The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

“glaciations” and contain banded iron formations (Yeo 1981). The Rapitan-type iron formation of northwest Canada is associated with Mid-Neoproterozoic mixtites (so-called “glacial” sediments), debris flow deposits, turbidites and widespread continental flood basalts (Cox et al. 2016). Iron isotope values are consistent with oxidation of ferruginous waters during marine transgression and rift-related hydrothermal activity associated with the breakup of a supercontinent is inferred (Cox et al. 2016). Accommodation space for many mixtites may have been provided by rifting. (Young 2013). Geochemical data indicates that Neoproterozoic iron formations result from mixing between a hydrothermal and detrital component, while rare earth element data indicates substantial interaction with seawater (Cox et al. 2013). The Rapitan’s iron formation has been described as an “apparent sudden reappearance of iron formation after a ca. 1 billion year hiatus in the sedimentary record” (Cox et al. 2016). I infer that the Flood’s fountains, that rifted the crust open, provided the hydrothermal component (Dickens and Snelling 2015) and that erosion of land caused by the Flood’s rain (Dickens 2016) supplied the detrital component, including mass flow deposits (Dickens 2017a). D. Subduction and plate tectonics Have you … walked in the recesses of the deep? (Job 38:16b ESV). A trench marks the position at which a subducting slab begins to descend beneath another lithospheric slab (Stern 2002). High- pressure metamorphic/orogenic belts are restricted to rocks of “age” < 0.6 Ga and it has been concluded that this indicates cold subduction along convergent margins (plate tectonics) (Brown 2007). It has been claimed that there are no proven Archean, Paleoproterozoic or Mesoproterozoic ophiolites or blueschists (Hamilton 2011). Correlation of paleomagnetic poles also provides evidence for the integrity of Precambrian continental crust between Archean and Neoproterozoic times (Piper 2015). Only by very late Neoproterozoic or early Paleozoic time do significant indicators of subduction (and thus “true” plate tectonics) appear, including complete ophiolites and high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphism (Stern 2005). Thus, modern-style plate tectonics may not have existed in the Archean to Mesoproterozoic. This is consistent with the idea of the growth of only one supercontinent by Day Three. It is proposed that early Noah’s Flood be correlated with the development of Neoproterozoic geology along with the Pan- African Event. Processes involved are considered to include supercontinent breakup, enormous waterflows, continental erosion, mass flows and subduction. CONCLUSIONS I consider that God instigated heating events which provided the immense energy required for cataclysmic continent-scale geological processes during early Creation Week and in initiating Noah’s Flood. I believe that Archean to Mesoproterozoic basement provinces formed as continental crust grew in the early Creation Week. This formed a supercontinent which by Day Three was thick enough to appear above the water. During the early Flood, massive tectonism as well as immense continental erosion and enormous water flows delivered detritus to form the Neoproterozoic sedimentary cover. North America’s Kenoran, Hudsonian, Grenvillian and Pan- African thermal-tectonic events are respectively related toArchean, Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic provinces geology, along with the biblical record of Day One, Day Two, Day Three and the early Noahic Flood. I consider that water played a significant role in all the thermal- tectonic events. Day One, Day Two and the Noahic Flood have a global ocean. Initial upward vertical movement of hydrothermal water is believed to have occurred in Day Two and in the early Noahic Flood. Supposed “glacials” in the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic are then considered to have formed as mass flow deposits associated with downslope water movement on Day Two and early Noahic Flood times respectively. In addition, the banded iron formations of the Archean, Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic are believed to have formed hydrothermally in association with volcanic activity. Numerous examples have beenmentioned where uniformitarianism does not apply in the Precambrian. These include clusters of radiometric “ages”, lithologies with restricted ages (such as komatiite, banded iron formation, megacrystic anorthosites, ophiolites, and blueschists), tectonic style (such as permobile Archean versus linear Proterozoic belts, intracontinental deformation versus later plate tectonics, andmountain building) and effects of fluid flow (such as massive river systems, mass flows, and the ‘Great Unconformity’). Many geological processes are known to not require deep time. This paper has referred to processes such as those relating to granite, banded iron formation, sedimentation, base metal sulfides and calcium carbonate precipitation. The Flood drastically altered the world’s topography. Nevertheless, inferences have been made regarding some specific locations of the pre-Flood world’s geography in relation to today’s North American Precambrian rocks: Pre-Flood land supercontinent, including North America High mountains eroded mountain roots in the Grenville Province A pre-Flood sea in the vicinity of the Belt-Purcell Basin Fountains of the great deep adjacent to western and eastern continental margins It is intended that this paper would encourage further work to improve and refine our understandingof geological and geochemical processes in Precambrian provinces within a young Earth biblical framework. A possible application for further investigation is to examine the relevance of continental-scale Phanerozoic tectonic episodes and detrital zircon provenance studies to models of the Flood and post-Flood times. REFERENCES Ager, D.V. 1973. The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record . John Wiley, New York. Alabi, A.O., P.A. Camfield, and D.I. Gough. 1975. The North American Dickens ◀ North American Precambrian geology ▶ 2018 ICC 399