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Many young-earth creationists beleive that the onset of the global flood is represented by the Precambrian/Cambrian unconformity. Such is Austin and Wise's view:
[box]"Then Kurt and I are doing the Mojave Desert Cambrian/Precambrian
boundary stratigraphy. As far as creationists are concerned, the
pre-Flood to Flood boundary should be the boundary in the
stratigraphic record that can be picked. Who are we trying to kid
by not attempting to find it? Anyway we've got a one-mile-long
megaclast that's been deposited in this formation. That's a
pretty big upset event. It might do!" Steve Austin, "Speaking
to the Earth: An Interview with Steven Austin and Kurt Wise,
Bible-Science News, 33:5, July, 1995, p. 17[/box]
If this is true then it places Adam living in the Precambrian. But, a recent nature article makes it clear that there was little oxygen in the early part of the Precambrian.
Here is the abstract:
[box]
The disappearance of iron formations from the geological record -1.8 billion years (Gyr) ago was the consequence of rising oxygen levels in the atmosphere starting 2.45-2.32 Gyr ago. It marks the end of a 2.5-Gyr period dominated by anoxic and iron-rich deep oceans. However, despite rising oxygen levels and a concomitant increase in marine sulphate concentration, related to enhanced sulphide oxidation during continental weathering, the chemistry of the oceans in the following mid-Proterozoic interval (~1.8-0.8 Gyr ago) probably did not yet resemble our oxygen-rich modern oceans. Recent data indicate that marine oxygen and sulphate concentrations may have remained well below current levels during this period, with one model indicating that anoxic and sulphidic marine basins were widespread, and perhaps even globally distributed. Here we present hydrocarbon biomarkers (molecular fossils) from a 1.64-Gyr-old basin in northern Australia, revealing the ecological structure of mid-Proterozoic marine communities. The biomarkers signify a marine basin with anoxic, sulphidic, sulphate-poor and permanently stratified deep waters, hostile to eukaryotic algae. Phototrophic purple sulphur bacteria (Chromatiaceae) were detected in the geological record based on the new carotenoid biomarker okenane, and they seem to have co-existed with communities of green sulphur bacteria (Chlorobiaceae). Collectively, the biomarkers support mounting evidence for a long-lasting Proterozoic world in which oxygen levels remained well below modern levels.Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 866
[/box]
This low oxygen level would make it difficult for Adam and family to thrive. The article also states (BCF = Barney Creek Formation):
[box]The bitumens of the BCF contain some of the oldest preserved, unambiguously syngenetic biomarkers known so far. The distribution of biomarkers in the 48 samples analysed here shows slight variations with lithology and depositional depth but is generally distinct from distributions currently known from all other periods in Earth's history. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 866 [/box]
The article then describes why this evidence means there was little oxygen.
[box] The dominant biomarkers (up to 1,000 p.p.m.) in the aromatic hydrocarbon fractions are C14 to C37 2,3,6- and 2,3,4-trimethyl arylisoprenoids (Fig. Ic), the typical breakdown products of aromatic carotenoids24. In the thermally least altered bitumens, it was possible to detect the intact precursor carotenoids chlorobactane, okenane (Fig. 3), isorenieratane, renieratane and renierapurpurane (chemical structures of the most relevant biomarkers, and original
references and additional information about biological sources of aromatic carotenoids, can be found in the Supplementary Information). In living organisms, carotenoids with the renieratane and renierapurpurane skeletons are only known from sponges, in which they might be derived from as yet unknown bacterial sponge symbionts. There is there fore no reliable biological information for interpreting these biomarkers in the BCF. In contrast, the biological precursors of chlorobactane and isorenieratane, the phototrophic pigments (hydroxy-) chlorobactene and isorenieratane, are well documented. In deep aquatic environments, such as the BCF, these carotenoids are derived from planktonic green and brown pigmented species of Chlorobiaceae, respectively. Chlorobiaceae are strictly anaerobic, obligate phototrophs. They require hydrogen sulphide or other reduced sulphur species as an electron donor in the presence of light. Therefore, in planktonic environments, Chlorobiaceae thrive exclusively where euxinic conditions rise into the photic zone of the water column. The only known natural product with okenane skeleton is okenone, a red pigment found exclusively in several genera of planktonic purple sulphur bacteria of the family Chromatiaceae. Although taxonomically unrelated, Chlorobiaceae, have physiological requirements similar to those of the Chlorobiaceae. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 868
[/box]
Finally, the authors note the implicatons of this data.
[box] "If okenane and other aromatic carotenoids in the BCF are correctly interpreted as molecular remains of PSB, then the McArthur Basin was intensely stratified and euxinic. The transition from oxic to anoxic conditions occurred just metres to a few tens of metres below the water surface. A shallow mixed layer with low oxygen concentrations and an episodic turbulent influx of H2S might also explain the suppression of eukaryotic algae, poisoned under these conditions. During periods of widespread euxinia in the oxygen minimum zone, algae would also have suffered nitrogen stress and would have competed poorly against cyanobacteria. The paucity of diagnostic eukaryotic biomarkers over the analyzed range of the basin and over more than 800-m stratigraphic thickness in the Glyde River region indicates that the inferred conditions might have been maintained for extended periods. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 869[/box]
Now, for people to think that the preflood world with a similar depositional rate to today was anoxic during the deposition of 2500+ feet of rock (800 meters) means that Adam would have had breathing difficulties.
David Tyler, a British Creationist, believes that the Precambrian sediments represent the flood. This is not too different in its implications from what Henry Morris stated when he tried to argue for the flood depositing every single sedimentary rock.
[box]"But in any case, the so-called unconformity did not exist, at
least at this site in Siberia. The sediments of the Precambrian
are continuous with those of the Cambrian, so there is, indeed,
no worldwide time break in the sediments of the geologic column.
Now, again, if there is no universal time gap in the geologic
column, and if all individual formations represent intense
depositional episodes (many geologists still don't like the word
'catastrophe'), then the entire column must represent one
continuous intense depositional episode, a one-of-a-kind 'rare
event.' And this fits perfectly with the Biblical record (and
worldwide traditions) of the great Flood." ~ Henry M. Morris,
Creation and the Modern Christian, (El Cajon, California: Master
Book Publishers, 1985), p. 243[/box]
I would love to hear their contorted explanation for how Noah could breath during these conditions. How could a turbulent flood be so anoxic? And if it were, how did the animals on the ark breathe? Was Noah (or Adam for that matter a methanophilic organism--an organism which loves methane?
I would also take note here of Dad's silly explanation for the rocks of the precambrian, in which they were formed by God miraculously. I would like a simple explanation for why God would choose to use chemicals from phototropic sulphur bacteria rather than chemicals from common eukaryotic bacteria when He formed the rocks. Why these chemicals and not others? Was God out to fool this particular set of scientists into thinking that there was an oxygen free world when in fact there wasn't?
OK, YECs, here is your chance to show us your stuff. You are always saying that you take the same facts and interpret them differently from the secular scientists. Please do it here. I strongly suspect you will have to do without the services of your biggie name geologists, like Kurt Wise, Steve Austin, Andrew Snelling, Tas Walker, and others. They fill your head with this nonsense about having alternative explanations for data like this, but they never seem to show up to demonstrate this fact. They are a cowardly lot in my opinion.
I will be delighted to debate any of them and have repeatedly offered to, but they always hide away when they see me
[box]"Then Kurt and I are doing the Mojave Desert Cambrian/Precambrian
boundary stratigraphy. As far as creationists are concerned, the
pre-Flood to Flood boundary should be the boundary in the
stratigraphic record that can be picked. Who are we trying to kid
by not attempting to find it? Anyway we've got a one-mile-long
megaclast that's been deposited in this formation. That's a
pretty big upset event. It might do!" Steve Austin, "Speaking
to the Earth: An Interview with Steven Austin and Kurt Wise,
Bible-Science News, 33:5, July, 1995, p. 17[/box]
If this is true then it places Adam living in the Precambrian. But, a recent nature article makes it clear that there was little oxygen in the early part of the Precambrian.
Here is the abstract:
[box]
The disappearance of iron formations from the geological record -1.8 billion years (Gyr) ago was the consequence of rising oxygen levels in the atmosphere starting 2.45-2.32 Gyr ago. It marks the end of a 2.5-Gyr period dominated by anoxic and iron-rich deep oceans. However, despite rising oxygen levels and a concomitant increase in marine sulphate concentration, related to enhanced sulphide oxidation during continental weathering, the chemistry of the oceans in the following mid-Proterozoic interval (~1.8-0.8 Gyr ago) probably did not yet resemble our oxygen-rich modern oceans. Recent data indicate that marine oxygen and sulphate concentrations may have remained well below current levels during this period, with one model indicating that anoxic and sulphidic marine basins were widespread, and perhaps even globally distributed. Here we present hydrocarbon biomarkers (molecular fossils) from a 1.64-Gyr-old basin in northern Australia, revealing the ecological structure of mid-Proterozoic marine communities. The biomarkers signify a marine basin with anoxic, sulphidic, sulphate-poor and permanently stratified deep waters, hostile to eukaryotic algae. Phototrophic purple sulphur bacteria (Chromatiaceae) were detected in the geological record based on the new carotenoid biomarker okenane, and they seem to have co-existed with communities of green sulphur bacteria (Chlorobiaceae). Collectively, the biomarkers support mounting evidence for a long-lasting Proterozoic world in which oxygen levels remained well below modern levels.Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 866
[/box]
This low oxygen level would make it difficult for Adam and family to thrive. The article also states (BCF = Barney Creek Formation):
[box]The bitumens of the BCF contain some of the oldest preserved, unambiguously syngenetic biomarkers known so far. The distribution of biomarkers in the 48 samples analysed here shows slight variations with lithology and depositional depth but is generally distinct from distributions currently known from all other periods in Earth's history. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 866 [/box]
The article then describes why this evidence means there was little oxygen.
[box] The dominant biomarkers (up to 1,000 p.p.m.) in the aromatic hydrocarbon fractions are C14 to C37 2,3,6- and 2,3,4-trimethyl arylisoprenoids (Fig. Ic), the typical breakdown products of aromatic carotenoids24. In the thermally least altered bitumens, it was possible to detect the intact precursor carotenoids chlorobactane, okenane (Fig. 3), isorenieratane, renieratane and renierapurpurane (chemical structures of the most relevant biomarkers, and original
references and additional information about biological sources of aromatic carotenoids, can be found in the Supplementary Information). In living organisms, carotenoids with the renieratane and renierapurpurane skeletons are only known from sponges, in which they might be derived from as yet unknown bacterial sponge symbionts. There is there fore no reliable biological information for interpreting these biomarkers in the BCF. In contrast, the biological precursors of chlorobactane and isorenieratane, the phototrophic pigments (hydroxy-) chlorobactene and isorenieratane, are well documented. In deep aquatic environments, such as the BCF, these carotenoids are derived from planktonic green and brown pigmented species of Chlorobiaceae, respectively. Chlorobiaceae are strictly anaerobic, obligate phototrophs. They require hydrogen sulphide or other reduced sulphur species as an electron donor in the presence of light. Therefore, in planktonic environments, Chlorobiaceae thrive exclusively where euxinic conditions rise into the photic zone of the water column. The only known natural product with okenane skeleton is okenone, a red pigment found exclusively in several genera of planktonic purple sulphur bacteria of the family Chromatiaceae. Although taxonomically unrelated, Chlorobiaceae, have physiological requirements similar to those of the Chlorobiaceae. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 868
[/box]
Finally, the authors note the implicatons of this data.
[box] "If okenane and other aromatic carotenoids in the BCF are correctly interpreted as molecular remains of PSB, then the McArthur Basin was intensely stratified and euxinic. The transition from oxic to anoxic conditions occurred just metres to a few tens of metres below the water surface. A shallow mixed layer with low oxygen concentrations and an episodic turbulent influx of H2S might also explain the suppression of eukaryotic algae, poisoned under these conditions. During periods of widespread euxinia in the oxygen minimum zone, algae would also have suffered nitrogen stress and would have competed poorly against cyanobacteria. The paucity of diagnostic eukaryotic biomarkers over the analyzed range of the basin and over more than 800-m stratigraphic thickness in the Glyde River region indicates that the inferred conditions might have been maintained for extended periods. Jochen J. Brocks, et al, Biomarker Evidence for Green and Purple Sulphur Bacteria in a Stratified Palaeoproterozoic Sea, Nature, Oct. 6, 2005, p. 869[/box]
Now, for people to think that the preflood world with a similar depositional rate to today was anoxic during the deposition of 2500+ feet of rock (800 meters) means that Adam would have had breathing difficulties.
David Tyler, a British Creationist, believes that the Precambrian sediments represent the flood. This is not too different in its implications from what Henry Morris stated when he tried to argue for the flood depositing every single sedimentary rock.
[box]"But in any case, the so-called unconformity did not exist, at
least at this site in Siberia. The sediments of the Precambrian
are continuous with those of the Cambrian, so there is, indeed,
no worldwide time break in the sediments of the geologic column.
Now, again, if there is no universal time gap in the geologic
column, and if all individual formations represent intense
depositional episodes (many geologists still don't like the word
'catastrophe'), then the entire column must represent one
continuous intense depositional episode, a one-of-a-kind 'rare
event.' And this fits perfectly with the Biblical record (and
worldwide traditions) of the great Flood." ~ Henry M. Morris,
Creation and the Modern Christian, (El Cajon, California: Master
Book Publishers, 1985), p. 243[/box]
I would love to hear their contorted explanation for how Noah could breath during these conditions. How could a turbulent flood be so anoxic? And if it were, how did the animals on the ark breathe? Was Noah (or Adam for that matter a methanophilic organism--an organism which loves methane?
I would also take note here of Dad's silly explanation for the rocks of the precambrian, in which they were formed by God miraculously. I would like a simple explanation for why God would choose to use chemicals from phototropic sulphur bacteria rather than chemicals from common eukaryotic bacteria when He formed the rocks. Why these chemicals and not others? Was God out to fool this particular set of scientists into thinking that there was an oxygen free world when in fact there wasn't?
OK, YECs, here is your chance to show us your stuff. You are always saying that you take the same facts and interpret them differently from the secular scientists. Please do it here. I strongly suspect you will have to do without the services of your biggie name geologists, like Kurt Wise, Steve Austin, Andrew Snelling, Tas Walker, and others. They fill your head with this nonsense about having alternative explanations for data like this, but they never seem to show up to demonstrate this fact. They are a cowardly lot in my opinion.
I will be delighted to debate any of them and have repeatedly offered to, but they always hide away when they see me
