Geological Layers Laid Down
Quickly Atop Mount St. Helens
www.creationism.org/english/nelson1_en.htm


by Loren Nelson   -   CAPS Board Member

   This picture was taken Sat. June 23, 2001, in the restricted area between Spirit Lake and the Mt. St. Helens Crater along the Truman Trail (#207).  Because of the Eruption/Landslide of May 18, 1980, fourteen miles of the north Fork of the Toutle River was buried by rocks, mud & debris to an average depth of 150'.  Where this picture was taken the depth of the fill is 300' or more.

     This means everything seen here, the creek, the embankment, the rocks & brush was thin air slightly over 20 years ago.  The trail we were hiking on would have been over the tops of the tallest trees around Harry Truman's Lodge.  Now count the horizontal layers in the embankment, starting at the edge of the creek I can easily count 17 layers (with the naked eye), by standard Geologic measurement how many millions of years would this represent? Yet most of it happened Within the first two years following the Main eruption of May 18th.  (More photos here)
 
 

Lloyd and Doris Anderson, Founders and Directors of the Mount St. Helens Creation information Center, outline in their very informative pamphlet the "Seven Wonders of Mount St. Helens", the events that contributed to the formation of the terrain seen in this Picture.

            "1. Mountain rearranged beyond recognition in 9 Hrs. .... A powerful earthquake at 8:32 am. on May 18, caused the north slope to plunge into the valleys below, releasing the pressure within with a lateral, northward, fan-shaped explosion.  This initial eight minute blast destroyed 230 square miles of forest.

   "The mountain continued to erupt until evening, expending the power of 20,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs.  In those nine hours, the top 1/4 and entire center of the mountain disappeared, leaving a vast, gaping, horseshoe-shaped crater.  Deep ravines were filled, 250' of material was deposited on the bottom of the lake (Spirit Lake), and the river that drained the north and northwest sides of the mountain was buried under an average of 150' of deposit.

              "2. Canyons formed in five months.  In the five months following the eruption two canyons were formed by mud & pyroclastic flows, establishing drainages for the 1.5 X 2.0 mile crater.  The primary drainage, Step Canyon, is up to 700' deep.  To its east is Loowit Canyon.  Both canyons (were) cut through 100' of solid rock
 

              "4.   Layered Strata Formed in Three Hours. On June 12, 1980 a third explosive eruption produced 25’ of stratification that amazed geologists. Successive layers are traditionally thought to require long periods of time to form; yet upwards of 100 layers accumulated mostly between the nighttime hours of 9 and 12. While a plume swiftly ascended nine miles above the mountain, wave after wave of pyroclastic flows began hurtling out of the crater and down the north slope, each dusting the valley below with another lamination. Measuring from a fraction of an inch to over a yard in thickness, each took from a few seconds to a few minutes to form.

  Geologist Steven Austin described these pyroclastic flows as ground-hugging, fluidized, turbulent slurries of fine volcanic debris. They moved down the mountainside at hurricane speeds and left deposits of 1000 degrees F.   One would expect each deposit to be homogenized & thoroughly mixed. Remarkably these high-velocity slurries of red-hot ash and pumice separated into coarse and fine particles of perfectly defined layers. Such features follow laws governing flows demonstrated in laboratory sedimentation tanks."

 

Here are the facts:  We can see the layers, we know they were formed in a few hours, within a month of the initial May 18 (1980) Explosion; i.e. thin distinct layers such as these on Mount St. Helens did not take Millions of years to form.

Conclusion:  Other layered canyon walls may have been formed rapidly, and not over (the believed) millions of years, as evolutionists have assumed.


 
"MSH Geological Layers Laid Down Quickly"
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