Young Earth Creation Science Argument Index
G331: The Mouth of the Colorado River does not have enough sediment for the Grand Canyon
Edited by Greg Neyman
Argument:
The sediments that were eroded away from the Grand Canyon should be somewhere downriver from the Canyon. The sediments that have washed downstream are not nearly enough to account for the vast amounts that were eroded away from the Canyon.
Source: Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe, pages 87-8
Response:
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The Colorado River delta is quite extensive, covering over 3,000 square miles, and is up to 3.5 miles deep. It contains over 10,000 cubic miles of sediment
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Wind erosion in parts of the Colorado River basin would blow some sediments as far away as the Atlantic Ocean
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Much of the rock layers are limestone and dolomite. These would dissolve over time, and leave no evidence. Calculations of the amount of sediment eroded and deposited are inflated by as much as 200 percent
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The calculations are based on erosion rates during the years 1926-1950. The young earth authors assume the erosion has been happening at this rate for 70 million years. Early in the history of the river, erosion would have been much less. The Grand Canyon itself started to erode only five million years ago. Sediment rates are at their highest now, and this cannot be used to calculate rates in the past
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For the first 65 million years, the Colorado River did not drain into its present location of the Gulf of California. Thus, the sediments for 65 million years of the young earth creationist calculations, based on 70 million years, are in a different location
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If this claim were true, it would also be a problem for the young earth model, as it has to account for the same eroded sediments
To learn more on this topic, read the TalkOrigins.org rebuttal.
Grand Canyon (Wikipedia)
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Young Earth Creation Science Argument Index
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