The Lack of Salt Concentration in the Oceans Implies a Young Earth Timeline
by Owen Omid Borville
January 15, 2019
The Earth's oceans, which comprise over 70 percent of the Earth's surface, are known to be salty, or contain a relatively high concentration of salt. The oceans and seawater have an average salt concentration of approximately 35 parts per thousand. (1)
This salt concentration comes mainly from the continents, as acidic rainwater erodes the landscape and carries sediment downstream into the oceans. The acidic rainwater reacts with the continental rock, breaking down and dissolving some of the surface rock and the salts in the rock. This dissolved salt is carried downstream by rivers and streams until emptying into the oceans.
Evolutionists believe that this process has been occurring for more than three billion years, as long as the ocean basins have been in existence. Evolutionists also assume that the ocean basins originally had no salt and that the salt concentration today has been building since the origin of the ocean basins, thereby supporting the old-earth time scale. However, creationists have noted that at the current rate of salt input into today's oceans, the current salinity concentration could be reached much sooner than the evolutionist time frame of three billion years.
Creationists estimate that today's oceans could reach current salinity levels in 40 to 60 million years using current input rates, much younger than the evolutionist time frame of three billion years. In addition, at the current rate of salt input into the oceans, the salinity content would be much higher than today's concentration, including factoring the amount of input and output. (2)
The amount of ocean salt removed by natural methods has been estimated about 27 percent, therefore the majority of salt added to the oceans has remained. (3)While evolutionists assume that the ocean basins were originally not salty, creationists propose that the oceans could have been created salty from the beginning, therefore greatly reducing the time needed to reach today's salinity concentration. Catastrophic events such as the continental floodwater runoff from the Genesis Flood 4,500 years ago would also have greatly increased the input of salt in the ocean and greatly reduced the time needed to arrive at today's salt concentration. (4) (5)
In addition, the volcanic activity associated with the opening of the springs of the deep on the ocean floor would have added much salt to the oceans, as the boiling hot water and volcanic material would have dissolved salts from the Earth's crust into the seawater. Therefore, the actual age of the oceans should be more in line with the creationist time frame of 6,000 years.
(1) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
(2) Austin, Steven A., Humphreys, Russell D., The Sea's Missing Salt: A Dilemma for Evolutionists. Second International Conference on Creationism, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
July 30–August 4, 1990. Published in: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creationism, R. E. Walsh and C. L. Brooks (Eds.), pp. 17–33, 1990.
(3) F. L. Sayles and P. C. Mangelsdorf, “Cation-Exchange Characteristics of Amazon with Suspended Sediment and Its Reaction with Seawater,” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 43 (1979): 767–779.
(4)Snelling, Andrew A. Earth’s Catastrophic Past: Geology, Creation and the Flood (Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research, 2009), pp. 879–881.
(5)Morris, John D. The Young Earth (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2000), pp. 85–87.
by Owen Omid Borville
January 15, 2019
The Earth's oceans, which comprise over 70 percent of the Earth's surface, are known to be salty, or contain a relatively high concentration of salt. The oceans and seawater have an average salt concentration of approximately 35 parts per thousand. (1)
This salt concentration comes mainly from the continents, as acidic rainwater erodes the landscape and carries sediment downstream into the oceans. The acidic rainwater reacts with the continental rock, breaking down and dissolving some of the surface rock and the salts in the rock. This dissolved salt is carried downstream by rivers and streams until emptying into the oceans.
Evolutionists believe that this process has been occurring for more than three billion years, as long as the ocean basins have been in existence. Evolutionists also assume that the ocean basins originally had no salt and that the salt concentration today has been building since the origin of the ocean basins, thereby supporting the old-earth time scale. However, creationists have noted that at the current rate of salt input into today's oceans, the current salinity concentration could be reached much sooner than the evolutionist time frame of three billion years.
Creationists estimate that today's oceans could reach current salinity levels in 40 to 60 million years using current input rates, much younger than the evolutionist time frame of three billion years. In addition, at the current rate of salt input into the oceans, the salinity content would be much higher than today's concentration, including factoring the amount of input and output. (2)
The amount of ocean salt removed by natural methods has been estimated about 27 percent, therefore the majority of salt added to the oceans has remained. (3)While evolutionists assume that the ocean basins were originally not salty, creationists propose that the oceans could have been created salty from the beginning, therefore greatly reducing the time needed to reach today's salinity concentration. Catastrophic events such as the continental floodwater runoff from the Genesis Flood 4,500 years ago would also have greatly increased the input of salt in the ocean and greatly reduced the time needed to arrive at today's salt concentration. (4) (5)
In addition, the volcanic activity associated with the opening of the springs of the deep on the ocean floor would have added much salt to the oceans, as the boiling hot water and volcanic material would have dissolved salts from the Earth's crust into the seawater. Therefore, the actual age of the oceans should be more in line with the creationist time frame of 6,000 years.
(1) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
(2) Austin, Steven A., Humphreys, Russell D., The Sea's Missing Salt: A Dilemma for Evolutionists. Second International Conference on Creationism, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
July 30–August 4, 1990. Published in: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creationism, R. E. Walsh and C. L. Brooks (Eds.), pp. 17–33, 1990.
(3) F. L. Sayles and P. C. Mangelsdorf, “Cation-Exchange Characteristics of Amazon with Suspended Sediment and Its Reaction with Seawater,” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 43 (1979): 767–779.
(4)Snelling, Andrew A. Earth’s Catastrophic Past: Geology, Creation and the Flood (Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research, 2009), pp. 879–881.
(5)Morris, John D. The Young Earth (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2000), pp. 85–87.
