The Lake Lewis chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute is presenting two talks at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Washington State University Tri-Cities in the East Building Auditorium in Richland.
The presentations will be given by Bruce Bjornstad and George Last, geologists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. Bjornstad is the author of the recently published book, On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods. The free presentations are each about 20 minutes long.
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Article uninformative
Article uninformative
Regarding Jan. 2 article regarding a local engineer's theory about a global flood.
As a geologist, I find the article written describing "proof" of Noah's flood to be very uninformative, nonscientifically based and rather misguided.
I have no problem with religion in this country and believe it is the cornerstone of freedoms which makes the U.S. so great, but to present these Mesozoic Era sediments as anything other than sand dunes is misinforming to say the least.
Unsubstantiated theory
Unsubstantiated theory
The Jan. 2 story citing structures within the Navajo Sandstone in Utah as evidence of a great flood was quite interesting, but the scientific interpretations presented are highly suspect.
As one with a Ph.D. in earth science, I want your readers to be aware that the formation has been extensively researched and is well recognized in the geologic literature as resulting largely from wind-blown sand deposits, essentially ancient sand dunes.
Herald readers would have been better served if the reporter had consulted a recognized earth science expert (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has several) who could explain the overwhelming evidence that the sandstone is in fact approximately 200 million years old, and the internal structures are not the result of catastrophic floods.
Flood of antagonism
Flood of antagonism
Greg Morgan presents some pictures of Paria Canyon in Arizona, and has the audacity to express his belief that the sandstone was sculptured by a global flood (Herald, Jan. 2).
This precipitated a flood of antagonism in the Jan. 17 letters column. John Lawhead attacked the Herald for publishing such an interesting idea. Next he may advocate that the editors be burned at the stake for publishing heresy.
Steve McDuffie mentioned the formations are 200 million years old and are simply ancient sand dunes. As a scientist committed to observation and experiment, his view must be respected, because he apparently is the only surviving scientific observer of that Mesozoic process.
Assigning motives
Assigning motives
As to the Jan. 2 Herald article, "Engineer sees proof of global flood in geologic formation." I won't address the veracity or lack of scientific reasoning behind Greg Morgan's conclusions, as I'm no geologist. But I will speak about the Tri-City Herald's motive for presenting this as evidence of anything global or divine. Passing this research off as Earth-shattering science is negligent at best and journalism at its worst.
Honest science works from the evidence to prove or disprove theories and follows that evidence through continued research, publication and expert re-examination. Creationists interpret the data to support existing ideas. Their modus operandi never changes nor does the Herald's. Why the article was published somewhere other than the Faith & Values page on Saturday or anywhere other than the opinion page is beyond me.
I'll just conclude the Herald missed its chance to bash nonbelievers through the holidays and had to get their seasonal dig in sometime.
On this day: Jan. 14, 1977
On this day: Jan. 14, 1977
Kennewick firemen are flooding a basketball court at the east end of Keewaydin Park for the public to use as an outdoor ice skating rink as an alternative to unsafe ice on the backwaters and ponds along the Columbia River. City workers in Pasco attempted to flood the tennis courts in Sylvester Park but kids ran on it before the ice was set.
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