{"id":86692,"date":"2020-07-14T23:43:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T05:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=86692"},"modified":"2020-07-15T19:33:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T01:33:38","slug":"ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html","title":{"rendered":"Ancient geology and really ancient geology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a>
Bald Mountain, Reids Peak, and Mirror Lake, in Utah\u2019s Uinta Mountains
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Louis Arevalo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon<\/em> (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others at Brother Grover\u2019s\u00a0Book of Mormon Scientific and Linguistic Research<\/a> site.).\u00a0 He is talking here, of course, about the New World catastrophe described in the Book of Mormon at the time of the death of Christ:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[I]n evaluating all of the events described in 3rd Nephi it is apparent that a volcano is an essential element, as there is really no other reasonable explanation for the mist and vapor of darkness that was widespread in the land northward and the land southward.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most serious previous inquiries have included volcanic activity as a necessary element.\u00a0 However, it has been proposed in one of the more extensive inquiries [that by Professor Bart Kowallis, previously discussed on this blog in some detail] that a volcano could explain all of the hazard types and damage elements.\u00a0 This argument is based on the premise that volcanic activity can exclude the necessity of considering the addition of non-volcanic earthquakes and non-volcanic storm events.\u00a0 (77)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After an examination of the history of volcanic earthquakes in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Brother Grover begins to chart his own course:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In order to account for the destruction described in 3rd Nephi, it is clear that a volcano and<\/em> a regional earthquake are indicated.\u00a0 (119)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A volcano-only scenario for the 3rd Nephi disaster is not viable to account for the description given in the Book of Mormon as volcanic earthquakes are simply not of the magnitudes necessary to account for the events and level of damage described in the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 In addition to a volcano, a large regional earthquake will be necessary to account for the level of damage described.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A storm involving precipitation cannot be ruled out based on the descriptions and text of the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 The usage of the term \u201cstorm\u201d is not inconsistent with the current usage of the term, which typically involves precipitation.\u00a0 (124-125)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/a>
The evenly-bedded layers of light gray limestone over which the Upper Provo River Falls flow are pretty clearly visible in this Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph, forming something of a grand staircase effect.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We drove up this evening through Kamas to Upper Provo River Falls and then over Bald Mountain Pass to Mirror Lake.\u00a0 We took along Halka Chronic\u2019s Roadside Geology of Utah<\/em> (Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 1990) \u2014 which, since it\u2019s always<\/em> in the glove compartment of our car, wasn\u2019t entirely coincidental.\u00a0 It was fascinating to see all of the Precambrian sedimentary rocks (along with glacial debris, representing the lower limit of Pleistocene glaciation).\u00a0 Those sedimentary deposits are particularly striking at the Falls and then again just below Bald Mountain Pass.\u00a0 The gray limestone at the Pass, in layers two to three inches thick, contains fossil algae (called stromatolites) that rank among the oldest fossils known, as well as what seem to be the twisty trails left behind by tiny animals burrowing through the limy mud of the Precambrian sea floor more than a billion years before the present.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh.\u00a0 Wait.\u00a0 Several anonymous online critics have assured me over the years that I\u2019m a young-earth creationist.\u00a0 So what am I thinking<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others at Brother Grover\u2019s\u00a0Book of Mormon Scientific and Linguistic Research site.).\u00a0 He is talking here, of course, about the New World catastrophe described in the Book of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1341,13643,13646,56,8520,1356,4753,1104,1353,1050,13667,1369,13664,13661,13655,13640,13658,1347,13652,13670,9931,13649,782,3178,8531,11263,1344],"class_list":["post-86692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-3-nephi","tag-bald-mountain","tag-bald-mountain-pass","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-catastrophe","tag-christ","tag-crucifixion","tag-death","tag-destruction","tag-geology","tag-isthmus","tag-jesus","tag-lily-lake","tag-mirror-lake","tag-precambrian","tag-provo-river","tag-sediment","tag-seismology","tag-stromatolite","tag-tehuantepec","tag-uinta","tag-upper-provo-river-falls","tag-utah","tag-volcanism","tag-volcano","tag-volcanology","tag-vulcanology"],"yoast_head":"\nAncient geology and really ancient geology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ancient geology and really ancient geology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T05:43:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-16T01:33:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/07\/ym9s41tyee5q769gfrge.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html\",\"name\":\"Ancient geology and really ancient geology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-15T05:43:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-16T01:33:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ancient geology and really ancient geology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ancient geology and really ancient geology","description":"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ancient geology and really ancient geology","og_description":"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2020-07-15T05:43:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-16T01:33:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/07\/ym9s41tyee5q769gfrge.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html","name":"Ancient geology and really ancient geology","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-07-15T05:43:03+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-16T01:33:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    I continue with some notes from Jerry D. Grover, Jr., Geology of the Book of Mormon (2014).\u00a0 (See this and other works by him and by others","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/07\/ancient-geology-and-really-ancient-geology.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ancient geology and really ancient geology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}