Second Edition
New Scientific Discoveries Excite But Also Leaves
Out Enough Important Details That Would Allow
the News to Be Realistically Imaginable
by Mark Mountjoy
Introductory Remarks
An amazing new announcement came out a couple of years ago about iron snowflakes piling up on mountains inside the earth’s core. I could hardly believe what I was reading because it seemed to go against everything I was taught about both the solidity and extreme temperature of the inner earth.
So here it is! “The new study released Thursday by the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) says that the Earth’s inner core is hot, under immense pressure, and covered in iron “snowflakes.” And the study could help scientists better understand forces that affect the entire planet. According to the study, the “snow” in the Earth’s core is made of tiny particles of iron – much heavier than any snowflake on the planet’s surface – that fall from the molten outer core and pile on top of the inner core, creating layers up to 320 km thick that cover the inner core.”
When I first heard this report a couple of years ago my mind went into overdrive! Many, many questions suggested themselves to me that, to this day, I have not seen answers nor do I have any prior knowledge about the nature of the earth (its actual density, size, etc) to imagine how “snowflakes” can “fall” and accumulate on the core of the earth. According to one article, I read this “slurry” is 200 miles thick! I'm still at a loss, basically because, from what I understand about a snowflake [made of water] it has to be cool enough to support having a structure (as you very well know).
Then ask yourself two questions: How can iron be cool enough inside the core of the earth that such an abundance of iron slurry exists as to be two hundred miles thick―but more importantly, how does it “fall” to the core unless it is traveling through gas? Can iron [structured] snowflakes fall through solid rock? That does not make sense to me!
Let’s read a little more . . .
“The Earth’s metallic core works like a magma chamber that we know better of in the crust,” said Lin Junfu, professor in the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT Austin and co-author of the study. The study is available online and will be published in the print edition of the journal JGR Solid Earth on December 23. As the Earth's core cannot be sampled, scientists study it by recording and analyzing signals from seismic waves as they pass through the planet. Given the core’s influence over phenomena that affect the entire planet, from generating its magnetic field to radiating the heat that drives the movement of tectonic plates, understanding more about its composition and behavior could help scientists understand how these larger processes work, according to the study.”
You see, I know enough about the nature of the inner earth to be bewildered by a report like this. In other words, I do not have a model or a clear idea about what the inner earth actually looks like to be able to make any sense of this data.1
You and I, if we are not privy to what they actually know, are robbed of the ability to correctly envision how iron snow can “fall” and accumulate on a core that is said to be as hot as the sun. Isn’t it, after all, a closed environment? Isn’t it, basically, a kiln? If it is, then how can an element like iron arrange itself into any stable geometric shapes that resemble anything like snowflakes?
They conclude . . .
“Bruce Buffet, geosciences professor at the University of California, Berkley, said that the study confronts longstanding questions about the Earth’s interior and could even help reveal more about how our planet’s core came to be.”
Source(ed)from the Xinhua News Agency.
As I examine this article and think about what it is telling me, I find it difficult to understand and feel cheated because, really, the information raises more questions than it answers. This is entirely understandable (it may be that the article was really intended for a specific audience, a Scientific audience “in the know”). But here is where being a Christian and believing what the Bible suggests comes into play.
Genesis 1 conveys the idea that God caused dry land to appear out of the floods of the deep or, as King David said of the earth that,
“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods” Psalms 24:1-2.
Now, I cannot wrap my brain around iron snowflakes falling through solid rock (much less molten rock!), but I can imagine iron snowflakes drifting down through a watery interior―if what King David says is to be believed, then I can easily imagine it to be that way, but otherwise not.
One more thing, I saw a documentary on YouTube a project called The Kola Superdeep Borehole. This Soviet research project hoped to discover the exact nature of the inner earth. From my memory (and you have to remember that when I saw this video I did not have the conviction that the earth is anything like what the Bible describes) they were using special drill bits to cut through different kinds of rock.
As they descended lower and lower they began to experience difficulty and serious hindrances to their progress, but they were surprised by this: The further down they went the more course the earth became. Not only did the earth become more course instead of more solid, but they also were amazed they there was more and more hydrogen. That stands out in my mind.2
If my memory serves me right, I believe the project lasted something like 24 years and they could only go down 7.5 miles and no further. They actually came to a point where no matter what kind of drill bit they used they were unable to go down any further. At that point, in 1994, the project was abandoned and the hole was sealed.3
Now, you and I can drop coins into a cup; you and I can throw pennies into a pond. We have all done it and watched these items slowly fall to the bottom, but nobody, as far as I know, can drop a penny on the floor of their apartment and then watch it disappear through the floor and land in the basement floor of their residence! Do you understand what I mean?
The way I imagine the earth, based on what I was taught in school is that it is comprised of a band of layers changing in composition as you go toward the center of the sphere. If that’s true this news seems to flout that idea!
On the other hand, from the little the Bible says about it is this: The earth is established upon floods of water. The Bible does not describe anything but offers brief glimpses in statements here and there (see, e.g., Genesis 1:2; 7:11 cf. Psalm 29:10 etc.)4
The bottom of the universe could be entirely water, a watery plain that is bottomless, and the earth that we call our world could be like seven massive interconnected islands situated on top of it, stabilized by pillars, as the Bible says.5
It is entirely possible that the pressure of the abyss (at some depth) could be solid, depending on how far down you went. Somebody might ask, What about volcanoes and all the hot molten magma and billowing hot smoke that they emit? I am not saying I am right about this (as I said before and will say again: The Bible is not a science book, but it is a book of truth), my answer to this final question about volcanoes and the heat they generate: It may be that the heat is not being manufactured by anything in the core (as there may not even be a “core” per se).
But plate tectonics near the surface may entirely be the reason why volcanoes exist and are so volatile and dangerously hot.6
That’s my tentative answer, and I am not saying that that is the Gospel by any stretch of the imagination. But in the final analysis, what puzzles me most about the iron snowflake announcement is this: It seems to directly violate what we have been led to believe about the solidity of the earth. It seems to only make sense if there is either a vast space or a bubble of liquids or gas. Scientists may have a much better idea about what is going on but, so far, each article or essay I have read on this subject leaves gaps of vital missing information that betray an important piece of the puzzle that would allow this news to seem rational and is not being divulged.
Endnotes
1 This is not a lone claim, there are many more science articles that suggest that iron is snowing down on the core of the earth. See e.g., https://www.iflscience.com/it-could-be-snowing-iron-in-earths-core-54511.
2 In the Kola Superdeep Hole Project microscopic plankton fossils were found 6 kilometers (4 mi) below the surface. Another unexpected discovery was a large quantity of hydrogen gas. The drilling mud that flowed out of the hole was described as “boiling” with hydrogen.
3 The Soviet project has the distinction of being the deepest manmade hole on Earth and the most extensive artificial point on Earth. The 40,230 ft-deep (12.2km) construction is so deep that locals swear you can hear the screams of souls tortured in hell.
4 One of the most common points of ridicule regarding the flat earth idea concerns the edge and the so-called danger of falling off into space. Yes, it is true that the Convex Earth Documentary envisions the earth as a clump of rock floating in space, but that is not exactly how the Bible portrays it (with the little that it does say). Instead, the Scriptures seem to suggest that the earth is sitting on an infinite plain of water—in all directions! So that, going outward would lead to a frozen reality (assuming there are no other suns), and going down would lead into the bottomless pit and, perhaps compartments or other spaces not revealed to us. The oceans could be so fantastically deep that there could be creatures that we could not even imagine in our wildest nightmares (Revelation 9:1-11, 14-19).
We do not know everything or even a fraction of anything. God could have existence set up where there are multiple dimensions above, on, and below the earth (what science imagines as “multiverses” could be true, you never know!).
This would be the reason why God forbids us to dabble in sorcery, witchcraft, and occult arts: He does not want us to come into contact with dangerous principalities and powers which may exist (legitimately) in a parallel realm to ours.
5 See 1 Samuel 2:8 and Job 9:6.
6 Even geoscience attributes the phenomenon of volcanoes to plate tectonics. See: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/plate-tectonics-volcanic-activity:
The Kola Superdeep Borehole
Кольская сверхглубокая скважина
Caption: Iron snowflakes. Source: kitchensupplywholesale.com
Russia Superdeep Results Chart. Source: rbth.com
The Kola Superdeep Bore Hole. Source: thedailystar.net
Research further on the Kola Superdeep Bore Hole: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole
Related
Evidence points to “Iron Snow”