U-Th dating gives inaccurate results for modern volcanic rocks

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Contents 1 Claim 2 Source 3 Responses 4 Fallacies contained in this claim 5 External Links 6 See Also 7 Acknowledgments

Claim

U-Th dating of volcanic rocks formed in historic times gives dates vastly older than their true age.

Source

• Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Master Books, Arkansas, p. 143, citing S. P. Clementson, Dec. 1970, A critical examination of radioactive dating of rocks, Creation Research Society Quarterly 7: 137-141; citing Cherdyntsev, V.V., et al., Geological Institute Academy of Sciences, USSR, Earth Science Section, 172, p. 178.

Responses

1. Creationists refuse to realize that U-Th dating methods were never meant to date volcanic rocks, period. Uranium-Thorium radiometric dating is used to date carbonate-based sedimentary rocks, such as coral, or the speleothem deposits that form in limestone caves (i.e. stalactites and stalagmites). To say that U-Th dating should be abandoned because it can not accurately date modern volcanic rocks is as ridiculously absurd as demanding that the Mona Lisa be thrown into the trash because it is a lousy example of watercolor (given as how it's an oil painting).
2. add responses

Fallacies contained in this claim

• Exclusion (the fact that Uranium-Thorium dating is not used to date any kind of volcanic rock is conveniently ignored)
• Hasty Generalization (because some dating experiment are inaccurate, all must be inaccurate)

External Links

• Wikipedia on U-Th dating [1]

See Also

• Why is Creationism not a Scientific Theory?
• Radiometric dating

Acknowledgments