Claim CD620:
Only 300 to 1,000 years are required to build an inch of topsoil.
The average depth of topsoil is about eight inches, indicating an earth
less than about 8,000 years old.
Source:
Response:
- Soil gets eroded as well as built up, so the average depth does not mean
much. Where soil does exist under steady conditions, it does not build
up continuously; there is a maximum depth to it determined by climate,
ground composition, slope, and local ecology. The depth of a soil says
very little about its age.
- Some soils require long times to develop. R. Meyer (1997, 120) listed
seven types of soil that take more than 50,000 years to form; some
took on the order of a million years or more.
Links:
Matson, Dave E., 1994. How good are those young-earth arguments? A close
look at Dr. Hovind's list of young-earth arguments and other claims.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind/howgood-yea2.html#proof16
References:
- Meyer, Robert, 1997. Paleoalterites and Paleosols: Imprints of
Terrestrial Processes in Sedimentary Rocks. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema.
created 2003-4-21, modified 2004-9-14
