-Potassium-argon
method: is a geologic dating method relying
on the percentage of potassium in a specimen that has radioactively decayed
to argon.
This method was used on samples
from the Mount St. Helens disaster.
Dacite.(a
fine grained rock light in color).was
retrieved and analyzed by Geochron Laboratories of Cambridge, MA, a professional
radioisotope dating laboratory. The laboratory was not told that the specimen
was 10 years old from the lava dome at Mount St. Helens.
The results ranged from 0.35-2.8
million years! It is conceivable solidification of magma does not reset
the radioisotope clock to zero. It could be that some argon-40 is combined
into newly formed minerals giving the aspect of significant age. It should
also be noted that there is inconsistency between various samples taken
from the same rock.
Many other
examples of this method's inaccuracy abound. Why use it?