Geological Fingerprint<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three scientists \u2014 Papaia, Banani, and Ravioli \u2014 and their assistant Igor, who work at NASAL, start taking an interest in creationism. Their superiors, alarmed, send them to see a psychologist, Professor Faggioli \u2014 a shady character determined to get them fired by making them seem insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re in Professor Faggioli\u2019s office, where Ravioli is undergoing an evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Papaia and Banani continue their discussion about a book Banani found in his garage. It belonged to his grandfather and talks about the geological evidence for Noah\u2019s flood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: We were talking about the sandstone near Zion National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Papaia: Inside this sandstone there are grains of the mineral zircon, which are relatively easy to trace back to their origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: You said easy? How?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Papaia: Because zircon usually contains radioactive uranium. Dating these zircon grains using the uranium-lead (U-Pb) radiometric method led to the hypothesis that the sand grains in the Navajo Sandstone originated from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania and New York, and from even older mountains farther north in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: If that\u2019s true, the sand grains must have been transported at least 1,800 miles (3,000 km) across all of North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Igor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flood? A recent tale, so to speak\u2026 just a few thousand years, all packed into a single grain of sand. Poetic, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Papaia\u2019s story at NASAL? A little less epic: it starts with a reasonable idea \u2014 that the Bible might be right\u2026 and ends in the psychologist\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026Though that grain of sand speaks for itself, Papaia, maybe you should\u2019ve just kept your mouth shut!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n