Varve Layered Deposits Form Quickly
by Owen Borville
January 26, 2019
Geology
Varve layered deposits have been used by old-earth advocates to disprove the creationist model and to give evidence for the old ages and millions of years of gradual uniformitarian geology. However, creationists have countered with evidence that varve deposits can be deposited quickly. Varve deposits are defined by old-earth geologists and mainstream scientists as pairs or couplets of thin layers of sediment, including clay and silt of variable color and texture that represent a deposit of a single year inside a lake bed, including the summer and winter. In other words, a varve is a pair of sedimentary layers, or a couplet, that forms in an annual cycle as the result of seasonal weather changes.
Typically formed in glacial lakes, a varve couplet consists of a coarser grained summer layer formed during open-water conditions, and a finer grained winter layer formed from deposition from suspension during a period of winter ice cover. The lighter colored sediment is identified as the coarser silt and the darker layers are identified as the finer clay sediment. These layers have been used to determine the chronology of lake sediments including glacial sediments. Varve deposits are classified as one type of rhythmite, or repetitive, periodic layers of sediment deposits. In some places, millions of varve deposits are found together, giving old-earth advocates what they claim to be evidence against young earth creationists.
Young-earth creationists, however, believe that varve deposits are not always annual layers and that these layers can be deposited quickly. Laboratory experiments by Guy Berthault, a French creationist, have shown that varves or laminations can occur quickly and spontaneously. These results were published by the French Academy of Sciences in 1986 and 1988. Through his experiments using a laboratory flume tank, Berthault showed that multiple laminations formed spontaneously during sedimentation of heterogranular mixtures of sediments containing grains of different sizes and densities in air, in still water, and in running water. (1)
Other creationists point toward vibrations from seismic and volcanic activity to account for the multiple varve layer deposits that formed quickly. Seismic activity can cause liquefaction to occur, where solid materials behave as a liquid due to the vibration and stress from seismic activity. Creationists also point toward the catastrophic Mount Saint Helens volcanic eruption in 1980, where multiple laminations where seen to form within a few hours from the mud and ash flows.
The most commonly sited location of multiple varve deposits is the Green River Shale in the western North America (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah), which includes several million varve deposits in succession. Creationists point toward the millions of perfectly-preserved fish fossils deposited inside the Green River Shale layers, which implies that these layers were formed rapidly and not over millions of years. In addition, other types of fossils are found inside these layers, including plant fossils, insect fossils, reptile fossils, marine invertebrate fossils, and even bird fossils.
Creationists question how perfect successive laminations could form while sitting for long periods of time without being disturbed. The best explanation is that these laminations formed continuously and rapidly during a catastrophic event and not over millions of years of uniform annual deposition.
(1) Julien, P., Lan, Y., and Berthault, G., Experiments on stratification of heterogeneous sand mixtures, Journal of Creation 8(1):37–50, 1994.
by Owen Borville
January 26, 2019
Geology
Varve layered deposits have been used by old-earth advocates to disprove the creationist model and to give evidence for the old ages and millions of years of gradual uniformitarian geology. However, creationists have countered with evidence that varve deposits can be deposited quickly. Varve deposits are defined by old-earth geologists and mainstream scientists as pairs or couplets of thin layers of sediment, including clay and silt of variable color and texture that represent a deposit of a single year inside a lake bed, including the summer and winter. In other words, a varve is a pair of sedimentary layers, or a couplet, that forms in an annual cycle as the result of seasonal weather changes.
Typically formed in glacial lakes, a varve couplet consists of a coarser grained summer layer formed during open-water conditions, and a finer grained winter layer formed from deposition from suspension during a period of winter ice cover. The lighter colored sediment is identified as the coarser silt and the darker layers are identified as the finer clay sediment. These layers have been used to determine the chronology of lake sediments including glacial sediments. Varve deposits are classified as one type of rhythmite, or repetitive, periodic layers of sediment deposits. In some places, millions of varve deposits are found together, giving old-earth advocates what they claim to be evidence against young earth creationists.
Young-earth creationists, however, believe that varve deposits are not always annual layers and that these layers can be deposited quickly. Laboratory experiments by Guy Berthault, a French creationist, have shown that varves or laminations can occur quickly and spontaneously. These results were published by the French Academy of Sciences in 1986 and 1988. Through his experiments using a laboratory flume tank, Berthault showed that multiple laminations formed spontaneously during sedimentation of heterogranular mixtures of sediments containing grains of different sizes and densities in air, in still water, and in running water. (1)
Other creationists point toward vibrations from seismic and volcanic activity to account for the multiple varve layer deposits that formed quickly. Seismic activity can cause liquefaction to occur, where solid materials behave as a liquid due to the vibration and stress from seismic activity. Creationists also point toward the catastrophic Mount Saint Helens volcanic eruption in 1980, where multiple laminations where seen to form within a few hours from the mud and ash flows.
The most commonly sited location of multiple varve deposits is the Green River Shale in the western North America (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah), which includes several million varve deposits in succession. Creationists point toward the millions of perfectly-preserved fish fossils deposited inside the Green River Shale layers, which implies that these layers were formed rapidly and not over millions of years. In addition, other types of fossils are found inside these layers, including plant fossils, insect fossils, reptile fossils, marine invertebrate fossils, and even bird fossils.
Creationists question how perfect successive laminations could form while sitting for long periods of time without being disturbed. The best explanation is that these laminations formed continuously and rapidly during a catastrophic event and not over millions of years of uniform annual deposition.
(1) Julien, P., Lan, Y., and Berthault, G., Experiments on stratification of heterogeneous sand mixtures, Journal of Creation 8(1):37–50, 1994.
