The Hawaiian Islands Revisited: Refutation of YEC/Catastrophic Plate Tectonism

This is an elaboration on notto's previous thread on the Hawaiian Island Chain

The Hawaiian Islands are an excellent example of plate tectonics including the relative uniformity of motion over time. The Pacific Plate moves over a stable hot spot, and it is the upwelling of molten material from this hot spot that creates the Hawaiian Island chain (and corresponding Emperor Seamount Chain).

Observations:

1. Moving progressively northwest away from the hot spot, the islands appear smaller.

This is consistent with the theorized model of formation: older islands should be smaller than younger ones due to thermal contraction and erosion.

2. The modern, exposed Hawaiian Islands show little to no surface sedimentation.

This indicates that the islands have not been submerged during a global flooding event during their histories.

3. The Pacific Plate is moving northwest over this hot spot at approximately 8-10 centimeters per year, which can be measured currently.

4. Radiometric dating (K-Ar) of the basalts comprising the islands confirm the supposition that the islands are progressively older to the northwest.

With the measured spreading rate and the measured distances between islands, one can calculate the ages of the islands, and this corresponds to the ages we get from radiometric dating. This validates both the relative uniformity of the rate of motion of the Pacific plate as well as the validity of K-Ar dating, as the dates obtained are what would be predicted.

I'll illustrate this by doing some rough, back-of-the-envelope-style calculations of the rate of motion of the plate for the intervals between islands using information from the following diagram:



(Source)

The ages in the diagram result from radiometric dating, but again, this is irrelevant because you can validate them by working backwards from modern plate motion rates and distances between islands, or by showing a constancy of plate motion consistent with what we still observe today.

The first number is the approximate distance between islands (kilometers), the second number is the approximate age difference between islands (millions of years), and the third number is the resulting rate of plate motion (centimeters per year).

1. Hawaii to Maui: 125 km, 1.3 Ma, 9.6 cm/yr
2. Maui to Molokai: 80 km, 0.805 Ma, 9.9 cm/yr
3. Molokai to Oahu: 125 km, 1.32 Ma, 9.5 cm/yr
4. Oahu to Kauai: 180 km, 1.95 Ma, 9.2 cm/yr

That leaves the average plate motion from each interval as 9.6 cm/yr, and evidently the calculations yield a consistent rate of motion. Evidently, these numbers give exactly what is predicted: the uniformity of plate motion when compared with the modern, observed rate of motion. Again, if you only used the observed plate motion and observed distance between the islands, you would end up verifying the K-Ar dates of the islands. Of course this continues to work on islands further to the west in the chain, but these main islands are enough to falsify YECism.

This little do-it-yourself experiment validates plate tectonics, the relative uniformity of plate motion over a few million years (you could also extend this back to older islands in the chain and the corresponding Emperor Seamount chain), and also K-Ar dating. In short, the Earth cannot be merely a few thousand years old, plate tectonism does not happen rapidly, and a global flooding event did not occur as there is no evidence of such sedimentation on the islands (and surely a global flooding event would cause these relatively small islands to be submerged as well--yet YECs claim large-scale changes in Earth's geology on the continents).

YECism and "flood geology" are falsified once again. This is just another example of why geology is one of YECism's greatest threats. I thought this would be interesting because, really, it's one of those things anyone can do to verify plate tectonics provided they are willing.

I was just there.

A random fact about Hawaii that doesnt really have to do with anything here, is that Kauai has the Wettest spot on earth, with an average rainfall of over 450in per year.

__________________

Wei wu wei

Green faeries

Does Don Juan know about this? Or the great Tiki God?

You lucky devil!

This isn't really a threat, considering the population and geographical location of the inhabitants of the earth during the flood, the Hawaiian Islands may not have been affected.

Besides plates are constantly moving, I do not see how this falsifies even a global flood, I mean if the waters receded (divinely possibly) then Hawaii would be restored.

Lack of sedimentation isn't really proof.

If God flooded the world and didn't restore it, and everyone had proof of a global flood, then faith would be negated and God would be proven to exist, and Gods not going to let that happen because you must believe in God through faith and spirit, and not because science has proven God to be real.

The point is that they could not have formed in 6,000 years due to catastrophic plate tectonism.

YECists claim that the global flooding event substantially changed earth's geology by adding significant amounts of sedimentary deposits to the continents. However we see no such sedimentation on the Hawaiian Islands such as strata of limestones or marine sandstones. The only sedimentation results from weathering of the basalt from the eruptions and that is very little.

If the Hawaiian Island were not affected then the flood was not worldwide and was local instead. End of story. You certainly gave up easily for a YEC.

The Frumious Bandersnatch

Plate tectonics can happen rapidly...

... on the seventeeth day of the mionth, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened..... (Genesis 6:11)

Your problem is not science and plate tectonics, but that the Word of God says "this is how it happened".

Nope, it cannot. Try reading the post and looking at the data before making knee-jerk responses devoid of any analysis.

That is meangless unless you can show that religious text has any validity whatsoever. The Hawaiian Islands CANNOT exist as they do now if plate tectonism happened rapidly.

The Bible says there was a worldwide Flood and that the earth was divided in the days of Peleg, and that's what I believe. I agree with Malaka, your problem is not with science, it is with the Word of God.