometer, containing elevated levels of U (generally >1000 ppm) and very low concentrations of initial common Pb. In addition, it has an exceptional ability to remain closed to element mobility during later thermal events, and commonly yields concordant and precise dates. Because of the small size of diagenetic xenotime crystals and common textural complexities, an in situ isotopic technique with a spatial resolution of <10 @mm is required to successfully date xenotime; to date, this has only been achieved by ion microprobe. In metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, diagenetic xenotime retains its age information up to lower amphibolite facies in sandstone, and up to mid-upper greenschist facies in pelitic rocks. In many Precambrian basins (e.g., Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa), diagenetic xenotime is overgrown by chemically distinct and texturally younger xenotime related to burial diagenesis, contact metamorphism, hydrothermal alteration or regional metamorphism. With the aid of petrography, geochemical microanalysis and the use of isotopic techniques with fine spatial resolution, it may be possible to use xenotime to date early diagenesis, and potentially every major fluid and thermal event to have affected a depositional basin. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Earth Science Reviews, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Gondwanaland lasted from the 650-500 Ma (late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian) amalgamation of African and South American terranes to Antarctica-Australia-India through 320 Ma (mid-Carboniferous) merging with Laurussia in Pangea to breakup from 185 to 100 Ma (Jurassic and Early Cretaceous). Gondwanaland straddled the equator at 540 Ma, lay wholly in the Southern Hemisphere by 350 Ma, and then rotated clockwise so that at 250 Ma Australia reached the S pole and Africa the equator. By initial breakup of Pangea at 185 Ma, Gondwanaland had moved northward such that North Africa reached 35^oN. The first clear picture of Gondwanaland, in the Cambrian, shows the assembly of continents with later Laurentian, European and Asian terranes along the ''northern'' margin, and with a trench along the ''western'' and ''southern'' margins, reflected by a 10,000-km-long chain of 530-500 Ma granites. The interior was crossed by the Prydz-Leeuwin and Mozambique Orogenic Belts. The shoreline lapped the flanks of uplifts generated during this complex terminal Pan-Gondwanaland (650-500 Ma) deformation, which endowed Gondwanaland with a thick, buoyant crust and lithosphere and a nonmarine siliciclastic facies. During the Ordovician, terranes drifted from Africa as the first of many transfers of material to the ''northern'' continents. Central Australia was crossed by the sea, and the eastern margin and ocean floor were flooded by grains of quartz (and 600-500 Ma zircon) from Antarctica. Ice centres in North Africa and southern South America/Africa waxed and waned in the latest Ordovician, Early Silurian, latest Devonian, and Early Carboniferous. In the mid-Carboniferous, Laurussia and Gondwanaland merged in the composite called Pangea by definitive right-lateral contact along the Variscan suture, with collisional stress and subsequent uplift felt as far afield as Australia. Ice sheets developed on the tectonic uplands of Gondwanaland south of 30^oS. In the Early Permian, the self-induced heat beneath Pangea drove the first stage of differential subsidence of the Gondwanaland platform to intercept sediment from the melting ice, then to accumulate coal measures with Glossopteris, and subsequently Early Triassic redbeds. An orogenic zone along the Panthalassan margin propagated from South America to Australia and was terminally deformed in the mid-Triassic. Coal deposition resumed during Late Triassic relaxation in the second stage of Pangean extension. In the Early Jurassic, the vast ~200 Ma Central Atlantic magmatic province of tholeiite anticipated the 185 Ma breakup in the Central Atlantic. Another magmatic province was erupted at this time between southern Africa and southeastern Australia. The northeastern Indian Ocean opened from 156 Ma, and the western Indian Ocean from 150 Ma. By the 100 Ma mid-Cretaceous, the Gondwanaland province of Pangea had split into its five constituents, and the Earth had entered the thalassocratic state of dispersed continents. The 650-500 Ma ''Pan-Gondwanaland'' events (? by mafic underplating) rendered Gondwanaland permanently geocratic. Pangean (320-185 Ma) tectonics, driven by pulses of self-induced heat, promoted widespread subsidence at 300 Ma Early Permian and 230 Ma Late Triassic. Pangea initially broke up at 185 Ma and the five continental pieces of Gondwanaland had broken apart by the 100 Ma mid-Cretaceous. Another long-lasting feature of Gondwanaland was subduction beneath the ''southern'' margin and export of terranes from the ''northern'' and ''northwestern'' margins. Export of terranes was promoted by Gondwanaland-induced heat, and internal breakup by Pangea-induced heat. ... Read more

Book Description

The Gale Encyclopedia of Science is written at a level somewhere between the introductory sources and the highly technical texts currently available. This six-volume set covers all major areas of science and engineering, as well as mathematics and the medical and health sciences, while providing a comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge and technology. Alphabetically arranged entries provide a user-friendly format that makes the broad scope of information easy to access and decipher. Entries typically describe scientific concepts, provide overviews of scientific areas and, in some cases, define terms.