|
January 18, 1977 Dear Dr. Velikovsky, One of my hobbies is the geology of the area I live in: north central Washington. While exploring lava flows along a canyon wall, I found these pieces of wood which I am sending in this package. The wood was found beneath a Basalt flow where it rested on a thin layer of sediment. The wood horizon lies beneath 8 basalt flows that total 1200 feet of basalt. The age assigned by geologists to this flow is upper Miocene, or about fifteen to twenty million years BP As you see, some of the wood is semi-carbonized. But I wish to draw your attention to the pieces that are still brown in color and whose cell structure seems to be intact. I found that this wood will burn when two or three matches are applied to it. It would be interesting if some of this wood could be radiocarbon dated. I have read that after forty to fifty thousand years there isn’t enough Carbon 14 left to give a significant reading. Obviously if this wood were twenty million years old, no sizable reading should show up. But I believe a sizable reading could be obtained. I found the wood in a place called Douglas Creek Canyon where it joins the Moses Coulee. I enclose two maps of the area. The wood can be found all along the canyon at the contact zone of the lava flow and the sediment horizon. Sincerely Mark Buitron
|