Geologic vs. genetic clocks (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, December 06, 2014, 14:58 (3640 days ago)

Timing evolution from rock ages and from genetic studies don't agree. Both are based on a degree of assumptions so I am not surprised at the problem:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141202103600.htm-"'Paleontology and molecular clocks have a long, uneasy relationship," said Peter Wilf, a paleobotanist and professor of geoscience, Penn State. "Paleontologists want molecular clocks to work. However, for years we have seen molecular dates, mostly for very deep evolutionary events, that are much older than the corresponding fossils. This situation has been a frustrating Catch-22 because if the clocks are wrong, no fossils exist that could demonstrate they are wrong. Here, we looked at many new plant fossils from the extremely productive region of Patagonia, and we found the opposite, that the fossils are much older than the clock dates. In this case, we can definitely say that the clocks are wrong. The fossils prove it.'"