Rapid Magnetic Field Reversals and Creation
by Owen Borville
April 6, 2019
Geology
Rapid magnetic field reversals help explain a young earth as iron-rich volcanic rocks record the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time of cooling. A magnetic reversal would occur as a compass points south instead of north and the North and South Pole switch polarity. Old-earth advocates believe that the multiple magnetic reversals recorded in rocks give evidence of an old Earth as each reversal is believed to be at least thousands of years apart, however creationists believe that these magnetic reversals recorded in volcanic rocks could have occurred very rapidly within a young Earth.
In addition to Dr. Thomas Barnes' theory of a freely decaying Earth magnetic field, creationists also believe that the magnetic field has reversed itself many times in the history of the Earth. In other words, the compass would point south instead of north during a magnetic reversal. Rapid magnetic field reversals are also believed to have occurred at an intense rate during the Flood year by creationists, but after the Flood the magnetic field is believed to have returned to a normal state of gradual decline. Despite the rapid magnetic field reversals, creationists believe that the magnetic field continues to decay overall and that the reversals were only a temporary phenomenon.
Dr. Russell Humphreys has also conducted research on the issue of rapid magnetic reversals and proposes models that confirm and expand on Dr. Barnes' work supporting the declining magnetic field of the Earth. Evolutionists question the declining magnetic field decay concept and believe that it is only a temporary trend within a magnetic reversal while the overall magnetic field continually recharges its strength over billions of years of geologic time according to the dynamo model.
Creationists counter and explain that the magnetic reversals do not change the overall trend of the magnetic field during its history, which is an overall decline in strength. A thin lava layer was found by researchers Robert Coe and Michel Prevot that cooled within 15 days and had a 90 degree magnetic reversal recorded in it, giving strong evidence of the youth of the magnetic field and the Earth. Today, evolutionists have difficulty explaining how the Earth's magnetic field has lasted for billions of years in their time scale.
T.G. Barnes, Foundations of Electricity and Magnetism, 3rd ed., El Paso, Texas, 1977.
R.S. Coe and M. Prévot, Evidence suggesting extremely rapid field variation during a geomagnetic reversal, Earth and Planetary Science 92(3/4):292–298, April 1989.
R.S. Coe, M. Prévot and P. Camps, New evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal, Nature 374(6564):687–692, 1995.
by Owen Borville
April 6, 2019
Geology
Rapid magnetic field reversals help explain a young earth as iron-rich volcanic rocks record the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field at the time of cooling. A magnetic reversal would occur as a compass points south instead of north and the North and South Pole switch polarity. Old-earth advocates believe that the multiple magnetic reversals recorded in rocks give evidence of an old Earth as each reversal is believed to be at least thousands of years apart, however creationists believe that these magnetic reversals recorded in volcanic rocks could have occurred very rapidly within a young Earth.
In addition to Dr. Thomas Barnes' theory of a freely decaying Earth magnetic field, creationists also believe that the magnetic field has reversed itself many times in the history of the Earth. In other words, the compass would point south instead of north during a magnetic reversal. Rapid magnetic field reversals are also believed to have occurred at an intense rate during the Flood year by creationists, but after the Flood the magnetic field is believed to have returned to a normal state of gradual decline. Despite the rapid magnetic field reversals, creationists believe that the magnetic field continues to decay overall and that the reversals were only a temporary phenomenon.
Dr. Russell Humphreys has also conducted research on the issue of rapid magnetic reversals and proposes models that confirm and expand on Dr. Barnes' work supporting the declining magnetic field of the Earth. Evolutionists question the declining magnetic field decay concept and believe that it is only a temporary trend within a magnetic reversal while the overall magnetic field continually recharges its strength over billions of years of geologic time according to the dynamo model.
Creationists counter and explain that the magnetic reversals do not change the overall trend of the magnetic field during its history, which is an overall decline in strength. A thin lava layer was found by researchers Robert Coe and Michel Prevot that cooled within 15 days and had a 90 degree magnetic reversal recorded in it, giving strong evidence of the youth of the magnetic field and the Earth. Today, evolutionists have difficulty explaining how the Earth's magnetic field has lasted for billions of years in their time scale.
T.G. Barnes, Foundations of Electricity and Magnetism, 3rd ed., El Paso, Texas, 1977.
R.S. Coe and M. Prévot, Evidence suggesting extremely rapid field variation during a geomagnetic reversal, Earth and Planetary Science 92(3/4):292–298, April 1989.
R.S. Coe, M. Prévot and P. Camps, New evidence for extraordinarily rapid change of the geomagnetic field during a reversal, Nature 374(6564):687–692, 1995.
