Paul M

I've been poking about on the internet again (as you do) and found a whole load of stuff by creationists about the problems with carbon 14 radiometric dating.

 

Specifically they report (with some glee) that coal has been found to contain measurable amounts of carbon14 which it should not of course because it is about 300 million years old and dates from the carboniferous period. C14 has a half life of 5730 years and is only good to date objects to 50,000 years or so.

 

Although I can find any number of references to this seemingly vital finding on the creationist sites, I can find almost no attempt to refute or explain this anomaly on serious science sites. This looks like a serious oversight to me.

Here are a couple of links:

http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Carbon-14_in_Coal_Deposits_indicates_a_young_earth

http://web.archive.org/web/20090131074436/http://toarchive.org/indexcc/CD/CD011_6.html

Explanations given for why ¹⁴C is found in coal are as follows:

• Secondary carbonates from groundwater that form on fracture surfaces.
• Whewellite, a carbon-containing mineral, that often forms as coal weathers.
• the radioactive decay of the uranium-thorium isotope series that is naturally found in rocks. The uranium-thorium isotope series is found in different amounts in different rocks which accounts for the variation in the amounts of ¹⁴C in different coals.
• microorganisms and fungi (previously) and currently living and dying in coal beds.
• carbon-14 entering into coal deposits through contamination from the atmosphere, especially when the coal is being minded and exposed to the air.