Creationism in Crisis - Now It's Spa Water From At Least 1.5 Million Years Before 'Creation Week'!

Macaques keeping warm in 1.5-million-year-old spa water.

Is Spa Water a Fossil of Water? Uncover the Real Ultra-Deep Water Cycles | Research News - University of Tsukuba

Snow monkeys (Japanese Macaques, Macaca fuscata) keeping warm in 1.5-million-year-old spa water, in a hot spring, or onsen

The water in aquifers holds a special place in creationist mythology because, despite the fact that there isn't nearly enough of it, they will claim it's where the water that flooded Earth to a depth sufficient to cover the highest mountains (29,000 feet) during their favourite mass murderer's genocidal flood came from and went back to. If that were remotely true, of course, it couldn't possibly be more than 10,000 years old, because that was when Earth was magicked out of nothing, so the tale goes.

However, in yet another science paper that casually refutes creationism, two scientists from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, have dated the water in natural spas in central Japan and found it to be 1.5-5 million years old. Not only does it predate creationism's mythical flood, but it predates creationism's mythical 'Creation Week' when they claim their magic god magicked the universe out of nothing, having first self-assembled out of nothing using a design it made before it existed (I'm not making this up, but you can see why its trivially easy to refute creationism and why most people grow out of it eventually!).

Like the vast majority of the history of Earth, this water entered the aquifers in that immense period of pre-'Creation' history.

First, a brief AI background to the dating method. Creationists should note that this is not radiometric dating, so their traditional dismissal modes don't apply, so they need to ask their cult leaders how best to misrepresent the science:

How can the age of lithospheric water be determined using isotopes of hydrogen (^2H) and oxygen (^18O)? The age of lithospheric water can be determined using isotopes of hydrogen (^2H, also known as deuterium) and oxygen (^18O) through a method called stable isotope analysis. Water molecules with different isotopic compositions can provide information about the origin and history of the water. Here's a brief explanation of how the age determination process works:

1. Isotope Fractionation:
   • Isotope fractionation occurs during various processes like evaporation and condensation.
   • Lighter isotopes tend to evaporate more readily than heavier ones. For example, in the water cycle, water with lighter isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen is preferentially evaporated, leaving heavier isotopes behind.
2. Isotope Ratios:
   • The ratio of heavy to light isotopes in a water sample can be measured. For example, the ratio of ^18O to ^16O and ^2H to ^1H (or deuterium to hydrogen).
3. Meteorological Processes:
   • Different meteorological processes can influence the isotopic composition of water. For instance, precipitation tends to have a characteristic isotopic signature based on temperature, altitude, and other factors.
4. Lithospheric Water Age Determination:
   • The isotopic composition of water in the lithosphere can be compared to known meteoric water lines or regional meteoric water lines.
   • Over time, water interacts with rocks, minerals, and other geological materials. This interaction can affect the isotopic composition of water. By analyzing the isotopic ratios in the lithospheric water, scientists can estimate the age of the water based on these interactions.
5. Modeling and Interpretation:
   • Isotope hydrologists and geochemists often use mathematical models and statistical methods to interpret the isotopic data and estimate the age of the water.
   • The age determination is based on the understanding of how isotopic ratios change over time due to geological processes.

It's important to note that this method provides an estimate of the average age of the water in a particular system, and the accuracy can be influenced by various factors, including the local geological conditions and the complexity of water-rock interactions. Additionally, combining multiple isotopic systems and other geochemical tracers can enhance the precision of age determination.

How the scientists made this discovery is the subject of a paper in the Journal of Hydrology, and a press release from Tsukuba University:

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have made a groundbreaking discovery regarding the origins of non-meteoric water in natural spa waters located in central Japan. Based on numerical modeling, their results suggest that this water has been confined within the lithosphere for an extensive period of 1.5-5 million years. They identified three primary sources for this ancient water: the Philippine Sea Plate, the Pacific Plate, and ancient seafloor sediments, particularly in the Niigata and southwest Gunma regions.

Tsukuba, Japan—Although most natural spa waters primarily originate from atmospheric precipitation, such as rain and snow (known as meteoric water), the present study explored the unique qualities of certain spa waters. By analyzing the stable isotope compositions of hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules, researchers have identified distinct characteristics that indicate the presence of long-trapped lithospheric water. They traced the isotopic evolution of this water through sophisticated numerical modeling, and found that various types of water, including those found deep beneath the seafloor as well as in submarine mud volcanoes, coastal oil field brines, and volcanic steam from plate subduction zones, share a common evolutionary trajectory. Moreover, the researchers developed a novel method for reconstructing the original isotopic composition of lithospheric water by eliminating the effects of meteoric water contamination from the isotopic data of natural spa waters. Using this approach, the researchers calculated the isotopic composition of lithospheric waters at the depths of various spa sites and compared these values with those reconstructed from natural spa waters. Based on the geographical distribution of spa waters, they were categorized into three groups: those consistent with the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate or the Pacific Plate and those showing minimal isotopic evolution and thus not aligning with either plate.

These findings not only reveal the complex, three-dimensional structure and evolution of ultra-deep water circulation (>100 km deep) but also hold crucial implications for understanding the role of water in seismic and volcanic activities. This research paves the way for advancements in the prediction and forecasting of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Abstract

Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of natural spa waters from hot and/or mineral-rich springs (including flowing/pumping wells) potentially provide important clues about water cycle in Earth's interior, because some of the waters are deep-seated and non-meteoric. However, the isotopic compositions of these waters are typically altered by contamination with meteoric water and are thus poorly known. To reconstruct their original (i.e., before these waters mix with meteoric water) isotope compositions, here we develop an isotopic evolution model of the lithosphere-enclosed waters and derive the “ocean-origin lithospheric water curve” (OLWC; δ²H = 60 / (δ¹⁸O – 11)) as a typical evolutionary track starting from ocean water. Then we apply them to spa waters from central Japan, a globally unique geotectonic region where double subduction of slabs occurs. The OLWC explains well observed isotope data of subseafloor pore waters, submarine mud volcano pore waters, coastal oil-field brines, and subduction zone volcanic steam. Mixing analysis indicates that lithospheric water accounts for 19–95 % of each spa water we investigated. The nonlinear relationships of the reconstructed water δ¹⁸O and Cl or Li concentrations justify our hypothesis that the lithospheric waters are undergoing evolution from ocean water to magmatic water by rock-water isotopic exchange and that they are not simply mixtures of the two. A comparison of the reconstruction results with model predictions under slab subduction settings suggests that most spa waters in the southern to central part of the study region contain progressively evolving lithospheric waters released from the subducting Philippine Sea slab, and that a few at western edge of the region contain waters released from the Pacific slab. The others in the northern and eastern part of the region contain waters at the early-to-mid evolutionary stage, which are discharged from Tertiary marine sedimentary rocks (including tuffs). All these waters were enclosed in the lithosphere for more than 1–5 Ma. Our approach provides useful tools for tracing sources of non-meteoric water and highlights water cycle through lithosphere for more than one million years.

Adachi, Ikuya; Yamanaka, Tsutomu
Isotopic evolutionary track of water due to interaction with rocks and its use for tracing water cycle through the lithosphere
Journal of Hydrology 628 130589. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130589

© 2024 Elsevier B.V.
Reprinted under the terms of s60 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Just another pebble on the mountain of evidence that refutes the childish superstition of creationism.

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