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Polonium Halos in Minerals: an Independent Evaluation

Because of the implications which will be attributed to the presence of Po halos in minerals, it is important that my colleagues be apprised of the independent investigation of these phenomena by Professor Norman Feather. In an exhaustive theoretical treatment (24) of the problem concerning their origin in minerals, Feather concludes it is difficult to account for the existence of Po halos in certain minerals on the basis of known physical principles. His exact words, as given in the synopsis of his paper, are as follows:

Ever since the discovery of Po-haloes in old mica (Henderson and Sparks 1939) the problem of their origin has remained essentially unsolved. Two suggestions have been made (Henderson 1939; Gentry et al. 1973), but neither carries immediate conviction. These suggestions are examined critically and in detail, and the difficulties attaching to the acceptance of either are identified. Because these two suggestions appear to exhaust the logical possibilities of explanation, it is tempting to admit that one of them must be basically correct, but whoever would make this admission must be fortified by credulity of a high order.

Polonium Halos and Primordial Rocks: a Test of the Hypothesis

I have advanced the hypothesis (25,26) that the three different types of Po halos in minerals represent the decay of primordial Po, in which case the rocks that host these halos, i.e., the Precambrian granites, must be primordial rocks (25,26). By this reasoning the Precambrian granites are identified as rocks that were created almost instantly as a part of the creation event recorded in Genesis 1:1 rather than rocks that are a product of the evolution of the earth. This rationale would be without scientific content if I had not also stated (25) that the laboratory synthesis of a hand-sized piece of granite or biotite would be accepted as falsifying my view that the Precambrian granites are created rocks and, likewise, that the subsequent production of ²¹⁸Po halos in that synthesized specimen of granite or biotite would be accepted as falsifying my view that Po halos in Precambrian granites originated with primordial polonium. The only response to my repeated (25,26) challenges to perform these laboratory syntheses and falsify the aforementioned evidences for creation has thus far been silence. It is inescapable that these experiments should be successful if the uniformitarian principle is true. Thus, with so much at stake for evolution, I suspect the reason why my evolutionary colleagues have failed to achieve success is because the Precambrian granites never formed by the uniformitarian principle to begin with; hence, to attempt to utilize it now to produce a synthesized piece of granite is just a futile effort. The end result is that the uniformitarian principle is essentially falsified because of its failure to live up to its own predictions. But since all the pieces in the evolutionary puzzle are glued together by this principle, we must now come to the same conclusion about evolution itself.

A Proposed Creation Model and the Age of the Earth

The evidence for creation cited above suggests there may have been special periods in earth history when physical laws as presently understood were insufficient to explain all the events transpiring within those periods. This evidence [p. 281] also undergirds the formulation of a creation model based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. The creation model proposed herein postulates that on at least three occasions (singularities) during the past 6000 years there were significant exceptions to the uniformitarian principle within our local cosmos (the Milky Way), viz., the ex nihilo creation of our galaxy about 6000 years ago, the Fall of man shortly thereafter, and the occurrence of a worldwide Flood about 4350 years ago. These ages are derived from Scriptural chronology. It is assumed that the creative act which brought the Milky Way into existence also caused the immediate propagation of light throughout the galaxy. No constraints are placed on the age of the universe.

Singularities and Uniformities: A Complementary Approach

It is essential to understand that uniform action of physical laws between singularities is an integral part of this creation model. Moreover, the occurrence of a singularity does not mean a completely chaotic condition without any laws to govern the operations of nature during that period. During the Flood singularity some physical processes may not have changed at all whereas there is evidence others varied considerably. An enhanced radioactive decay rate during the Flood singularity would have generated a considerable amount of heat, thus initiating volcanic and tectonic activity during and after that period. This three-singularity model appears to be the minimum framework that includes the essential features of the Genesis narrative. Possibly the continent-separating episode recorded in Genesis 10:25, when the earth was divided in the days of Peleg a few hundred years after the Flood, should also be included as a singularity; certainly it must figure prominently in any creation-based reconstruction of earth history that deals with continental drift. However, to simplify matters, the following comments exclude consideration of this event.

Singularities and the Interpretation of Radioactive Decay as Elapsed Time

In summary, the creation model envisions an initial creation singularity followed by a short period of uniformity until the second singularity, an event which involved degenerative changes in the biological world and quite possibly modification of some of the original physical laws which governed the earth and our near celestial environment. Another period of uniformity follows, with the modified physical laws now in effect, for about 1600 years down to the longer-duration Flood singularity. The last period of uniformity extends down to the present. In this scenario U/Pb ratios are presently utilized as indicators of elapsed time since the last singularity. ²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb ratios are not used as time measures prior to this last singularity because of conflicting evidence of very high Pb and He retention in natural zircons subjected to a prolonged high temperature environment in deep granite. Those results, discussed below, are consistent with a very young age of the earth, and suggest that the radioactive decay rate may have been enhanced (indeed, had to be if this creation model is correct) during any one of the three singularities. (The Peleg episode potentially adds one more possibility.) The assumption of uniform decay since the Flood is the basis for interpreting the very high U/Pb ratios in coalified wood samples as evidence for a several-thousand-year age of specimens which conventional geology holds to be about 60 to 400 million years old.

[p. 282]

Possible Evidence of Enhanced Radioactive Decay from 'Blasting' Halos

Additional evidence for an enhanced radioactive decay rate comes from Ramdohr's observations on fractured radioactive halos in polished ore sections. He reports (27) that certain radioactive inclusions, which exhibit a considerable volume increase due to isotropization from radioactive decay, have in numerous cases been observed to fracture the surrounding mineral in a random pattern. Ramdohr points out that the surrounding mineral should expand slowly over geological time due to radioactive isotropization, and individual cracks should appear as soon as the elastic limit is reached. He further points out that, while these expansion cracks should occur first along cohesion minimums and grain boundaries, nothing like this happens. Individual cracks surrounding the radioactive inclusion are randomly distributed and evidently occur quite suddenly in the form of an explosive fracture and not a slow expansion. Ramdohr shows many photographs of instances wherein the central inclusion fractures the non-isotropic outer zone. The occurrence of this phenomenon is worldwide.

While there might be other alternatives, one possible explanation of these "fractures" or "blasting" halos is that the rate of radioactive decay was at one time far greater than that observed today. The isotropization of the host minerals would have occurred very rapidly due to an anomalous decay rate, and hence fracturing of the outer mineral would be expected.

The Age of the Earth and Pb Retention in Deep Granite Cores

Results pertaining more specifically to a recent creation of the earth come from studies of Pb retention in zircons taken from deep Precambrian granite cores (28). To understand the rationale for this last statement, it must first be understood that the Pb in these zircons is primarily a secondary trace component derived from the decay of small amounts of U and Th. Secondly, this radiogenic Pb has a tendency to migrate or diffuse out of the zircon crystals far more rapidly than the parent U and Th because these elements are relatively tightly bound in lattice sites, whereas the Pb atoms really do not fit into the zircon lattice. Further, since all elements show an exponential increase in the bulk diffusion rate with increasing temperature, and since the temperature in the granite cores increases significantly from near the top (105°C) to the bottom (313°C) of the granite portion of the drill hole, calculations show that 50 μm-size zircons taken from the bottom of the drill hole (313°C) should have lost 1% of their Pb content in about 300,000 years. Since the zircons were in cores taken from a Precambrian granite that is estimated to be 1.5 billion years old by conventional geochronology (29), the prediction based on uniformitarian geochronology would be that most of the Pb would have long ago diffused out of the zircons extracted from the deepest cores at 313°C. But the results of the experiments did not agree with this prediction; rather they showed equally high retention of Pb in zircons taken from all depths. In fact no Pb loss from zircons at 313°C would appear to place an upper limit to the age of this Precambrian granite, which, on the presumption that these granites are primordial rocks, in essence places the same limit on the age of the earth.

The Age of the Earth: Limited by Helium Retention in Deep Granite Cores

Another approach which seemed to hold greater prospects for more closely defining an upper limit for the age of these Precambrian granites (and hence of [p. 283] the earth) was the differential analysis of similar size zircons from these same cores for helium, the second most volatile chemical element known. The helium accumulates in these zircons in a manner similar to the radiogenic Pb, viz., from the alpha particles emitted from trace amounts of U and Th. However, the extreme volatility of this gas means that it diffuses out of the zircons at a far greater rate than Pb. On a purely uniformitarian basis the search for helium in these zircons would quite possibly never have been done because conventional geological wisdom suggests negligible helium retention in zircons subjected to even 100°C for the presumed 1.5 billion year age (29) of those granites. But having already discovered that the Pb retention in these zircons contradicted the age estimates determined by radiometric dating techniques, I decided that, from a creationist perspective, the search might just reveal something of exceptional interest. Groups of zircons from six different depths were repeatedly analyzed for helium using an extremely sensitive gas mass spectrometric system. The results (30) showed a helium retention of about 58% in the tiny 50 μm zircons from 960 meters depth (105°C), about 27% in zircons from 2170 meters (151°C) and a phenomenal 17% retention of helium even at 2900 meters where the temperature is 197° C. These results show a creation-based perspective of science does possess predictive capabilities which can be scientifically tested.

It is difficult to understand how such high retention (30) of helium can be accounted for except by restricting the age of these granites (and hence the earth) to something of the order of several thousand years. These results are consistent with an approximate 6000-year age of the earth and moreover are in direct conflict with the presumed 4.5-billion-year age of the earth determined by radioactive dating techniques. Evolutionary colleagues can prove this deduction for a young age of the earth is wrong if they can show just how this unusually high retention of helium can be deduced from the accepted 1.5-billion-year age (29) of those zircons by using only uniformitarian principles.