Creationism in Crisis - Now it's Tree Rings Recording Solar Storms 4,300 Years Before The Universe Existed! Oops!

Artist illustration of events on the sun changing the conditions in Near-Earth space

Credit: NASA

The Miyake Event is the biggest yet discovered.

Alamy/PA

Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in tree rings | University of Leeds

It's probably unkind to laugh at creationists, who probably genuinely don't know any better and are too dim to learn any science. But they leave us little choice when they wave aside all the evidence of a 14 billion-year-old Universe and a 3.8 billion-year-old Earth as 'wrong' or 'scientists lying' or 'planted by Satan to mislead us', or even 'faked by God the liar almighty as a test of faith', in favour of an evidence free-superstition they were taught by their parents and which they are too terrified to let go off in case they get a zap from an invisible, magic mind-reading sky thug, stories about which they were terrorized by as children, or worst of all, they don't feel important enough?

Their infantile superstition is, of course, that Earth is 8-10,000 years old and was created by magic pretty much as we find it today, just because a bunch of Bronze Age pastoralists thought so.

And then along comes an international team of those pesky scientists who only go and produce evidence that a tree was alive on Earth 4,300 years before the Universe supposedly existed and recorded in its annual tree rings a massive solar storm from a sun that supposedly hadn't yet been magicked into existence, and which is allegedly hanging like a lamp from a dome over Earth so we can tell it's not night! (Remember! It's unkind to laugh! LOL!)

What are solar storms, and what effects do they have on Earth? Solar storms, also known as solar eruptions or space weather events, are disturbances on the Sun's surface that release a tremendous amount of energy and particles into space. These storms are primarily caused by the Sun's magnetic activity, which can manifest in various forms:

1. Solar Flares: Solar flares are sudden and intense bursts of energy and light from the Sun's surface. They are often associated with the release of magnetic energy in the form of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation. Solar flares can disrupt radio signals and navigation systems and pose a threat to astronauts in space.
2. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs): Coronal Mass Ejections are massive expulsions of solar plasma, magnetic fields, and charged particles into space. These can travel at high speeds and, when they collide with Earth's magnetosphere, can cause geomagnetic storms. CMEs can also damage satellites and power grids and interfere with communication systems.

The effects of solar storms on Earth can be significant and wide-ranging:

1. Geomagnetic Storms: When CMEs and other solar disturbances interact with Earth's magnetic field, they can trigger geomagnetic storms. These storms can disrupt the normal functioning of electrical and electronic systems, including power grids, telecommunications, and navigation systems.
2. Radiation Hazard: Solar flares emit high-energy particles, primarily X-rays and gamma rays, which can be harmful to astronauts in space and passengers on high-altitude flights. Space agencies closely monitor solar activity to protect astronauts and passengers from exposure to this radiation.
3. Satellite and GPS Disruption: Solar storms can damage or disrupt satellites in orbit, including communication satellites and those used for weather forecasting and navigation (such as GPS). This can lead to service outages and data errors.
4. Auroras: One of the more visually stunning effects of solar storms is the aurora, also known as the Northern and Southern Lights. These colorful displays of light in the polar regions are caused by charged particles from the Sun colliding with molecules in Earth's atmosphere.
5. Power Grid Vulnerability: Solar storms can induce electrical currents in power lines and transformers, potentially leading to voltage instability and equipment damage. In extreme cases, large-scale blackouts and damage to power infrastructure can occur.

To mitigate the impacts of solar storms on Earth, space agencies and power grid operators closely monitor solar activity and take precautionary measures, such as temporarily shutting down or rerouting satellites and increasing the resilience of power grids. Additionally, research and early warning systems help improve our ability to predict and prepare for solar storms and their potential effects on our technology-dependent society.

The team of scientists which included researchers from Leeds University, UK and the Collège de France, Centre Européen de Recherche et d’Enseignement des Géosciences de l’Environnement (CEREGE), Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE) and Aix-Marseille University, France, have published their findings, open access in Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences and is the subject of a research news press release from Leeds University:

An international team of scientists have discovered a huge spike in radiocarbon levels 14,300 years ago by analysing ancient tree-rings found in the French Alps.

The radiocarbon spike was caused by a massive solar storm, the biggest ever identified.  A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society – potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions of pounds.
 
The academics are warning of the importance of understanding such storms to protect our global communications and energy infrastructure for the future. 
     
Collaboration

The collaborative research, which was carried out by an international team of scientists, is published today (Oct 9) in The Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences and reveals new insights into the Sun’s extreme behaviour and the risks it poses to Earth.

A team of researchers from the Collège de France, CEREGE, IMBE, Aix-Marseille University and the University of Leeds measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of the Drouzet River, near Gap, in the Southern French Alps. 

The tree trunks, which are subfossils – remains whose fossilisation process is not complete – were sliced into tiny single tree-rings. Analysis of these individual rings identified an unprecedented spike in radiocarbon levels occurring precisely 14,300 years ago. By comparing this radiocarbon spike with measurements of beryllium, a chemical element found in Greenland ice cores, the team proposes that the spike was caused by a massive solar storm that would have ejected huge volumes of energetic particles into Earth’s atmosphere. 

Edouard Bard, Professor of Climate and Ocean Evolution at the Collège de France and CEREGE, and lead author of the study, said: “Radiocarbon is constantly being produced in the upper atmosphere through a chain of reactions initiated by cosmic rays. Recently, scientists have found that extreme solar events including solar flares and coronal mass ejections can also create short-term bursts of energetic particles which are preserved as huge spikes in radiocarbon production occurring over the course of just a single year.” 

Potentially catastrophic

The researchers say that the occurrence of similar massive solar storms today could be catastrophic for modern technological society, potentially wiping out telecommunications, satellite systems and electricity grids - and costing us billions of pounds. They warn that it is critical to understand the future risks of events like this, to enable us to prepare, build resilience into our communications and energy systems and shield them from potential damage. 

Extreme solar storms could have huge impacts on Earth. Such super storms could permanently damage the transformers in our electricity grids, resulting in huge and widespread blackouts lasting months.

 

Professor Timothy J. Heaton, co-author
Professor of Applied Statistics
School of Mathematics, University of Leeds.

Miyake Events

Nine such extreme solar storms – known as Miyake Events – have now been identified as having occurred over the last 15,000 years. The most recent confirmed Miyake Events occurred in 993 AD and 774 AD. This newly-identified 14,300-year-old storm is, however, the largest that has ever been found – roughly twice the size of these two. 

The exact nature of these Miyake Events remains very poorly understood as they have never been directly observed instrumentally. They highlight that we still have much to learn about the behaviour of the Sun and the dangers it poses to society on Earth. We do not know what causes such extreme solar storms to occur, how frequently they might occur, or if we can somehow predict them.

Direct instrumental measurements of solar activity only began in the 17th century with the counting of sunspots. Nowadays, we also obtain detailed records using ground-based observatories, space probes, and satellites. However, all these short-term instrumental records are insufficient for a complete understanding of the Sun. Radiocarbon measured in tree-rings, used alongside beryllium in polar ice cores, provide the best way to understand the Sun’s behaviour further back into the past.

Professor Edouard Bard, first author
CEREGE, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD, INRAE
Collège de France
Technopôle de l'Arbois, Aix-en-Provence, France

The largest, directly-observed, solar storm occurred in 1859 and is known as the Carrington Event. It caused massive disruption on Earth – destroying telegraph machines and creating a night-time aurora so bright that birds began to sing, believing the Sun had begun to rise. However, the Miyake Events (including the newly discovered 14,300-yr-old storm) would have been a staggering entire order-of-magnitude greater in size.
 
Still much to learn

Radiocarbon provides a phenomenal way of studying Earth’s history and reconstructing critical events that it has experienced. A precise understanding of our past is essential if we want to accurately predict our future and mitigate potential risks. We still have much to learn. Each new discovery not only helps answer existing key questions but can also generate new ones.

Professor Timothy J. Heaton

Finding such a collection of preserved trees was truly exceptional. By comparing the widths of the individual tree rings in the multiple tree trunks, we then carefully pieced together the separate trees to create a longer timeline using a method called dendrochronology. This allowed us to discover invaluable information on past environmental changes and measure radiocarbon over an uncharted period of solar activity.

Assistant Professor Cécile Miramont, co-author
MBE, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IRD
Avignon University
Technopôle de l'Arbois, Aix-en-Provence, France

Technical details are given in the teams published paper:

Abstract

We present new ¹⁴C results measured on subfossil Scots Pines recovered in the eroded banks of the Drouzet watercourse in the Southern French Alps. About 400 new ¹⁴C ages have been analysed on 15 trees sampled at annual resolution. The resulting Δ¹⁴C record exhibits an abrupt spike occurring in a single year at 14 300–14 299 cal yr BP and a century-long event between 14 and 13.9 cal kyr BP. In order to identify the causes of these events, we compare the Drouzet Δ¹⁴C record with simulations of Δ¹⁴C based on the ¹⁰Be record in Greenland ice used as an input of a carbon cycle model. The correspondence with ¹⁰Be anomalies allows us to propose the 14.3 cal kyr BP event as a solar energetic particle event. By contrast, the 14 cal kyr BP event lasted about a century and is most probably a common Maunder-type solar minimum linked to the modulation of galactic cosmic particles by the heliomagnetic field. We also discuss and speculate about the synchroneity and the possible causes of the 14 cal kyr BP event with the brief cold phase called Older Dryas, which separates the Bølling and Allerød millennium-long warm phases of the Late Glacial period.

This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene'.

Figure 1.
(a) Map of Southeastern France showing the locations of the subfossil tree deposits in the middle Durance region, including Barbiers and Drouzet rivers. (b) Close up on Drouzet River (GPS coordinates and tree labels are available in the electronic supplementary material, table S2).

Figure 2.
(a and b) Photographs of the Drouzet river showing subfossil trees (Scots Pines) buried in alluvial deposits. Trees appear rooted at different levels in the main stream or in the river banks.

Bard, Edouard; Miramont, Cécile; Capano, Manuela; Guibal, Frédéric; Mar
A radiocarbon spike at 14 300 cal yr BP in subfossil trees provides the impulse response function of the global carbon cycle during the Late Glacial
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 381 2261, 20220206. DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2022.0206

Copyright: © 2023 The authors.
Published by The Royal Society. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Now, I can just hear creationists who have managed to get this far shouting, "That proves radiocarbon dating is all wrong!

Well, no it doesn't. What this finding proves is that scientists are aware of these spikes in solar radiation, which affects the conversion rate of atmospheric nitrogen into carbon-14 because it is recorded in tree rings, which can be used to 'correct' the readings, so, unless creationists can show that trees used to produce several hundred growth rings in a year, this can't possibly account for the several orders of magnitude needed to make many tens of thousands of year, or, in this case, 14,300 years, look like less than 10,000.

Notice too, how the scientists used a second measure - the presence of beryllium in polar ice cores - to verify their findings.

How is beryllium in polar ice cores used in geological dating? Beryllium-10 (Be-10) is a radioactive isotope of beryllium that is used in geological dating, particularly in the context of dating polar ice cores and determining past climate variations. Here's how it works:

1. Cosmic Ray Interaction: Be-10 is formed in the Earth's atmosphere through the interaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen and oxygen atoms. When cosmic rays collide with these atoms, they can dislodge neutrons, which in turn can collide with nitrogen-14 (N-14) atoms. This collision transforms N-14 into carbon-14 (C-14) and beryllium-10 (Be-10) isotopes.
2. Incorporation into Precipitation: Once Be-10 is produced in the atmosphere, it becomes part of atmospheric aerosols and is eventually incorporated into precipitation, including snowfall in polar regions.
3. Accumulation in Ice Cores: In polar ice cores, layers of snow accumulate over time, forming ice layers. Be-10 is carried by these snowflakes and becomes embedded in the ice layers. Since snow and ice accumulate annually in polar regions, the ice core contains a chronological record of past climate conditions and the presence of Be-10 at different depths corresponds to different time periods.
4. Dating Ice Cores: Scientists can extract ice cores from polar regions and analyze the concentration of Be-10 at different depths within the core. By measuring the concentration of Be-10 and comparing it to the known production rate of Be-10 in the atmosphere, researchers can estimate the age of the ice at different depths. This dating method is particularly useful for dating ice cores that extend back tens of thousands of years.
5. Climate and Environmental Analysis: Ice cores provide valuable insights into past climate conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric composition. By analyzing the Be-10 data along with other climate proxies (such as oxygen isotopes), scientists can reconstruct climate variations and changes over long time scales. This information helps researchers understand past climate dynamics and can be used to make predictions about future climate changes.

Beryllium-10 dating of ice cores is just one of several dating techniques used in glaciology and paleoclimatology. It provides a complementary method to radiocarbon dating, which is used for dating organic materials, and helps scientists create detailed records of past climate variations in polar regions, which are crucial for understanding Earth's climate history and how it may change in the future.

Photographs of the Drouzet river showing subfossil trees (Scots Pines) buried in alluvial deposits. Trees appear rooted at different levels in the main stream or in the river banks.

Bard, Edouard; Miramont, Cécile; et al (2023)

The last thing to note, is this photograph, where sub-fossil trees embedded in alluvial silt can be seen rooted in different strata.

How could that be possible if all fossils and the alluvia they are in was laid down as a single flood event - or are we expected to believe that during that flood, when some of the silt had already settled out, some trees managed to get planted and grow to a mature size, all in a year? There should be a clue there that explains the so-called 'polystrate' trees that creationists like to claim are evidence of a global flood. These in the photograph are, of course, the result of periodic floods in a river flood plain.

As I said, it's not nice to laugh at creationists, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

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