Geologist Carl Froede led an expedition of eager Young Earth Creationists to Stone Mountain
Saturday, April 11, 2009. Geologist and author Carl Froede (Geology by Design) led a field trip for the Atlanta Creation Group and families to the top of Stone Mountain, located just east of Atlanta, GA. The group was comprised of Young Earth Creationists and some very young-Young Earth Creationists! The kids had a lot of fun playing as Mr. Froede pointed out interesting geological structures of Stone Mountain to the adults. The children paid much more attention to the geology lesson, however, after they discovered there were "Cat's Paws" in the granite surface.
One happy group of Creation groupies.
"Cat's Paws" are unique to Stone Mountain (so it is believed) and they are found mostly near the top. They are composed of tourmaline, a dark mineral harder than the surrounding granite.
Young creation enthusiast pointing out a "Cat's Paw"
The Cat's Paw in the photos above and below is found embedded in a chunk of stone that was part of an exfoliated layer. Stone Mountain is "exfoliating" it's outer layers, much like an expanding onion would do, and they are gradually migrating down the slopes.
A close-up of a Stone Mountain Tourmaline "Cat's Paw"
There are several indicators of a young age for the Mountain. First, their is a general lack of exfoliated boulders at the base of the mountain. Estimates of the original size of the mountain indicate there should be many more boulders than presently exist. There is also a lack of eroded sediment at the base of the mountain (8 ft at most, and only in certain spots), which, when correlated with the rapid surface erosion rate, is another indication of young geologic age.
You can take your own field trip to Stone Mountain using the resource "A Field Guide In Geology At Stone Mountain Park, Georgia", available fromTom Carpenter (we will post details on how to obtain copies soon).
Also see Carle Froede's book "Geology by Design" at the CMI on-line bookstore.
To read more about how Stone Mountain fits into a young-earth framework, see
Froede CR. 1995. Stone Mountain: a creation geologists perspective, Creation Research Society Quarterly 31(4):214–224.
and
Armitage M. 2001. New record of polonium radiohalos, Stone Mountain granite, Georgia (USA). TJ 15(1):86–88. [TJ is now the Journal of Creation, published by Creation Ministries International]
