Let us turn to one very simple reason the earth is old: Varves. A varve is a layer of sediment which is usually deposited in a lake. Two layers are deposited each year: a light layer in the summer, and a dark layer in the fall. This poses a problem for creationists, as over six million varves were deposited in the Green River Shale! Six Million divided by two is three million. So it took three million years to form this deposit. That's about 2,990,000 years too old for the Bible's estimate of a 10,000 year old earth. Most creationists will respond to this by saying that the varves could have been formed during Noah's flood. They are wrong: The varves found at the Green River Shale are all very thin and fine, whereas false varves produced by floods are thick and irregular. (See Geologist Glenn Morton's assessment of this). There are various other arguments creationists hurl against varves, all of which are disproven by Christian (!) Geologist Greg Neyman. For instance, creationists will point to fossils that transgress multiple varves. Yet they do not realize that in deep, anoxic water, the decay process slows down dramatically.
