The ⁴⁰Argon/³⁹Argon Dating Method

By Paul Nethercott

April 2014

 

How reliable is radiometric dating? We are repeatedly told that it proves the Earth to be billions of years old. If radiometric dating is reliable than it should not contradict the evolutionary model. According to the Big Bang theory the age of the Universe is 10 to 15 billion years.¹ Standard evolutionist publications give the age of the universe as 13.75 Billion years. ^{2, 3}

Standard evolutionist geology views the Earth as being 4.5 billion years old. Here are some quotes from popular text: “The age of the Earth is 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years.” ⁴ “The Solar System, formed between 4.53 and 4.58 billion years ago.” ¹ “The age of 4.54 billion years found for the Solar System and Earth.” ¹ “A valid age for the Earth of 4.55 billion years.” ^{5, 6}

                If we run the isotopic ratios give in standard geology magazines through the computer program Isoplot ⁷ we find that the Uranium/Thorium/Lead isotopic ratios in the rocks disagree radically other dating methods. The U/Th/Pb ratios give ages older than the evolutionist age of the Earth, Solar System, Galaxy and Universe. How can Earth rocks be dated as being older than the Big Bang? Here are examples of isotopic ratios taken from several articles in major geology magazines which give absolutely absurd dates.

 

 

207Pb/206Pb and 40Argon/39Argon ages from South West Montana

These rocks from North America were dated in 2002 using both ^{8 40}Argon/³⁹Argon and Lead-Lead dating methods. Again the no dates beside the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios. If we add dates we soon see why. The first table in his article has dates ⁹ using the ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar dating method. The third table ¹⁰ has the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios.

 

Table 1

 

 

If we use the computer program Isoplot and calculate the ages of the ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios we see why not dates have been put beside them. The Argon-Argon and Lead-Lead dating methods are extremely discordant. The author’s use of data is very selective. Dates that agree are added and those that do not are omitted. This happens over and over in geology magazines. We can see from the table below that many dates are older than the evolutionist view of the age of Earth. How can such an absurdity be possible? How can the Earth be older than itself?

 

Table 2

²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb Dates

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shocked Meteorites: Argon-40/Argon-39

Dated in 1997 by scientists ¹¹ from Germany and France, these meteorite samples gave astounding results also. Many dates were older than the evolutionist age of the Solar System, older than the evolutionist age of the galaxy and older than the Big Bang. ¹² Most age results that were hundreds or thousands of percent discordant.

 

Table 3

 

 

 

Argon Diffusion Properties

Dating done in 1980 of various meteorites gave many discordant values.¹³ Six were dated as older than the evolutionist view of the age of the Solar System. ¹⁴

 

 

Table 4

 

 

U-Th-Pb Dating of Abee E4 Meteorite

This dating was done in 1982 by scientists from the NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas and the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado.¹⁵ The two table below [Table 5, 6] are a summary of Argon dating done on different meteorite samples.¹⁶ Both sample record dates older than the evolutionist age of the solar system. The original article has undated ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios. If we run the through Isoplot ⁷ we find the ratios ^{17, 18} give the results in tables 7 and 8. All are much older than the evolutionist age of the solar system.

 

 

Table 5

 

 

 

Table 6

 

 

 

Table 7

 

Table 8

 

The original article has undated ²³²Thorium and ²³⁸Uranium ratios. If we run these through Isoplot ⁷ we find the ratios ^{17, 18} give the results in table 9. All these dates are between 18 and 93 billion years old. Much older than the evolutionist age of the universe.

 

 

Table 9

 

Argon-39/Argon-40 Ages

These samples were dated in 2003 by scientists from the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, and the Lockheed-Martin Corporation, Houston, Texas.¹⁹ The Monahans chondrite and halite was dated in 2001 as being over eight billion years old. ²⁰

 

Table 10

 

40-Argon/39-Argon Ages of Allende

Scientist from the Max-Planck-Institute, Heidelberg, Germany, dated these samples in 1980. ²¹ Seven samples were dated as being over five billion years old. ²² The data in table 11 contains fifteen dates ²¹ over 4.6 billion years old and six that are over five billion years old. The data in table 12 contains eighty eight dates ²² over 4.6 billion years old and twenty that are over five billion years old.

 

 

Table 11

 

 

Table 12

 

 

Ar-39/Ar-40 Dating of IAB Iron Meteorites

In 1979 this dating was carried out by the Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley. ²³ One of the meteorites was dated at almost ten billion years old. ²⁴ I will use the following Argon/Argon dating formula ²⁵ listed in Brent Dalrymple’s book:

 

 

Where T is the age in years and J is the special constant. If we run a list of eighty Argon 40/39 ratios listed ²⁶ in Niemeyer’s article through Microsoft Excel we get eighty dates. The J value ²⁴ is listed in the article as 0.03754.  Twenty six dates [32%] are over 4.6 billion years old. Twenty one dates [26%] are over 5 billion years old. Thirteen dates [16%] are impossible future ages. The dates vary from negative 2.42 billion to positive 9.59 billion years old. There is a 12 billion year range of dates. In the table below we can see the comparison between the so called “Model Age” ²⁴ and dates calculated from the eighty ratios ²⁶.

 

Table 13

 

40Ar-39Ar Studies of Whole Rock Nakhlites

These whole rock nakhiltes were dated in 2004 by scientists from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.²⁷

 

Table 14

 

 

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Dating Of Desert Meteorites

Dated in 2005 by scientists ²⁸ from Germany and Russia, these meteorite samples gave astounding results. Many dates were older than the evolutionist age of the Solar System. ²⁹

 

Table 16

 

References

 

 1             http://web.archive.org/web/20051223072700/http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html

The age of 10 to 15 billion years for the age of the Universe.

 

2              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_universe

 

3              http://arxiv.org/pdf/1001.4744v1.pdf

Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations, Page 39, By N. Jarosik

 

4              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth

 

5              http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/190/1/205

The age of the Earth, G. Brent Dalrymple

Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2001, Volume 190, Pages 205-221

 

6              The age of the earth, Gérard Manhes

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 47, Issue 3, May 1980, Pages 370–382

 

7              http://www.bgc.org/isoplot_etc/isoplot.html

 

8              207Pb–206Pb and 40Ar–39Ar ages from SW Montana, Precambrian Research, 2002,

Volume 117, Pages 119 - 143

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Iso_Plot_Dates\Iso_Plot_008.pdf

 

9              Reference 11, Page 128

 

10           Reference 11, Page 133

 

11           Joachim Kunz, Shocked meteorites: Argon-40-Argon-39, Meteoritics And Planetary Science, 1997, Volume 32, Pages 647 - 670

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\Meteorite_Kunz.pdf

 

12           Reference 21, Pages 664 to 670

 

13           D. D. Bogard, Ar Diffusion Properties, Meteorites, Geochemica Et Cosmochemica Acta, 1980, Volume 44, Pages 1667 - 1682

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\BOGARD_B.pdf

 

14           Reference 31, Pages 1670, 1671

 

15           D. D. Bogard, U-Th-Pb dating of Abee E4 Meteorite, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 1983, Volume 62, Pages 132 – 146

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\BOGARD_C.pdf

 

16           Reference 35, Page 134, 135

 

17           Reference 35, Page 139

 

18           Reference 35, Page 142

 

19           D. D. Bogard, The Monahans chondrite and halite, Meteoritics And Planetary Science, 2001, Volume 36, Pages 107 - 122

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\BOGARD_F.pdf

 

20           Reference 42, Pages 120-122

21           Elmar K. Jessberger, 40-Ar/39-Ar Ages of Allende, Icarus, 1980, Volume 42, pages 384

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\Meteorite_Jessberger.pdf

 

22           Reference 46, Pages 390 – 403

 

23           Sidney Niemeyer, Ar-39/Ar-40 dating of IAB iron meteorites, Geochemica Et Cosmochemica Acta, 1979, Volume 43, Pages 1829 - 1840

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\Meteorite_NIEMEYER.pdf

 

24           Reference 54, Page 1834

 

25           The Age of the Earth, Brent Dalrymple, Stanford University Press, 1991, Page 111

 

26           Reference 54, Page 1830-1831

 

27           Meteoritics & Planetary Science 39, Nr 5, 755–766 (2004)

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Age_Earth\Meteorite_Swindle.pdf

 

28           Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 2005, Volume 40, Number 9/10, Pages 1433–1454

C:\Essays\Geo_Dating\Very_Old_Rocks\Very_Old_02.pdf

 

29           Reference 94, Pages 1452 – 1454

 

 

 

 

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