A possible God's possible purpose and nature II (The nature of a \'Creator\')

by David Turell , Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 19:34 (1038 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: All we can know is Chixculub caused a major change in course. It may have been part of His plan.

dhw: But you are now allowing for the possibility that your God did not control all the environmental changes that caused a “major change in course”. In which case, it’s possible that he changed course in response to events that were not planned or under his control.

DAVID: All I am allowing is Schroeder proposed God might have thrown it, and I agree about this one episode.

dhw: You wrote: “Chixculub is his doing or accidental, as there is no clear evidence.” You can say the same about every environmental change!

Look at another change in environmental conditions:

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-ocean-productivity-decline-abruptly-million.html

"By drilling deep down into sediments on the ocean floor researchers can travel back in time. A research team led from Uppsala University now presents new clues as to when and why a period often referred to as the 'biogenic bloom' came to an abrupt end. Changes in the shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun may have played a part in the dramatic change.

"Healthy ocean systems contain healthy primary producers, such as the single-celled algae diatoms and coccolithophores, which sustain all other life in the oceans through the marine food webs. Primary producers also release oxygen and regulate the climate by taking up CO2 and binding carbon into solid components that are buried in deep-sea sediments, which is an effective long-term solution for carbon removal from the atmosphere.

"Most of these algae use sunlight, CO2 and inorganic nutrients to build up their body mass. However, these nutrients are quickly exhausted in the sun-lit surface waters, if not replenished by ocean mixing or renewed by river supply.

***

"For many decades, geoscientists have known about an extended period of time when ocean productivity was much higher than today. This occurred during the late Miocene to early Pliocene (from 9 to 3.5 million years ago) and the period is often called the 'biogenic bloom.' However, to date, scientists still do not fully understand the reasons why productivity was so much higher in the past, or why this period came to an end.

***

"The sediments studied by Karatsolis and colleagues were recovered from 200–350 meters below the seafloor on the northwestern Australian shelf. The researchers measured the accumulation rates of biogenic particles and combined their data with those previously collected using similar methods at 16 additional locations. The accuracy of the ages of each dataset was first critically assessed, to ensure reliable comparisons across the different regions.

"Their results show that productivity declined abruptly 4.6 million years ago in the tropics. A possible explanation for this rapid decrease may involve reduced East Asian monsoon intensity and decreased riverine nutrient supply, coinciding with changes in the shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. (my bold)

***

"Understanding the natural pace of past events provides a good comparative measuring stick for the changes we observe in our environment today," says Boris-Theofanis Karatsolis." (my bold)

Comment: I doubt God controls every aspect of rainfall. (first bold) This did not seem to change the course of evolution and adds evidence that God's control is not purposefully constant in agreement with you. Chixculub remains a question concerning God's role. My other point is study of ecosystems tells us a great deal about the evolutionary process. (second bold) And all parts of evolution are related and can be used to study old or new events by comparison.