Glendonites as Ancient Cold Water Indicators

Kevin R. Henke, Ph.D.

October 23, 2015; Updated April 5, 2022

Introduction to Ikaite and Glendonites

Ikaite (CaCO3•6H2O) is a mineral that forms in some very cold waters. In the presence of freshwater, ikaite is only stable at pressures that are much higher than those found in the deepest oceans (Spielhagen and Tripati 2009, pp. 53-54; Swainson and Hammond 2001, p. 1530). However, the mineral may form anyway in deep-ocean environments and other very cold surface waters in the presence of organic materials, phosphate, sulfate, methane, and/or pH conditions more alkaline than seawater (Spielhagen and Tripati 2009, pp. 53-54; Selleck et al. 2007, p. 980; Teichert and Luppold 2013; Jones et al. 2006, p. 374; Zhou et al. 2015). When a mineral, such as ikaite, forms in environments outside of the temperature and pressure ranges where it is normally chemically stable, the mineral is identified as metastable. Aragonite in seashells and magnetite in beach sands are additional examples of metastable minerals.

With increasing water temperature, ikaite decomposes to calcite and water through the following reaction:

CaCO3•6H2O → CaCO3 + 6 H2O

In some circumstances, the resulting calcite may retain the shape of the original ikaite crystals and the surrounding sediments may have impressions of the ikaite crystals. These shapes or pseudomorphs are commonly called glendonites. Because glendonites are structures and not minerals, they may survive burial and diagenesis (i.e., the subsurface conversion of sediments to sedimentary rocks). When glendonites are found in the geologic record, they are considered indicators of past cold water environments.

Estimates of the metastable temperature range for ikaite in deep-ocean and other aqueous environments vary slightly depending on the chemistry of the water. Spielhagen and Tripati (2009, pp. 53-54) estimated that ikaite is metastable in the temperature range of approximately 0-4oC. Hu et al. (2014) further comments that ikaite may form at a lower temperature of -4oC. Price and Nunn (2010) concluded that the upper temperature range for metastable ikaite could be a little higher at 4-7oC. Teichert and Luppold (2013, p. 92) argue that based on paleotemperature measurements with oxygen isotope data on belemnite and ostracod fossils from Early Jurassic samples from Germany, ikaite could persist in water at temperatures as high as about 10oC, provided that abundant methane was present. In summary, Zhou et al. (2015, p. 278) more recently concluded:

“However, this study does not challenge the fact that glendonites can form only at low temperatures, and the Hydrate Ridge [Oregon, USA] site supports the notion that ikaite cannot easily form or survive when the ambient temperature is higher than 10oC, even with high phosphate concentrations.”

So, depending on the chemistry of the water, ikaite decomposes to calcite (CaCO3) once water temperatures exceed 4-10oC.

Cold Environment Indicators Challenge Young-Earth Creationism

The existence of glendonites or any other cold-water indicators in the geologic record is a challenging problem for young Earth creationists (YECs) and their Flood geology. In some cases, the occurrence of glendonites along with other evidence indicate the presence of glaciomarine environments and nearby glaciers before the Pleistocene (e.g., Fielding et al. 2006; 2010), which Oard (1997; 2015) and other YECs admit are totally incompatible with Flood geology.

Some, but not all, YECs believe that an enormous amount of heat was released during Noah’s Flood from accelerated radioactive decay, widespread volcanism and/or rapidly moving tectonic plates. Under this scenario, ikaite and their cold water environments must have been totally isolated from the volcanism, tectonic activity and even trace amounts of any naturally occurring radioactive elements. This is not an easy requirement considering that Paleozoic and Mesozoic glendonites are abundant in a number of locations across the globe and radioactive elements, igneous rocks, and tectonic features are very common in what YECs usually identify as Flood deposits (that is, generally at least Cambrian through Cretaceous rocks).

Mr. Oard’s Strawman Fallacies

Oard (2015) is a brief article on glendonites from a YEC perspective. The article is a mixture of factual discussions on the properties of ikaite and glendonite and a lot of misconceptions on the Late Paleozoic glaciations, Cretaceous and Tertiary climates, and how geologists view glendonites as environmental indicators in the geologic record.

Initially, YEC Oard (2015, p. 6) makes the following incorrect statement, which is actually a strawman fallacy:

“One supporting evidence used to justify such [multiple pre-Pleistocene] ‘ice ages’ is the presence of the pseudomorph …[footnote number omitted] ikaiite/ikaite/glendonite, which is claimed to only form in cold, glacial environments. A careful examination of the locations where these pseudomorphs are found reveals that they are not ice-age indicators and that all interpretations of past ice ages based on their occurrence are invalid.” [my emphasis]

Later, Oard (2015, p. 7) claims that glendonites are no longer viewed as indicators of cold climates. However, geologists are not saying that ikaiite/ikaite/glendonite “only form in cold, glacial environments” and that they are necessarily indicators of “ice ages.” This is a strawman fallacy invented by Mr. Oard. That is, Mr. Oard has assigned a set of beliefs to his opponents that they do not accept and then he proceeds to attack those misapplied beliefs. Geologists and other researchers know that ikaite can form in cold deep-ocean waters even at low latitudes and that these features do not necessarily indicate nearby glaciers or glaciomarine environments (Teichert and Luppold 2013, p. 91). For example, geologists and other researchers are well aware that ikaite is currently forming in the deep marine environments of the Congo (Zaire) submarine fan, which is located off the coast of tropical Africa (e.g., Selleck et al. 2007, p. 989; Zhou et al. 2015, p. 270; Frank et al. 2008, p. 716). Even Oard (2015, p. 6) later mentions the existence of these deep water Congo fan ikaites. So, everyone agrees that by themselves glendonites are not indicators of glaciations. They just indicate the presence of very cold water, as further summarized by the following statements from the peer-reviewed science literature:

“Today, the mineral ikaite is known from a variety of environments and also different modes of ikaite formation are known. What all ikaite-bearing locations have in common are low temperatures…” [references omitted] Teichert and Luppold 2013, p. 91.

“The required low temperature does not necessarily mean that ikaites can only form in polar regions” Teichert and Luppold 2013, p. 91.

“The occurrence of ikaite in the Zaire [Congo] Fan indicates, however, that their recognition cannot be taken as evidence for high paleolatitudes unless they come from recognized continental shelf or non-marine deposits that show no evidence of upwelling” Selleck et al. 2007, p. 989.

“Can the found glendonites indicate the climate conditions in the past? In particular, could they be evidence of significant cooling? Despite the location of the considered [Russian] basins in high latitudes during the Middle and Late Permian (north of 70o… [reference number omitted]), this question cannot be solved unambiguously” Biakov et al. (2013, p. 716).

“It should also be noted that glendonites have not been found in other Permian sedimentary basins (in particular, in the shallow water Omolon basic [sic, basin]), and this may indirectly indicate that glendonites formed in the Ayan-Yuryakh and Okhotsk basins due to a deep water environment rather than to climate cooling” Biakov et al. (2013, p. 718).

Oard (2015) cites from Selleck et al. (2007) and Teichert and Luppold (2013), so he should have known better than to create this strawman fallacy. Geologists realize that glendonites simply indicate the presence of very cold water. As further discussed below, these and other features have been successfully used to identify cold conditions in the Late Paleozoic and cool to cold intervals in the usually warm climates of the Cretaceous and Tertiary (Selleck et al. 2007; Jones et al. 2006; Fielding et al. 2010; Frank et al. 2008; Price and Nunn 2010; Herrle et al. 2015; Teichert and Luppold 2013; Spielhagen and Tripati 2009; Price et al. 2012).

Another strawman fallacy used by Oard (1997; 2008b; 2009a, p. 112, 118-119) is the mistaken belief that modern geologists still use a small number of “diagnostic criteria” to identify glacial deposits in the geologic record. Oard (2015, Figure 2, p. 7) also refers to this outdated approach when criticizing earlier work that once identified an Eocene deposit in the Gravelly Mountains, Montana, as being glacial. For more information on this deposit and the history of its interpretations, see “Mr. Oard’s ‘Diagnostic Criteria’ Fallacy and the Rejected Eocene Glaciations.”

Oard (2008b, p. 6) identifies “three main diagnostic” features that he believes that geologists still use to identify glacial deposits, which are: 1) striated and/or facetted rocks; 2) striated rock surfaces, and 3) dropstones in varvites. When referring to these three criteria, Oard (2008b, p. 6) makes the following outdated claim:

“Most geologists have considered these diagnostic features as ‘proof’ of an ancient ice age.”

Contrary to the antiquated views of Oard (1997; 2008b; 2009a), the days are long over when geologists just look at a few striations on an outcrop, some faceted rocks, or a few other “diagnostic” criteria and then conclude that the rock formed in a glacial environment. The idea that a glacial deposit can be identified by only two or three “diagnostic criteria” was largely discarded by geologists long ago, especially after the critical work of Shermerhorn (1971; 1974). Geologists fully recognize that non-glacial deposits, such as underwater sediment flows or landslide deposits, can also have these features. Schermerhorn (1971; 1974) taught geologists to consider alternative hypotheses and seek more detailed evidence when identifying glacial deposits in the geologic record. Modern geologists have learned the lessons of Schermerhorn (1971; 1974). When identifying the depositional environments of sedimentary rocks, geologists observe the rocks in three-dimensions (which includes facies modeling) and look at as many of the rock properties as possible, which may include: paleotemperature measurements with stable isotopes, the presence of glacial structures (such as drumlins or glaciotectonic features), the presence of fossils of cold-tolerant organisms, and results from other advanced field, laboratory and computer techniques (e.g., El-ghali et al., 2006; Ghienne et al., 2007). Crowell (1999, p. 16) further emphasizes the use of diverse multiple criteria, including facies models, for distinguishing glacial from non-glacial deposits:

“Glaciers are therefore adequately documented only where a facies reconstruction fits together many different types of evidence from several correlated sections and where there is confidence in lateral and time correlations. Facies studies undertaken during recent years are now improving paleogeographic interpretations for several of the ancient ice ages…[long list of references omitted].”

Fairchild and Kennedy (2007, p. 899) also correctly conclude:

“It continues to be important to document as many sedimentary features commonly associated with glaciation as possible...[references omitted], recognizing that no single feature is diagnostic.”

So, geologists realize that if an animal has feathers like a duck, quacks like a duck, has a bill like a duck, flies like a duck, and likes water, that does not mean that we should just look at the “diagnostic features” of the animal’s bill and its fondness for water, ignore the other characteristics and claim that we have a duck-bill platypus and that ducks don’t exist. While a mass flow or other nonglacial feature may have some features in common with glacial deposits, when facies analyses involving numerous features commonly or solely associated with glaciers (such as roches moutonnées, glaciotectonic features, primary sand wedge polygons, etc.) are found in the same pre-Pleistocene formation or in the same pre-Pleistocene rocks in an area, then nonglacial processes can be reasonably ruled out and Flood geology remains dead. Also, when geochemical, geomagnetic, paleontological, mineralogical and other data all indicate ancient cold conditions, then Noah’s Flood is simply not a reasonable option. To see how 21st century geologists actually evaluate the depositional environments of geologic formations, review the essays on Late Precambrian, Ordovician, and Late Paleozoic glaciations at this website and their references.

Glendonites during the Late Paleozoic Glaciations

Glendonites certainly have the potential to be valuable paleoclimate indicators if they formed in shallow water or the shallow subsurface. Like most other features, glendonites are not “diagnostic” by themselves and must be used with other evidence in their context within the geologic record to determine whether the ancient environment was glaciomarine, located near glaciers or simply deep cold ocean water at any possible paleolatitude.

Oard (2015, p. 6) cites Selleck et al. (2007) and claims that glendonites were used to substantiate Late Paleozoic glaciations in the Sydney Basin of Australia. Oard (2015, p. 6) also refers to the Late Paleozoic glaciations, which affected much of the southern hemisphere, as being “assumed.” As discussed below, Oard (2015, p. 6) omits a number of important details about the Sydney Basin deposits and other information that demonstrates that the Late Paleozoic glaciations are supported by diverse pieces of conclusive evidence and are not just mere assumptions. It’s Mr. Oard’s views of Genesis that are based on questionable assumptions.

Glendonites are fairly common in the Permian deposits of eastern Australia (Zhou et al. 2015, p. 278; Selleck et al. 2007, p. 985). The glendonites commonly occur in bioturbated marine sediments and are overlain by abundant rounded and less common subangular erratics (Selleck et al. 2007, pp. 985-986). Selleck et al. (2007, p. 989) state:

“Glendonites in the Sydney Basin are commonly associated with facies containing unequivocal evidence for ice rafting and episodically cold climate systems (Thomas et al. 2005).”

Support for the Late Paleozoic glaciations in eastern Australia is based on multidisciplinary evidence from stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoclimatology, paleontology, tectonics and isotope geochemistry. Besides glendonites, Jones et al. (2006), Frank et al. (2008), Fielding et al. (2006; 2010) and Selleck et al. (2007) note that there are a number of other features and evidence from the Permian record of eastern Australia that indicate cold environments, including:

1. Abundant well-rounded erratics, which are best explained as dropped by ice;

2. Fossils of cold-water fauna, including thick-shelled bivalves;

3. Low temperatures from stable isotope paleothermometers;

4. Detailed stratigraphy and facies results;

5. Modeling of the Permian atmosphere and ocean currents.

At the same time during the Permian, these cold environment indicators were absent from along the margin of western Australia, which is consistent with the upwelling of cold ocean water along eastern Australia and the absent of upwelling in the west (Jones et al. 2006, p. 375).

Fielding et al. (2006, p. 444), Jones et al. (2006, pp. 372-373), and Selleck et al. (2007) describe Permian Australian erratics as being abundant, mostly well rounded, isolated, having random orientations, up to three meters in length and puncturing underlying fine-grained laminated sediments. Erratics primarily occur in offshore marine rocks, but they are also found in coastal and lake sediments (Jones et al. 2006, p. 372). The size and abundance of the erratics and the presence of penetration structures into underlying laminated sediments indicate that they are dropstones and not mass flow deposits. The abundance of the dropstones is far better explained by ice than vegetation. Selleck et al. (2007, p. 989) further argue that icebergs tend to drop angular rocks and the roundness of these erratics suggests that they were dropped by sea or river ice. In the Sydney Basin, the scarcity of erratics and shell fossils in the glendonite-bearing beds suggests to Selleck et al. (2007, p. 989) that the glendonites formed in slowly depositing sediments in deeper marine water away from the coast. Of course, Noah’s Flood does not allow for any slow sediment deposition.

Jones et al. (2006, p. 374) describes the Early Permian marine fossils of eastern Australia. The fossils include cold-resistant and thick-shelled Eurydesma bivalves and other cold-water organisms, including other bivalves, gastropods and brachiopods.

Although stable isotopes must be checked for diagenetic alteration before they can be used to determine paleotemperatures (Fielding et al. 2010, p. 73; Frank et al. 2008; Selleck et al. 2007), Jones et al. (2006, p. 374) states that carbon isotope analyses of Permian Australian glendonites are consistent with low temperature water.

Fielding et al. (2006; 2010) evaluated the Permian stratigraphy, facies and sedimentology of eastern Australia and Tasmania in great detail. Based on their work, they identified four glacial intervals.

Radiometric dating, paleomagnetic measurements, ocean floor structures, fossil data and the current spreading rates of tectonic plates have allow geologists to reconstruct the positions of the continents in the past. Using these past positions, computer models can reconstruct dominant ocean currents and atmospheric circulation patterns, which influence climate. During the Late Paleozoic, the Sydney Basin of Australia was located at high southern latitudes (Selleck et al. 2007, p. 985), where cool to cold climates would be normally expected. Jones et al. (2006) developed a cold water upwelling model for the Permian marine environments of eastern Australia that is consistent with the coupled atmosphere-ocean models for the Permian.

Formation of Glendonites and the Usually Warm Cretaceous and Tertiary

Based on fossil data, the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) and Tertiary (Paleogene-Neogene, 66 to 2.6 million years ago) periods were initially viewed as having uniformly warm climates with ice-free polar-regions. For example, some Cretaceous forests extended as far north as 80o paleolatitude and seasonal changes in polar sunlight were apparent from fossil tree rings (Price et al. 2012, p. 27). However, the development of stable isotope paleothermometers and other techniques have allowed geologists to better resolve the details of past climates in the geologic record. Because of the increased resolution of new techniques, glaciations (such as during the Late Paleozoic) that were once viewed as one long event are now seen to more closely resemble the Pleistocene glaciations, where multiple shorter glaciations were interspersed with warmer interglacial events of about equal duration (Fielding et al. 2010, p. 70). The better resolution of the geologic record from these new methodologies have also shown that there were times during the Cretaceous and Tertiary when at least the polar regions were cool to cold. None of these better resolved events are compatible with Flood geology.

The Lower Cretaceous lasted from about 145 to 100 million years ago. A time span of 45 million years for the Lower Cretaceous is more than enough time to have climates in the polar regions vary from cold to very warm just as they more recently did from the Eocene through the Pleistocene. Because YECs believe that the Lower Cretaceous occurred over a span of maybe no more than 10 days during Noah’s Flood, large climate fluctuations seem unreasonable to them. From the YEC perspective, everything would have been warm and, as an understatement, extremely wet.

Oard (2015, p. 6) complains that the presence of glendonites have “forced” some geologists to invoke cold water temperatures during otherwise warm periods. In particular, Oard (2015, p. 6) claims that Price and Nunn (2010) invoke a cold spell at Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic during the Cretaceous on the basis of glendonites and that Spielhagen and Tripati (2009) advocate later cold events at Svalbard during the otherwise warm Paleocene and Eocene on the basis of glendonites and erratics. However, Oard (2015, p. 6) fails to mention that glendonites and erratics are not the only evidence of cold events during otherwise warm periods in the Earth’s past. For example, Price et al. (2012) identified both cool and warm periods in the Cretaceous with oxygen-isotope data analyses of belemnite fossils from the Great Artesian Basin of eastern Australia and the Carnarvon Basin of western Australia. In another stable isotope study, Price and Nunn (2010, p. 251) studied oxygen isotopes of coexisting Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian) belemnites and glendonites from Svalbard and state:

“Using this methodology, our paleotemperatures calculated from the oxygen isotope compositions of coexisting belemnites yield cool temperatures (4-7oC) consistent with transient glacial polar conditions during the Cretaceous greenhouse. Cool polar temperatures during the Cretaceous help reconcile geologic data with the simulations of general circulation models. Nevertheless, beyond this postulated and transient cool event with the Valanginian, the remainder of the isotope data are interpretable in terms of warm polar conditions during the Cretaceous greenhouse.”

So, the presence of glendonites in the Lower Cretaceous of Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic is consistent with paleotemperatures from oxygen isotope data, and these results help explain computer climate modeling results that indicate periodically cool conditions during an otherwise warm Cretaceous. These results are consistent with actualism, but how would all of these data fit into young-Earth creationism?

Oard (2015, p. 6) briefly cites a news article by Moran and Blackman (2007) and states that Arctic Ocean temperatures of 18-24oC during the Tertiary should have caused scientists to consider the possibility that ikaite could form at warm temperatures. However, this statement in Oard (2015, p. 6) is unwarranted because Mr. Oard fails to mention critical details in Moran and Blackman (2007). The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum lasted less than one million years about 55 million years ago. A second thermal maximum was dated at about 53 million years ago. About 49 million years ago, sea temperatures cooled to about 10oC. Evidence of at least seasonal sea ice in the Arctic is dated at about 46 million years ago (Moran and Blackman 2007). Considering that the Earth underwent several glacial and warmer interglacial events in just the past one million years, large climatic changes from 53 to 49 million years ago are not unexpected. Like he commonly did in Oard (1997; 2009a; 2009b), Mr. Oard tries to portray the situation as dire for actualism (“uniformitarianism”) by omitting critical details from the literature that he uses. In reality, it is Flood geology that has great difficulty in explaining the fossil, stable isotope and glendonite evidence in the geologic record.

Spielhagen and Tripati (2009) cite glendonites, rounded erratics, and cold-water foraminifera as evidence of cold events at Svalbard during the Tertiary. The lack of any plant fossils associated with the erratics suggests that they were dropped by ice rather than floating vegetation (Spielhagen and Tripati 2009, p. 54). Spielhagen and Tripati (2009, pp. 53, 54) also stress that the glendonites and erratics are not found in the same layers as any of the warm-climate plants or other warm-climate indicators. Although Oard (2015, p. 6) admits that the erratics were not found in the same layers as the coal and other “warm” climate indicators, his statement is still problematic. First of all, some coals from the Late Paleozoic of South Africa and elsewhere formed from plants that grew in temperate climates (e.g., Ruckwied et al. 2014). So, coals are not necessarily “warm climate indicators” (also scroll down and see section: Warm Climate Flora and Fauna in Permian Glacial Deposits?). Secondly, YECs are divided over the location of the Flood/post-Flood boundary in the geologic record and whether the Tertiary deposits mostly had an origin during the Flood or afterwards. Tyler (2006) places the boundary in the Paleozoic, but most YECs prefer sometime between the Late Cretaceous to the end of the Tertiary with the possibility that the boundary could locally vary (Reed and Oard 2006b; Snelling 2009a). If YECs decide that these particular Tertiary deposits formed during Noah’s Flood, then they must explain how the Flood managed to prevent any of the erratics from mixing with the plant fossils or coals, especially if they argue that the vegetation had to have dropped the rocks rather than ice. They must also explain with detailed support from the geologic record how these cold climate and cold water features formed during a Flood that possibly had accelerated radioactive decay, widespread volcanism and/or rapidly moving and catastrophic plate tectonics. If the deposits are post-Flood, YECs must explain how average temperatures in Svalbard could repeatedly fluctuate from near freezing to fairly warm and back again to freezing in a manner of decades to centuries. Furthermore, Oard (2015, p. 6) claims that the Svalbard Tertiary sediments are over two kilometers thick. YECs in favor of a post-Flood explanation need to explain how all of that sediment could accumulate without the Flood and before their Ice Age.

Oard (2015): Old News

Overall, there’s nothing new or novel in Oard (2015). The information in Oard (2015) on ikaite, glendonite and their environmental implications and limitations is far more accurately and thoroughly discussed in Zhou et al. (2015), Selleck et al. (2007), Jones et al. (2006), Swainson and Hammond (2001), Fielding et al. (2010), Frank et al. (2008), Price and Nunn (2010), Herrle et al. (2015), Teichert and Luppold (2013); Spielhagen and Tripati (2009), and Price et al. (2012). Although Oard (2015, p. 6) recommends that researchers look for a mechanism that would allow ikaite to form in warm water, it should be stressed, however, that Oard (2015) never claims that ikaite can form in warm water. He carefully states that ikaite is now known to form in “warmer” or “relatively warm” water when compared with earlier conclusions. Certainly, warmer does not mean warm. However, the recent increases in the ikaite metastability field from 0-4oC to -4-7oC and finally to as high as 10oC in some rare cases is hardly significant. There is simply no evidence that ikaite can form at temperatures well above 10oC. Oard (2015) is more sensationalism than news, even from a YEC perspective.

References

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