Ocean Origin (preliminary information)
Corroborations are coming to the attention of UBtheNEWS far faster than we can prepare reports. To help people better appreciate this aspect of the project and to be of service to those who would like to participate in the development of these reports, preliminary information is being provided. Information in the various preliminary reports is posted at different stages of completion, depending on how work on reports was prioritized and then reprioritized. Please get in touch if you have additional information that is relevant to the preparation of one these upcoming reports.
See Dr. Chris Halvorson's History of Life article (its only a couple pages long) for an appreciation of how and why Urantia Book dates for ancient times are different that radiometric dating. UBtheNEWS is working with Dr. Halvorson on a new paper, written for those unfamiliar with The Urantia Book, that will more directly and fully address this issue in relationship to UBtheNEWS reports.
Notwithstanding the 4:1 ratio between radiometric dating and Urantia Book dates for the planets early history, corroborations are developing nonetheless. Sometimes this occurs when the sequential order of ancient events becomes more aligned with The Urantia Book. And in some instances, like this one concerning the location of oldest rock exposure on the face of the earth, new discoveries support other types of assertions about planetary history.
The relevant passage comes from Paper 57: The Origin of Urantia, Section 8: Crustal Stabilization, The Age of Earthquakes, The World Ocean, and The First Continent:
57:8.3 The real geologic history of Urantia begins with the cooling of the earth's crust sufficiently to cause the formation of the first ocean. Water-vapor condensation on the cooling surface of the earth, once begun, continued until it was virtually complete. By the end of this period the ocean was world-wide, covering the entire planet to an average depth of over one mile. The tides were then in play much as they are now observed, but this primitive ocean was not salty; it was practically a fresh-water covering for the world. In those days, most of the chlorine was combined with various metals, but there was enough, in union with hydrogen, to render this water faintly acid.
57:8.4 At the opening of this faraway era, Urantia should be envisaged as a water-bound planet. Later on, deeper and hence denser lava flows came out upon the bottom of the present Pacific ocean, and this part of the water-covered surface became considerably depressed. The first continental land mass emerged from the world ocean in compensatory adjustment of the equilibrium of the gradually thickening earth's crust.
57:8.5 950,000,000 years ago Urantia presents the picture of one great continent of land and one large body of water, the Pacific ocean. Volcanoes are still widespread and earthquakes are both frequent and severe. Meteors continue to bombard the earth, but they are diminishing in both frequency and size. The atmosphere is clearing up, but the amount of carbon dioxide continues large. The earth's crust is gradually stabilizing.
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