Oard Misquotes Himself

Oard (2009a) Misquotes Crowell (1978) and Himself!

Kevin R. Henke, Ph.D.

January 8, 2021

In my 1999 essay, I present numerous examples of how Oard (1997) misquotes or otherwise misrepresents the geological literature. Oard (2009a) and Oard (2009b) attempt to respond to a few of my 1999 comments, but in almost all cases either misrepresent my 1999 essay or make trivial complaints. For example, Oard (2009a, p. 115) lodges the following complaint against me:

“In another place, Henke ([1999], p. 9) states that I used an outdated quote from Crowell (1978) in noting that there were no glaciations between the Ordovician and late Paleozoic in the uniformitarian geologic column (cf. table 1). I had actually stated that major ice ages were missing between the postulated Ordovician and late Paleozoic ice ages, being well aware of the minor 'glaciations' between the major ones:

Table 1.3 [in Oard 1997, p. 5] summarizes the four main pre-Pleistocene 'ice ages' and their assumed dates. Other 'ice ages' of short duration and small extent occurred in other geological periods... (Oard 1997, p. 5).” [Mr. Oard's emphasis and ellipse]

Oard (2009a, p. 115) is referring to the following paragraph from my 1999 essay that discusses the possibility of continental glaciations and glaciomarine deposits between the Ordovician and Carboniferous/Permian:

“Sometimes Oard's ideas on pre-Pleistocene glaciations are outdated. For example, Oard ([1997], p. 32) quotes Crowell (1978, p. 1364) as stating that there were no continental glaciers in Gondwana between the Ordovician and the Carboniferous/Permian. Although the current surviving deposits may be glaciomarine, since Crowell's statement in 1978, evidence of glaciations has been found in the Silurian of South America (Hambrey and Harland, 1981, p. 948) and Devonian of Brazil (Caputo, 1985).” [my emphasis]

To understand the context and real issue at hand, here is the relevant section of Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) that I critiqued in the above 1999 paragraph:

“The problem of missing ice ages also extends into the Paleozoic period as well, since the solar luminosity supposedly still was below the present value and Gondwanaland was located either at or near the South Pole. Crowell (1978) states:

'The scant record available suggest that, despite the polar position of Gondwana, there was no continental glaciation between the intense but brief ice age at the end of the Ordovician and the onset of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age.'“ [my emphasis]

Contrary to the claims of Oard (2009a, p. 115), notice that Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) and the quotation from Crowell (1978, p. 1364) say absolutely nothing about minor glaciations being present between the Ordovician and the Carboniferous/Permian. Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) says that the "ice ages" are "missing." Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) also makes no reference to his earlier Table 1.3 on Oard (1997, p. 5). Oard (2009a, p. 115) has not only misrepresented what was actually said in my 1999 essay, but he also blatantly misrepresents Crowell (1978, p. 1364) and he even contradicts his own discussions in Oard (1997, pp. 31-32)! Since Oard (2009a, p. 115) and Table 1.3 in Oard (1997, p. 5) indicate that he was aware in 1997 of minor glaciomarine and/or continental glacial deposits between the Ordovician and the Late Paleozoic (i.e., the Silurian and Devonian), why does he contradict himself by quoting an outdated statement from Crowell (1978, p. 1364) and making a blanket statement in Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) about Silurian and Devonian glaciations being “missing”? I think that Oard (1997, pp. 31-32) was so desperate to discredit pre-Pleistocene glaciations that he uncritically quoted an outdated reference to the point of blatantly contradicting his Table 1.3 on Oard (1997, p. 5).

References

Caputo, M.V., 1985, "Late Devonian Glaciation in South America," Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 51, p. 291-317.

Crowell, J.C., 1978, "Gondwanan Glaciation, Cyclothems, Continental Positioning, and Climate Change," American Journal of Science, v. 278, p. 1345-1372.

Hambrey, M.J. and W.B. Harland (eds.), 1981, Earth’s Pre-Pleistocene Glacial Record, Cambridge University Press, London.

Oard, M.J. 1997. Ancient Ice Ages or Gigantic Submarine Landsides? Creation Research Society, Monograph No. 5, Chino Valley, AZ.

Oard, M.J. 2009a. "Landslides Win in a Landslide over Ancient 'Ice Ages'", chapter 7 in M.J. Oard and J.K. Reed (editors). 2009. Rock Solid Answers: The Biblical Truth Behind 14 Geological Questions, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 111-123.

Oard, M.J. 2009b. "Do Varves Contradict Biblical History?", chapter 8 in M.J. Oard and J.K. Reed (editors). 2009. Rock Solid Answers: The Biblical Truth Behind 14 Geological Questions, Master Books: Green Forest, AR, pp. 125-148.