Weekend Reads 7/9/16

200,000 year old soil found at mysterious crater, a 'gate to the subterranean world'

Batagaika started to form in 1960s after a chunk of forest was cleared: the land sunk, and has continued to do so, evidently speeded by recent warmer temperatures melting the permafrost, so unbinding the layers on the surface and below. Major flooding in 2008 increased the size of the depression which grows at up to 15 metres per year.

California Town Fixes Crooked Curb, Breaks Geologists' Hearts

"In probably the late 1950s, your standard sidewalk curb was built across the fault — and the fault is creeping," Schwartz explained. "That means it moves a little bit every year, maybe about 4 millimeters. It broke through the curb and started pushing it out. And over the years it has moved it 8 inches."

The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth

The text of the book covers important topics. From the introduction, no holds are barred, and the claims of YEC and flood geology, such as that there was no death before the Fall, as well as more specifically that the Grand Canyon was formed (along with all sedimentary rock on Earth) by Noah’s flood, are raised explicitly and unflinchingly. The third chapter, for instance, offers a beautiful survey of the different rock formations that are to be found in the Grand Canyon, which are explored further and from a variety of perspectives in subsequent chapters. The diversity of kinds of rock makes perfect sense as explained by mainstream geology, while the attempt of flood geology to have the same cataclysmic event account for all of them is shown to be implausible.

Brexit Boosters: Why the Religious Right Hates the European Union

A few years earlier, then-Sen. Jim DeMint told the Christian Broadcasting Network, "It’s no coincidence that socialist Europe is post-Christian because the bigger the government gets the smaller God gets and vice-versa. The bigger God gets the smaller people want their government because they’re yearning for freedom."