Creation Research Database

Radioisotope Dating of Meteorites—Part III: The Eucrites (Basaltic Achondrites)

Snelling, Andrew A. (2014) Radioisotope Dating of Meteorites—Part III: The Eucrites (Basaltic Achondrites). Answers Research Journal, 7: 33. pp. 533-585. ISSN 1937-9056

Abstract

Meteorites date the earth with a 4.55 ± 0.07 Ga Pb-Pb isochron called the geochron. They appear to consistently yield 4.55–4.57 Ga radioisotope ages, adding to the uniformitarians' confidence in the radioisotope dating methods. Achondrites, meteorites not containing chondrules, account for about 8% of meteorites overall. About 3% of the witnessed falls of all meteorite types are the achondrites known as eucrites, which makes them the fourth-most-common meteorite to fall. Eucrites are similar to basalts and are believed to be space debris from the crust of main belt asteroid 4-Vesta. Many radioisotope dating studies in the last 45 years have used the K-Ar, Ar-Ar, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb, Lu-Hf, Mn-Cr, Hf-W, Al-Mg, I-Xe, and Pu-Xe methods to yield an abundance of isochron and model ages for these basaltic achondrites from whole-rock samples, and mineral and other fractions. Such age data for 12 eucrites were tabulated and plotted on frequency versus age histogram diagrams. They strongly cluster in many of these eucrites at 4.55–4.57 Ga, dominated by Pb-Pb and U-Pb isochron and model ages, testimony to that technique's supremacy as the uniformitarians' ultimate dating tool, which they consider very reliable. These ages are confirmed by Rb-Sr, Lu-Hf, and Sm-Nd isochron ages, but agreement could be due to calibration with the Pb-Pb system. There is also scatter of the U-Pb, Pb-Pb, Th-Pb, Rb-Sr, K-Ar, and Ar-Ar model ages, in most cases likely due to thermal disturbances resulting from metamorphism or impact cratering of the parent asteroid. No pattern was found in these meteorites' isochron ages similar to the systematic patterns of isochron ages found in Precambrian rock units during the RATE project, so there is no evidence of past accelerated radioisotope decay having occurred in these eucrites, and therefore on their parent asteroid. This is not as expected, yet it is the same for all meteorites so far studied. Thus it is argued that accelerated radioisotope decay must have only occurred on the earth, and only the 500–600 million years' worth we have physical evidence for during the Flood. Otherwise, due to their 4.55–4.57 Ga "ages" these eucrites and their parent asteroid are regarded as originally representing "primordial material" that God made on Day One of the Creation Week, from which He made the non-earth portion of the solar system on Day Four, which is compatible with the Hebrew text of Genesis. Thus today's measured radioisotope compositions of these eucrites could reflect a geochemical signature of that "primordial material," which included atoms of all elemental isotopes. So if most of the measured daughter isotopes were already in these basaltic achondrites when they were formed on their parent asteroid, then their 4.55–4.57 Ga "ages" obtained by Pb-Pb and U-Pb isochron and model age dating are likely not their true real-time ages, which according to the biblical paradigm is only about 6000 real-time years. Further investigation of radioisotope ages data for meteorites in remaining groups of achondrites, for lunar rocks, and for rocks from every level in the earth's geologic record, should enable the interim ideas presented here to be confirmed or modified.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Q Science (General) > QE Geology > QE508 Geochronometry > QE508.1 Radiometric Dating. Carbon Dating
Q Science (General) > QB Astronomy > QB495 Descriptive astronomy > QB495.3 Meteorites. Comets. Asteroids
Depositing User: Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2026 23:46
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2026 23:46
URI: https://crsq.creationresearch.org/id/eprint/1836

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