CRSQ 2012 Volume 48, Number 4

ABSTRACTS

ENTROPY AND APPLIED ENERGY

Charles Creager Jr

Creationists have long used the second law of thermodynamics in arguments against evolution. The response has been that a system’s entropy can decrease if energy is applied to that system and that the earth is such an open system. The problem is that there seems to be no general principle that shows how applied energy affects entropy. Even the most casual of observations shows that applying energy to a system can either increase or decrease entropy, depending on the nature of the application. This fact is best illustrated by the difference between construction work and a bomb. Despite this, there seems to be no general principle describing this difference. It turns out that statistical analysis of the problem provides this needed general principle. Herein it is shown that when energy is applied to a system, it tends to move the system’s degree of randomness toward that of the applied energy. The result is that energy applied in an organized manner will decrease entropy, while energy applied in a random manner will increase entropy.

MYTH AND REALITY IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BUCKLAND

John K. Reed*

William Buckland is the prototypical “Christian-finds-science” straw man of secular propaganda. He appears as a pre-incarnation of Henry Morris, wrestles with geological facts that contradict the Flood, sees the light, and finally repudiates the Flood—just another tragic zealot finding true enlightenment through “science.” The false moral is clear; Christians who open their eyes convert to secularism. Like many other secular myths, that view of Buckland is absurd. The real Buckland was an elite geologist with a brilliant career, receiving accolades from society and peers. The real tragedy was not an imaginary psychological conflict between science and religion, but the long road of compromise that marked his career, and the real moral is the necessity of fidelity to Scripture.

HYDRODYNAMIC INTERPRETATION OF THE TAPEATS SANDSTONE PART I: BASAL TAPEATS

W.R. Barnhart*

The Tapeats Sandstone is the lowest Cambrian layer in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It has been interpreted as beach, estuarine, and shallow marine coarse sand deposits, representing the initial stages of a slow transgression over a highly weathered and eroded, pre-vegetated epicratonic surface. In the basal Tapeats, two distinct bedforms occur: (1) hyperconcentrated laminar bedforms deposited by high-velocity hyperconcentrated currents and (2) sandy debris flows in high-density turbulent flow. The high-velocity hyperconcentrated currents predominated, but were occasionally interrupted or overlaid by cascades of breccia that initiated short-lived, high-density turbulent flow. Both reflect extremely rapid deposition rather than tidal reworking on a passive margin. Rheologically plastic flows are distinct from fluidal flows. The structure of high-density turbidity currents and hyperconcentrated flood flows are discussed, showing how the hyperconcentrated laminar bedforms and sandy debris flows could have been produced. Hydrological interpretation indicates that bedforms were produced by very rapid deposition in continuous currents over an extremely large area without regard for minor paleotopography, suggesting the rapid transgression of the Tapeats Sandstone in a massive flooding event.

Transgression Regression in the Grand Canyon

One of the most difficult problems in addressing questions is overcoming preconceived notions. This is true of the biologist who considers only evolutionary mechanisms, the sedimentologist who considers only present-day rates of erosion and deposition, or the Flood geologist who adheres only to one Flood model. Far too often, the most difficult part of dealing with any data is to let it speak for itself. This problem is illustrated by the relationship between the Tapeats Sandstone (Barnhart, 2012) and the transgression/regression of the Flood. The Tapeats is a widespread, flatlying sandstone deposited on the surface of the angular Great Unconformity in Arizona, and is thus the lowermost Paleozoic stratum in the Grand Canyon sequence (Figure 1). McKee (1945) proposed that it was deposited by a transgressive sea moving inland from the southwest, with sand being brought to the marine front by rivers flowing from the northeast. This basic concept was reiterated by Hereford (1977) and Rose (2006). Berthault (2004) took a slightly different view when he suggested an erosional transgressive invasion of water from the southwest, followed by deposition by the regressing current (analogous to a wave running up the shoreline and then receding).

Myth and Reality

Racism Taught in Biology Textbooks for Decades

Jerry Bergman

Textbooks are a major means of imparting not just facts, but also beliefs. One concept often included in books supporting Darwinism published before 1960 was the belief that there exist “Caucasian” and “Negroid” races, now commonly called the “white” and “black” races. The view that whites were “superior,” and blacks “inferior” and more “apelike” was commonly taught in science texts and even scholarly academic books published in the Western world from the middle 1800s to around 1960, and a few after this date. A few typical examples were examined to illustrate how racism was once taught. This paper compares textbooks used in America and Nazi Germany, documenting the fact that their coverage of evolution and eugenic topics was similar. Although all of the examples examined for this paper were published in the USA and Germany, most of these textbooks were translated into Spanish, French, and other languages and used throughout the world.

Origin of Appalachian Geomorphology Part III: Channelized Erosion Late in the Flood

Michael J. Oard

Water and wind gaps are transverse erosional cuts through higher elevations. These features are abundant in the Appalachian Mountains, and several of them are briefly described. What they all have in common is the inability of actualists to offer a viable hypothesis for their formation. The common antecedent and superimposed stream hypotheses do not explain the observations. However, both water and wind gaps can be explained by the channelized flow phase during the runoff of the Floodwater from the Appalachians.