Lorence G. Collins
Encyclopedia
Lorence Gene "Larry" Collins, born November 19, 1931, in Vernon
, Kansas
is an American petrologist, known for his extensive research on metasomatism
.
, Kansas
, Collins studied geology
at the University of Illinois in Urbana
, where he earned a B.Sc. with high honours in 1953. This was followed in 1955 with an M.S.
and a Ph.D.
in 1959. His thesis dealt with the metasomatic origin of magnetite
ore deposits in New York State.
In 1960 he took a teaching position at San Fernando Valley State College, now California State University Northridge, which he held for 33 years. He taught mineralogy
, petrology and remote sensing
. Until 1962 he worked as an assistant professor. In 1962 he became an associate professor, and in 1966 he was promoted to full professor and was the president of the faculty. He retired in September 1993 from academic teaching.
Since 1972, Collins has been working on the enigmatic mineral intergrowth myrmekite
, which led to discoveries in the field of petrology
. He especially questions the purely magma
tic approach to granite
genesis and shows in his research the importance of metasomatic replacements, in some places on a very large regional scale.
Since 1955, Collins is married to Barbara J. Schenck, a botanist, and has five children. Together they have created a website on Californian wildflower identification that covers the four biotope
s chaparral, desert, mountains, and northern coast. Lorence Collins is the primary nature photographer on this site. (See external links at end of article.)
. There he came upon the mineral intergrowth called myrmekite
where its origin did not fit the usually accepted models as to either being formed by exsolution from primary K-feldspar or by Na- and Ca-metasomatism along the margins of primary K-feldspar. His extensive sudies by thin section
s, cathodoluminescence
, electron microprobe
and scanning-electron images
supported an entirely different model in which K-metasomatism of primary plagioclase produced the myrmekite. These investigations and the field relationships convinced him of the entirely different origin of myrmekite from that generally believed by most geologists. He subsequently received fierce opposition from the established petrology community. Therefore, he decided to write books, and in 1997 he created his own website and published his findings digitally.
, British Columbia
and Ontario
), in Europe (Greece, Ireland, Norway and Scotland
), in Azerbaijan
, in Iran
and in Australia.
The rock types Collins worked on are mainly granitoid
s, gneiss
es, augen gneisses, mylonite
s and metasedimentary rocks
.
On his website he so far has authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific articles. (See external links at end of article.)
(granitoids). They can be summarized as follows:
An interesting observation concerns the fierce opposition Collins encountered amongst mainstream petrologists although there is no doubt, that metasomatic processes can be very effective as is for instance clearly demonstrated in fenites (K-Na-metasomatism) or in skarn
s. And two final remarks:
. He has created a section on creationism within his web site in which he discusses various aspects of creationists' theories concerning literal readings of the Bible
or supernatural explanations, and each of these is demonstrated to have originated by natural processes or to have a modern science interpretation. Among these articles are three that present his own Christian philosophy.
(Iraq
) where Noah could have built his ark in the Garden of Eden. The combined flood plains
of the Euphrates
and Tigris
Rivers from 80 miles (128.7 km) north of Baghdad
to the Persian Gulf
are up to 170 miles (273.6 km) wide, and the river gradients from Baghdad to the gulf (a distance of 425 miles (684 km)) are less than 1 ft/mi and mostly as little as 0.14 ft/mi. Therefore, the land in this area is so flat that during a huge storm and resulting large flood, water coming from the surrounding mountains in Egypt, Syria, Iran, and Turkey, would have piled up. Villages along natural levee
s of the rivers would have been inundated under several feet (metres) of water. Moreover, because of the curvature of the earth
, no land 85 miles (136.8 km) away from either sides of the rivers would have been visible from any large boat floating in the water. On that basis, for any survivors of the Flood, the whole world would have been under water, and that part of the earth would have been their whole world.
In support of Collins’ opposition to the validity of the mythical worldwide Noachian Flood is information published by Carol Hill and Stephen Moshier. These authors point out that 30000 feet (9.1 km) of fossil-bearing sedimentary rock
underlie the Garden of Eden where Noah likely built his Ark. Therefore, "destroyed flesh" already had occurred in "Flood deposits" underneath the construction site before Noah could have built the Ark. So, this fact alone negates a worldwide flood model to produce the sedimentary Flood deposits that the creationists promote.
These authors also point out that underlying Mount Ararat
are several thousand feet (several km) of fossil-bearing sedimentary rock and note that if all these sedimentary rocks were deposited by the Noachian Flood, then:
The less than one year's time for all of these events to occur is physically impossible. These facts strongly suggest that creationists are wasting their time looking for remnants of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.
In the biblical story (Genesis 6-8), the only time in which drying occurred was after more than a year at the end of Flood when Noah and his family could finally leave the ark and step out on dry land. On that basis, there should be places where local lakes evaporated to dryness and produced evaporite
minerals. If the biblical story is valid, such deposits should be found only on top of the Flood deposits. Instead, many different, thick, evaporite mineral deposits are found on all continents (e.g., Hallein
, Austria, where salt
is mined), not on top of the Flood deposits, but at different stratigraphic levels and geologic ages, interlayered with the Flood deposits. These deposits are associated with fossil mudcrack
prints in red beds (shales) where flood-plain muds had been exposed to the hot sun and lost their water contents, causing the mud to shrink and create the mudcracks. How can there be many different periods of desert drying conditions in the midst of a worldwide Flood? These observations suggest why a worldwide Flood could not have occurred.
halos
are proof that granite
(and the earth) were created almost instantaneously on Day Three of the Genesis Week. This model was promoted by Robert V. Gentry
, a physicist, who studied Po halos in biotite
(and fluorite) in granite pegmatite
s. Polonium (Po) is a natural element which has several different radioactive isotope
s, among which are Po-218, Po-214, and Po-210 (with masses of 218, 214, and 210). These isotopes are the last three "daughters" in the eight-step radioactive uranium
(U-238) decay scheme
before the stable lead
isotope (Pb-206) is formed. In each decay step in which a new isotope of different mass is formed, heavy alpha particle
s (helium nuclei) with a mass of 4 are shot out from the nucleus like high-energy cannon balls. Where polonium is found in biotite mica, these cannon balls damage the biotite lattice structure
to produce a glass that is visible as a black halo, provided that enough polonium (about 1,000,000,000 to 10,000,000,000 Po atoms) is originally present at a nucleation point.
The halo radius of damage is different for each of the different polonium isotopes. Therefore, if three, two, or one of the Po isotopes are present, then three different Po-halo ring-type halos might be present with three rings, two rings, or a single ring. Although Po halos are three of the eight possible halos of damage that are created by eight different daughter isotopes where uranium (U-238) is nucleated in zircon
or uraninite
crystals in a biotite crystal, in some places the three Po halos occur in biotite crystals completely isolated from where uranium has nucleated. This special occurrence of isolated Po halos in biotite is the basis for Gentry's assertion that granite was formed on Day Three nearly instantaneously.
His reasoning is as follows:
Where granite crystallizes
from a large body of magma
several miles deep in the Earth's crust, the cooling time before biotite first begins to crystallize is thought to be at least 5 million years. On that basis, if the half lives
of Po-218, Po-214, and Po-210 are 3.05 minutes, less than 200 microseconds, and 140 days (respectively), no matter how much original polonium could have been present in the initial magma, all these Po isotopes would have decayed to stable lead (Pb-206) long before they could nucleate in late-forming biotite crystals in sufficient quantities to form visible Po halos. Because most granite petrologists believe that large bodies of granite must crystallize from magma, and this model is the generally accepted theory for the formation of granite, Gentry's reasoning is quite logical. For him, the granite containing Po halos cannot have formed from a melt (magma) and must have formed almost instantaneously during Day Three and provided evidence for a literal interpretation of the Bible.
However, research by Collins suggests that not all granite bodies of large size are formed by crystallization from magma (see Major results section above). In some places granite can form at temperatures below melting conditions where former solidified igneous rocks have been deformed and microfractured
to open up the system for movements of fluids. In these places, if uranium is relatively abundant in these rocks, it also releases radioactive radon
(Rn-222), which is an inert gas
that freely moves through the fractures. Because Rn-222 is the precursor to Po-218, its free movement readily facilitates the natural formation of Po halos. That is, in those places where the former igneous rocks have relatively abundant scattered uranium, during the conversion of these rocks into granite by chemical replacement processes, the open system allows radon gas to migrate in fluids to where biotite is being crystallized or recrystallized and where polonium isotopes derived from the nearby radioactive radon can precipitate in the biotite lattice. Therefore, the three different kinds of Po halos can form naturally in biotite during thousands (or millions) of years while deformation and chemical replacements are occurring without any requirement for instantaneous crystallization on Day Three. In all these places where Po halos in biotite crystals occur, Collins has found myrmekite
to be associated with the granitic rocks.
Thus, the combination of myrmekite and Po-halos (neither of which can form from a granite magma) becomes a strong indicator that not all granite bodies of large size need be formed from magma.
have been certain that they found a fossilized remains of Noah's Ark about 17 miles (27 km) south of Mount Ararat
in eastern Turkey near the village of Doğubeyazıt
. Collins found, however, on the basis of 12 thin sections of various rocks collected at the site by David Fasold, that there is no petrified wood
anywhere in this site. Also, Collins’ studies of samples of rusty-looking iron fragments at this site, which the creationists thought were iron-titanium alloys in rivets, washers, and brackets that were forged by Noah in a furnace and were used by him to hold the walls of the Ark together, are actually oxidized titaniferous magnetite
(iron oxide) grains that were weathered out of volcanic rocks (andesite
and basalt
) that are common in this part of Turkey
. These magnetite grains were concentrated by flowing streams as magnetite placer deposit
s in the various sedimentary layers that compose the bogus ark structure. Some of these sedimentary layers are lahar
s (volcanic mud flows) that contain boulders of the volcanic rocks which the creationists interpreted as remnants of former walls, decking, gunnels, and the bulkhead rim of the Ark. The creationists interpreted that the "Ark" slid down for several miles (km) from higher mountain elevations to its present site: "without having been to the "Ark structure", Collins mistakenly interpreted it to be a natural formation of an eroded doubly-plunging syncline".
Subsequent investigations, however, by other geologists at the site, show that the "Ark structure" is bed rock and that its boat shape likely resulted from erosion by flowing rock debris moving in the slide around the bed rock. Moreover, bisecting the "ark structure" at right angles to its length at its mid point is a lens of white limestone
containing microfossils. This white limestone can be seen in the photo as well as two people standing beyond it to help give a scale to the Ark structure, 515 feet (157 m) long. Surely this lens cannot be a part of Noah's Ark construction. Furthermore, near Little Ararat
are three other similar boat-shaped structures of nearly the same size. If Noah had a fleet of boats, the Bible would be expected to report these other boats, and it does not. Some of Collins’ investigations are documented in a National Geographic Channel
program entitled "The Truth Behind Noah's Ark."
Vernon Township, Cowley County, Kansas
Vernon Township is a township in Cowley County, Kansas, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 502.-Geography:Vernon Township covers an area of and contains no incorporated settlements...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
is an American petrologist, known for his extensive research on metasomatism
Metasomatism
Metasomatism is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids.Metasomatism can occur via the action of hydrothermal fluids from an igneous or metamorphic source. In the igneous environment, metasomatism creates skarns, greisen, and may affect hornfels in the contact...
.
Biography
Born in VernonVernon Township, Cowley County, Kansas
Vernon Township is a township in Cowley County, Kansas, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 502.-Geography:Vernon Township covers an area of and contains no incorporated settlements...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Collins studied geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at the University of Illinois in Urbana
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....
, where he earned a B.Sc. with high honours in 1953. This was followed in 1955 with an M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1959. His thesis dealt with the metasomatic origin of magnetite
Magnetite
Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...
ore deposits in New York State.
In 1960 he took a teaching position at San Fernando Valley State College, now California State University Northridge, which he held for 33 years. He taught mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, petrology and remote sensing
Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
. Until 1962 he worked as an assistant professor. In 1962 he became an associate professor, and in 1966 he was promoted to full professor and was the president of the faculty. He retired in September 1993 from academic teaching.
Since 1972, Collins has been working on the enigmatic mineral intergrowth myrmekite
Myrmekite
Myrmekite describes a vermicular, or wormy, intergrowth of quartz in plagioclase. The intergrowths are microscopic in scale, typically with maximum dimensions less than 1 millimeter. The plagioclase is sodium-rich, usually albite or oligoclase. These quartz-plagioclase intergrowths are associated...
, which led to discoveries in the field of petrology
Petrology
Petrology is the branch of geology that studies rocks, and the conditions in which rocks form....
. He especially questions the purely magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
tic approach to granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
genesis and shows in his research the importance of metasomatic replacements, in some places on a very large regional scale.
Since 1955, Collins is married to Barbara J. Schenck, a botanist, and has five children. Together they have created a website on Californian wildflower identification that covers the four biotope
Biotope
Biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat, but while the subject of a habitat is a species or a population, the subject of a biotope is a biological community.It...
s chaparral, desert, mountains, and northern coast. Lorence Collins is the primary nature photographer on this site. (See external links at end of article.)
Scientific discoveries
In 1972 Collins started to do research on rocks near Temecula, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. There he came upon the mineral intergrowth called myrmekite
Myrmekite
Myrmekite describes a vermicular, or wormy, intergrowth of quartz in plagioclase. The intergrowths are microscopic in scale, typically with maximum dimensions less than 1 millimeter. The plagioclase is sodium-rich, usually albite or oligoclase. These quartz-plagioclase intergrowths are associated...
where its origin did not fit the usually accepted models as to either being formed by exsolution from primary K-feldspar or by Na- and Ca-metasomatism along the margins of primary K-feldspar. His extensive sudies by thin section
Thin section
In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section is a laboratory preparation of a rock, mineral, soil, pottery, bones, or even metal sample for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope, electron microscope and electron microprobe. A thin sliver of rock is cut from the sample with a...
s, cathodoluminescence
Cathodoluminescence
Cathodoluminescence is an optical and electrical phenomenon whereby a beam of electrons is generated by an electron gun and then impacts on a luminescent material such as a phosphor, causing the material to emit visible light. The most common example is the screen of a television...
, electron microprobe
Electron microprobe
An electron microprobe , also known as an electron probe microanalyzer or electron micro probe analyzer , is an analytical tool used to non-destructively determine the chemical composition of small volumes of solid materials...
and scanning-electron images
Scanning electron microscope
A scanning electron microscope is a type of electron microscope that images a sample by scanning it with a high-energy beam of electrons in a raster scan pattern...
supported an entirely different model in which K-metasomatism of primary plagioclase produced the myrmekite. These investigations and the field relationships convinced him of the entirely different origin of myrmekite from that generally believed by most geologists. He subsequently received fierce opposition from the established petrology community. Therefore, he decided to write books, and in 1997 he created his own website and published his findings digitally.
Scope of scientific research
Since his thesis in New York state, Collins has done a tremendous amount of petrological studies in very different geological settings. Having taken roots in California, he naturally centered a lot of his research around the American Southwest, but he also carried out more work on the Northeastern States; outside the United States he worked in Canada (AlbertaAlberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
), in Europe (Greece, Ireland, Norway and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and in Australia.
The rock types Collins worked on are mainly granitoid
Granitoid
A granitoid or granitic rock is a variety of coarse grained plutonic rock similar to granite which mineralogically are composed predominately of feldspar and quartz. Examples of granitoid rocks include granite, quartz monzonite, quartz diorite, syenite, granodiorite and trondhjemite. Many are...
s, gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
es, augen gneisses, mylonite
Mylonite
Mylonite is a fine-grained, compact rock produced by dynamic recrystallization of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock. It is classified as a metamorphic rock...
s and metasedimentary rocks
Metasediment
In geology, metasediment is sediment or sedimentary rock that shows evidence of having been subjected to metamorphism. The overall composition of a metasediment can be used to identify the original sedimentary rock, even where they have been subject to high-grade metamorphism and intense...
.
On his website he so far has authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific articles. (See external links at end of article.)
Major results
The results of Collins' research on myrmekite bear directly on the origin of graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
(granitoids). They can be summarized as follows:
- Collins agrees that most granitoids once were of magmaMagmaMagma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
tic origin. Following the cooling path, the magma reached the eutectic and crystallized. But for him the story doesn't end here. It is known that feldspars also can form below the eutectic in the temperature range 650 °C to 450 °C. Collins shows that different types of hot metasomaticMetasomatismMetasomatism is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids.Metasomatism can occur via the action of hydrothermal fluids from an igneous or metamorphic source. In the igneous environment, metasomatism creates skarns, greisen, and may affect hornfels in the contact...
fluids (especially the K- and Si-bearing solutions), will attack the magmatic structures and alter the primary minerals through replacements (See illustration on the left, a rather obvious example of K-feldspar replacement of zoned plagioclase occurring in the Vrådal pluton in southern Norway). The formation of myrmekite and sieve textures are an indicator, that this process has happened. This replacement process can take on regional dimensions and can lead to progressive changes in rock types from more mafic to more felsic composition. One example is his study on the Wanup Pluton near Sudbury in Ontario, Canada. In this case, the replacement evolved from a dioriteDioriteDiorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene. It may contain small amounts of quartz, microcline and olivine. Zircon, apatite, sphene, magnetite, ilmenite and sulfides occur as accessory...
–gabbroGabbroGabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
to quartz monzoniteQuartz monzoniteQuartz monzonite is an intrusive igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. The plagioclase is typically intermediate to sodic in composition, andesine to oligoclase. Quartz is present in significant amounts. Biotite and/or hornblende...
–granodioriteGranodioriteGranodiorite is an intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase than orthoclase-type feldspar. Officially, it is defined as a phaneritic igneous rock with greater than 20% quartz by volume where at least 65% of the feldspar is plagioclase. It usually contains abundant...
. - Metasomatic changes likewise operate on heating the country rocks well before true anatexisAnatexisAnatexis in geology, refers to the differential, or partial, melting of rocks, especially in the forming of metamorphic rocks such as migmatites.-Optimum Temperature Conditions for Crustal Melting:...
sets in. An example for this is the Cooma granodiorite in southeastern Australia. Here Collins shows how metapelites and metapsammites are metasomatically replaced to form a granodiorite and migmatiteMigmatiteMigmatite is a rock at the frontier between igneous and metamorphic rocks. They can also be known as diatexite.Migmatites form under extreme temperature conditions during prograde metamorphism, where partial melting occurs in pre-existing rocks. Migmatites are not crystallized from a totally...
s. It is important to note that the Cooma granodiorite never reached the melting stage and was formed entirely through replacement processes. - Collins' work also clearly points out the very important role of tectonic deformation in furthering the replacement processes. It is the mechanical breaking-up of primary minerals by means of brittle (cataclasis, faulting) and finally ductile deformations (as in ffoldFold (geology)The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in...
ing, shear zoneShear zoneA shear zone is a very important structural discontinuity surface in the Earth's crust and upper mantle. It forms as a response to inhomogeneous deformation partitioning strain into planar or curviplanar high-strain zones. Intervening blocks stay relatively unaffected by the deformation...
s and myloniteMyloniteMylonite is a fine-grained, compact rock produced by dynamic recrystallization of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock. It is classified as a metamorphic rock...
s) that allows the metasomatic fluids to become fully effective. - Note that the maximum size of the quartz vermicules in myrmekite correlates with the Ca content (An value) of the primary plagioclase in rocks outside (adjacent to) the granitic rock containing the myrmekite. This correlation is totally unexpected for models explaining the origin of myrmekite by either exsolution of Ca and Na from primary K-feldspar or by Ca- and Na-replacement of primary K-feldspar.
An interesting observation concerns the fierce opposition Collins encountered amongst mainstream petrologists although there is no doubt, that metasomatic processes can be very effective as is for instance clearly demonstrated in fenites (K-Na-metasomatism) or in skarn
Skarn
Skarn is an old Swedish mining term originally used to describe a type of silicate gangue, or waste rock, associated with iron-ore bearing sulfide deposits apparently replacing Archean age limestones in Sweden's Persberg mining district. In modern usage the term "skarn" has been expanded to refer...
s. And two final remarks:
- metsasomatism in the mantleMantle (geology)The mantle is a part of a terrestrial planet or other rocky body large enough to have differentiation by density. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers. The mantle is a highly viscous layer between the crust and the outer core....
(i.e., net-veined peridotite) is continuously being used to explain the origin of enriched basaltic magmasBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
, so if metasomatic processes are assumed to operate in the mantle, why is there such a problem accepting them to happen also in the crust? - Na-metasomatism has been accepted, but why not its counterpart K-metasomatism, although both elements behave chemically in a very similar fashion?
Debate on creationism
Collins is of the Methodist faith and due to his geological training strongly opposed to creationismCreationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
. He has created a section on creationism within his web site in which he discusses various aspects of creationists' theories concerning literal readings of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
or supernatural explanations, and each of these is demonstrated to have originated by natural processes or to have a modern science interpretation. Among these articles are three that present his own Christian philosophy.
Noachian Flood
In addition to his discussions of creationism in this website, he says that a worldwide Noachian Flood cannot have happened, but that it could have occurred as a large local flood in southeastern MesopotamiaMesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) where Noah could have built his ark in the Garden of Eden. The combined flood plains
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
of the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
and Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
Rivers from 80 miles (128.7 km) north of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
to the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
are up to 170 miles (273.6 km) wide, and the river gradients from Baghdad to the gulf (a distance of 425 miles (684 km)) are less than 1 ft/mi and mostly as little as 0.14 ft/mi. Therefore, the land in this area is so flat that during a huge storm and resulting large flood, water coming from the surrounding mountains in Egypt, Syria, Iran, and Turkey, would have piled up. Villages along natural levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
s of the rivers would have been inundated under several feet (metres) of water. Moreover, because of the curvature of the earth
Figure of the Earth
The expression figure of the Earth has various meanings in geodesy according to the way it is used and the precision with which the Earth's size and shape is to be defined. The actual topographic surface is most apparent with its variety of land forms and water areas. This is, in fact, the surface...
, no land 85 miles (136.8 km) away from either sides of the rivers would have been visible from any large boat floating in the water. On that basis, for any survivors of the Flood, the whole world would have been under water, and that part of the earth would have been their whole world.
In support of Collins’ opposition to the validity of the mythical worldwide Noachian Flood is information published by Carol Hill and Stephen Moshier. These authors point out that 30000 feet (9.1 km) of fossil-bearing sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
underlie the Garden of Eden where Noah likely built his Ark. Therefore, "destroyed flesh" already had occurred in "Flood deposits" underneath the construction site before Noah could have built the Ark. So, this fact alone negates a worldwide flood model to produce the sedimentary Flood deposits that the creationists promote.
These authors also point out that underlying Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
are several thousand feet (several km) of fossil-bearing sedimentary rock and note that if all these sedimentary rocks were deposited by the Noachian Flood, then:
- the sedimentary rocks would have had to be deposited and cemented to form solid rock so that lavaLavaLava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
could punch its way up through a fracture in them to produce the stratiform Mount Ararat during multiple volcanic eruptions, - the amount of lava coming up would have had to be enough to pile up to an elevation of almost 17000 feet (5.2 km), and
- this combined sequence of sedimentary deposition, cementation, volcanism, solidification of the lava, and ceasing of volcanic eruptions would have had to happen in less than one year's time before Noah could land safely on top of Mount Ararat.
The less than one year's time for all of these events to occur is physically impossible. These facts strongly suggest that creationists are wasting their time looking for remnants of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.
In the biblical story (Genesis 6-8), the only time in which drying occurred was after more than a year at the end of Flood when Noah and his family could finally leave the ark and step out on dry land. On that basis, there should be places where local lakes evaporated to dryness and produced evaporite
Evaporite
Evaporite is a name for a water-soluble mineral sediment that result from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporate deposits, marine which can also be described as ocean deposits, and non-marine which are found in standing bodies of...
minerals. If the biblical story is valid, such deposits should be found only on top of the Flood deposits. Instead, many different, thick, evaporite mineral deposits are found on all continents (e.g., Hallein
Hallein
Hallein is a historic town in the Austrian state of Salzburg, the capital of the Hallein district. It is located in the Tennengau region south of the City of Salzburg, along the Salzach river in the shadow of the Untersberg massif, near the border with Germany. With a population of c...
, Austria, where salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
is mined), not on top of the Flood deposits, but at different stratigraphic levels and geologic ages, interlayered with the Flood deposits. These deposits are associated with fossil mudcrack
Mudcrack
Mudcracks are sedimentary structures formed as muddy sediment dries and contracts.- Formation :...
prints in red beds (shales) where flood-plain muds had been exposed to the hot sun and lost their water contents, causing the mud to shrink and create the mudcracks. How can there be many different periods of desert drying conditions in the midst of a worldwide Flood? These observations suggest why a worldwide Flood could not have occurred.
Polonium halos
A favorite belief among creationists is that poloniumPolonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for...
halos
Radiohalo
Radiohalos or pleochroic halos are microscopic, spherical shells of discolouration within minerals such as biotite that occur in granite and other igneous rocks. The shells are zones of radiation damage caused by the inclusion of minute radioactive crystals within the host crystal structure...
are proof that granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
(and the earth) were created almost instantaneously on Day Three of the Genesis Week. This model was promoted by Robert V. Gentry
Robert V. Gentry
Robert V. Gentry is a nuclear physicist and young earth creationist, known for his claims that radiohalos provide evidence for a young age of the Earth. He is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.-Career:...
, a physicist, who studied Po halos in biotite
Biotite
Biotite is a common phyllosilicate mineral within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . More generally, it refers to the dark mica series, primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more aluminous endmembers...
(and fluorite) in granite pegmatite
Pegmatite
A pegmatite is a very crystalline, intrusive igneous rock composed of interlocking crystals usually larger than 2.5 cm in size; such rocks are referred to as pegmatitic....
s. Polonium (Po) is a natural element which has several different radioactive isotope
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s, among which are Po-218, Po-214, and Po-210 (with masses of 218, 214, and 210). These isotopes are the last three "daughters" in the eight-step radioactive uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
(U-238) decay scheme
Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
before the stable lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
isotope (Pb-206) is formed. In each decay step in which a new isotope of different mass is formed, heavy alpha particle
Alpha particle
Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium nucleus, which is classically produced in the process of alpha decay, but may be produced also in other ways and given the same name...
s (helium nuclei) with a mass of 4 are shot out from the nucleus like high-energy cannon balls. Where polonium is found in biotite mica, these cannon balls damage the biotite lattice structure
Crystal structure
In mineralogy and crystallography, crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid. A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry...
to produce a glass that is visible as a black halo, provided that enough polonium (about 1,000,000,000 to 10,000,000,000 Po atoms) is originally present at a nucleation point.
The halo radius of damage is different for each of the different polonium isotopes. Therefore, if three, two, or one of the Po isotopes are present, then three different Po-halo ring-type halos might be present with three rings, two rings, or a single ring. Although Po halos are three of the eight possible halos of damage that are created by eight different daughter isotopes where uranium (U-238) is nucleated in zircon
Zircon
Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. A common empirical formula showing some of the range of substitution in zircon is 1–x4x–y...
or uraninite
Uraninite
Uraninite is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2, but also contains UO3 and oxides of lead, thorium, and rare earth elements...
crystals in a biotite crystal, in some places the three Po halos occur in biotite crystals completely isolated from where uranium has nucleated. This special occurrence of isolated Po halos in biotite is the basis for Gentry's assertion that granite was formed on Day Three nearly instantaneously.
His reasoning is as follows:
Where granite crystallizes
Crystallization
Crystallization is the process of formation of solid crystals precipitating from a solution, melt or more rarely deposited directly from a gas. Crystallization is also a chemical solid–liquid separation technique, in which mass transfer of a solute from the liquid solution to a pure solid...
from a large body of magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
several miles deep in the Earth's crust, the cooling time before biotite first begins to crystallize is thought to be at least 5 million years. On that basis, if the half lives
Half-life
Half-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
of Po-218, Po-214, and Po-210 are 3.05 minutes, less than 200 microseconds, and 140 days (respectively), no matter how much original polonium could have been present in the initial magma, all these Po isotopes would have decayed to stable lead (Pb-206) long before they could nucleate in late-forming biotite crystals in sufficient quantities to form visible Po halos. Because most granite petrologists believe that large bodies of granite must crystallize from magma, and this model is the generally accepted theory for the formation of granite, Gentry's reasoning is quite logical. For him, the granite containing Po halos cannot have formed from a melt (magma) and must have formed almost instantaneously during Day Three and provided evidence for a literal interpretation of the Bible.
However, research by Collins suggests that not all granite bodies of large size are formed by crystallization from magma (see Major results section above). In some places granite can form at temperatures below melting conditions where former solidified igneous rocks have been deformed and microfractured
Fracture mechanics
Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics concerned with the study of the propagation of cracks in materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the driving force on a crack and those of experimental solid mechanics to characterize the material's resistance to fracture.In...
to open up the system for movements of fluids. In these places, if uranium is relatively abundant in these rocks, it also releases radioactive radon
Radon
Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...
(Rn-222), which is an inert gas
Inert gas
An inert gas is a non-reactive gas used during chemical synthesis, chemical analysis, or preservation of reactive materials. Inert gases are selected for specific settings for which they are functionally inert since the cost of the gas and the cost of purifying the gas are usually a consideration...
that freely moves through the fractures. Because Rn-222 is the precursor to Po-218, its free movement readily facilitates the natural formation of Po halos. That is, in those places where the former igneous rocks have relatively abundant scattered uranium, during the conversion of these rocks into granite by chemical replacement processes, the open system allows radon gas to migrate in fluids to where biotite is being crystallized or recrystallized and where polonium isotopes derived from the nearby radioactive radon can precipitate in the biotite lattice. Therefore, the three different kinds of Po halos can form naturally in biotite during thousands (or millions) of years while deformation and chemical replacements are occurring without any requirement for instantaneous crystallization on Day Three. In all these places where Po halos in biotite crystals occur, Collins has found myrmekite
Myrmekite
Myrmekite describes a vermicular, or wormy, intergrowth of quartz in plagioclase. The intergrowths are microscopic in scale, typically with maximum dimensions less than 1 millimeter. The plagioclase is sodium-rich, usually albite or oligoclase. These quartz-plagioclase intergrowths are associated...
to be associated with the granitic rocks.
Thus, the combination of myrmekite and Po-halos (neither of which can form from a granite magma) becomes a strong indicator that not all granite bodies of large size need be formed from magma.
Bogus Noah's Ark
Young earth creationistsYoung Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
have been certain that they found a fossilized remains of Noah's Ark about 17 miles (27 km) south of Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
in eastern Turkey near the village of Doğubeyazıt
Dogubeyazit
Doğubeyazıt is a city and district of Ağrı Province of Turkey, and is Turkey's most eastern district, the border crossing to Iran. Elevation 1625 m. Area 2.383 km². Population 115.354 of which 69.447 live in the town of Doğubeyazıt, the remainder in the surrounding countryside...
. Collins found, however, on the basis of 12 thin sections of various rocks collected at the site by David Fasold, that there is no petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
anywhere in this site. Also, Collins’ studies of samples of rusty-looking iron fragments at this site, which the creationists thought were iron-titanium alloys in rivets, washers, and brackets that were forged by Noah in a furnace and were used by him to hold the walls of the Ark together, are actually oxidized titaniferous magnetite
Magnetite
Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...
(iron oxide) grains that were weathered out of volcanic rocks (andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
and basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
) that are common in this part of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. These magnetite grains were concentrated by flowing streams as magnetite placer deposit
Placer deposit
In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand". Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early...
s in the various sedimentary layers that compose the bogus ark structure. Some of these sedimentary layers are lahar
Lahar
A lahar is a type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. The term is a shortened version of "berlahar" which originated in the Javanese language of...
s (volcanic mud flows) that contain boulders of the volcanic rocks which the creationists interpreted as remnants of former walls, decking, gunnels, and the bulkhead rim of the Ark. The creationists interpreted that the "Ark" slid down for several miles (km) from higher mountain elevations to its present site: "without having been to the "Ark structure", Collins mistakenly interpreted it to be a natural formation of an eroded doubly-plunging syncline".
Subsequent investigations, however, by other geologists at the site, show that the "Ark structure" is bed rock and that its boat shape likely resulted from erosion by flowing rock debris moving in the slide around the bed rock. Moreover, bisecting the "ark structure" at right angles to its length at its mid point is a lens of white limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
containing microfossils. This white limestone can be seen in the photo as well as two people standing beyond it to help give a scale to the Ark structure, 515 feet (157 m) long. Surely this lens cannot be a part of Noah's Ark construction. Furthermore, near Little Ararat
Little Ararat
Little Ararat, also known as Mount Sis or Lesser Ararat , is the sixth tallest peak in Turkey. It is a large satellite cone located on the eastern flank of the massive Mount Ararat, less than five miles west of Turkey's border with Iran...
are three other similar boat-shaped structures of nearly the same size. If Noah had a fleet of boats, the Bible would be expected to report these other boats, and it does not. Some of Collins’ investigations are documented in a National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
program entitled "The Truth Behind Noah's Ark."
Scientific publications (selection)
- Lorence G. Collins and Barbara J. Collins, Pleistocene Continental Glaciers: A Single Ice Age Following a Genesis Flood or Multiple Ice Ages?, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, 2011, v. 31, issue 5, pp. 1-11.
- Lorence G. Collins and Barbara J. Collins, Origin of Polonium Halos, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, 2010, v. 30, Issue 5, pp. 11–16 http://ncse.com/rncse/30/5/origin-polonium-halos
- Collins, L. G., 2009, Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened but Not over the Whole Earth, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, September-October issue, (in press).
- Collins, L. G., 1997, Muscovite-garnet granites in the Mojave Desert: Relation to crustal structure of the Cretaceous arc: Comment: Geology, v. 25, p. 187.
- Collins, L. G., 1993, The metasomatic origin of the Cooma complex in southeastern Australia: Theophrastus Contributions, v. 1, p. 105-112.
- Collins, L. G., and Davis, T. E., 1992, Origin of high-grade biotite-sillimanite-garnet-cordierite gneisses by hydrothermal differentiation, Colorado; in Augustithis, S. S., ed., High Grade Metamorphics: Athens, Theophrastus Publications, p. 297-338.
- Collins, L. G., 1989a, Origin of the Isabella pluton and its enclaves, Kern County, California: California Geology, v. 42, p. 53-59.
- Collins, L. G., 1988b, Myrmekite, a mystery solved near Temecula, Riverside County, California: Geology, v. 41, p. 276-281.
- Weigand, P. W., Parker, J., and Collins, L. G., 1981, Metamorphic origin of garnets in the Lowe granodiorite, San Gabriel Mtns., California: Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 62, no. 45, p. 1060.
- Collins, L. G., 1971, Manganese and zinc in amphibolite near the Sterling Hill and Franklin Mines, New Jersey: Economic Geology, v. 66, p. 348-350.
- Collins, L. G., 1969b, Host rock origin of magnetite in pyroxene skarn and gneiss and its relation to alaskite and hornblende granite: Economic Geology, v. 64, p. 191-201.
- Collins, L. G., 1966, Finding Rare Beauty In Common Rocks, National Geographic, v. 129, no. 1, January, p. 121-129.
- Collins, L. G., 1959c, Geology of the magnetite deposits and associated gneisses near Ausable Forks, New York: unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 147 p.