There are countless problems facing young earth creatism. One is how plutons can form and cool within the maximum YEC time frame. I'll admit my confusion of what the YEC time frame really is, (if anyone has it charted out, please post it) but my assumptions for this post will be of only a few thousand years.
The view of how granitic platoon are built has gone through a change these past few years. Traditionally, they were viewed as molten rock rising through the crust not unlike we see in Lava Lamps. In recent years though, geologist have been abandoning that view in favor of feeder dikes as the means to transport huge volumes of basalt to the middle reaches. We see a lot of feeder dikes up here in the Northwest where they are the feature that fed one of the largest basalt flows in the world, the Columbia River Basalt Floods.
Feeder dikes are large cracks in the earth through which Basalt flows upwards towards the surface of the earth.
In determining the time it takes to build and cool a large granitic pluton all sorts of things need to be taken into account. For instance, how long was the crack that fed it, how wide, what was the temperature of the surrounding area, how fast did it fill and the water percentage of the basalt are just a few things looked at. We can look at the size of crystal growth to estimate cooling time. Surrounding metamorphic rock can help in estimating the temperature of the granitic pluton. The temperatures of the surrounding rock will in turn effect the cooling rate of the a granitic pluton. There are all sorts of angles that scientist need look at in determining built rate and cooling time of granitic plutons. Because Im not a scientist , only a geologist want to be, Im able to point towards only a few things geologist take into consideration.
Whats very clear though is that even in the shortest of time estimates, the time span for this cycle is way too long for young earth creationist. For instance, the growth rates for most plagioclase and olivine crystals is very slow. A large 10 cm crystal could grow in about 33,000 years. But there is a question of if that is too fast of an estimate because the way that was figured out does not take into account that parts of the growing crystal may be resorbed into the magma. But even with 33,000 years, which is the quickest estimate I can find for granitic pluton cooling, (which also does not take into consideration the build time frame,) it is still way too long for YEC time frames.
.
The view of how granitic platoon are built has gone through a change these past few years. Traditionally, they were viewed as molten rock rising through the crust not unlike we see in Lava Lamps. In recent years though, geologist have been abandoning that view in favor of feeder dikes as the means to transport huge volumes of basalt to the middle reaches. We see a lot of feeder dikes up here in the Northwest where they are the feature that fed one of the largest basalt flows in the world, the Columbia River Basalt Floods.
Feeder dikes are large cracks in the earth through which Basalt flows upwards towards the surface of the earth.
In determining the time it takes to build and cool a large granitic pluton all sorts of things need to be taken into account. For instance, how long was the crack that fed it, how wide, what was the temperature of the surrounding area, how fast did it fill and the water percentage of the basalt are just a few things looked at. We can look at the size of crystal growth to estimate cooling time. Surrounding metamorphic rock can help in estimating the temperature of the granitic pluton. The temperatures of the surrounding rock will in turn effect the cooling rate of the a granitic pluton. There are all sorts of angles that scientist need look at in determining built rate and cooling time of granitic plutons. Because Im not a scientist , only a geologist want to be, Im able to point towards only a few things geologist take into consideration.
Whats very clear though is that even in the shortest of time estimates, the time span for this cycle is way too long for young earth creationist. For instance, the growth rates for most plagioclase and olivine crystals is very slow. A large 10 cm crystal could grow in about 33,000 years. But there is a question of if that is too fast of an estimate because the way that was figured out does not take into account that parts of the growing crystal may be resorbed into the magma. But even with 33,000 years, which is the quickest estimate I can find for granitic pluton cooling, (which also does not take into consideration the build time frame,) it is still way too long for YEC time frames.
.
