The Roraima Pollen Paradox

Because I'm not locked into an Evolutionary paradigm. Credentials please. If you are going to start postulating and defending novel hypotheses that the scientists who had all the data never considered then we need to evaluate your professional capacity to do so. According to the abstract of the experiment report,[6] "[R]ock samples containing dense populations of [tiny, organic fossils] have been heated to 500°C (± 2.5°C) for varying lengths of time[...] The morphologies of the heated [fossils] are retained, and no features related to graphitization have been observed." More completely: "The morphologies of the heated acritarchs are retained, and no features related to graphitization have been observed. Preliminary Raman analysis reported here illustrates a decrease in D:G ratios of heated acritarchs as compared to spectra of unheated acritarchs, suggesting that the heated samples are becoming more graphitized." Thus, we have two studies of naturally occurring microfossils reduced to graphite at 500 C and an experimental study showing that microfossils become more graphitized at 500 C. In addition to this we have the entire concept of palynofacies, the use of pollen color, produced by thermal degradation of organic material, to determine paleotemperature [1]. The fossil fuel industry has been successfully using this technique for over a quarter century to evaluate coal and oil field maturity [2]. This is why all three of the palynologists mentioned by Stainforth were working for oil companies. "G. Fournier, palynologist of the Mene Grande Oil Company, processed the samples and recovered well-preserved pollen and spores. Subsequently, L. Nijssen and J. A. Sulek, palynologists of Compañía Shell de Venezuela and Creole Petroleum Corporation, respectively, processed other pieces and recovered identical plant microfossils." No. That isn't bedding planes you're looking at, but quartz bands. Don't believe me? Just look at the text you yourself underlined beneath the photo. The quartz bands are the coarse portion of graded bedding [3]. Three beds are visible in the photomicrograph with fine-grained tops toward the upper right of the image. http://regentsprep.org...; /> There is no living pollen in the vicinity that matches the pollen found in the rock: "G. Fournier[...] was able to compare the recent pollen of the area with the assemblage in the rocks, and has stated that they are not the same." G. Fournier knows what he's talking about. He's a palynogloist, a.k.a. a pollen expert. Again, more completely: "The palynological assemblage has not yet been matched conclusively against any known suite, a fact which is not surprising in view of the distance from control sections of known age and the highly endemic character of the flora of today, and probably the geological past, on the isolated Roraima Plateau. G. Fournier, by utilizing the herbarium of J. Steyermark, was able to compare the recent pollen of the area with the assemblage in the rocks, and has stated that they are not the same." This is hardly surprising given the diverse and unusual nature of the flora in the area. Mt. Roraima is home to a wide variety of plants, many of which are endemic to the tepui [4]. Moreover, the contamination may have occurred at any time or times in the past 135 Ma. If my opponent is going to make allegations of quote mining he should take greater care with his own quotes. According to Wikipedia[7], ultrasonic cleaning "produces high forces on contaminants[...] to thoroughly remove all traces of contamination tightly adhering or embedded onto solid surfaces." The fact that pollen fossils could be removed via ultrasound is proof that ultrasound is effective, not proof that the rock is porous. To the contrary, it was "dense enough to sound when struck with a hammer." Ultrasonic cleaning removes surface contaminants, not material within solid, nonporous rock. Ultrasonic cleaning removed the pollen, thus it is either a surface contaminant or the rock is more porous than suggested. In either case, the pollen is contamination, not bound within or between minerals and part of the original rock. "[T]he face which was sampled must have been deep within the formation until quite recent times." Unimportant if we are dealing with contamination transported via groundwater. "[If contamination] be granted, it would have been operative for a long period, and a mixed suite of spores and pollen should be expected." No description of the pollen assemblage(s) is available so we can't evaluate this statement. Furthermore, my opponent has neglected to mention that the cave in which these pollen fossils were found is beneath "an overburden of hundreds of feet". These are undercuts in a cliff, not caves. Caves are typically carved by water, which I suspect my opponent will want to avoid. This is the Guiana Highlands. It rains on a daily basis. All that is required is water percolating down through a joint or crack in the rock, carrying pollen with it. This isn't even implausible, much less the absurd scenario that my opponent constructed. Now let's examine a few conspicuous absences: The lack of plants: As Stainforth states, "The absence of macroscopic plant remains in the Roraima Formation is also noted, despite its assumed continental (?fluviatile) origin." No plant fossils are found in the Roraima Formation. The rocks in question are sandstone and shale, which commonly preserve plant fossils yet we find none. All we have for evidence is a few pollen grains, none of which are described or even shown in the photomicrograph. If we have conditions where pollen can easily be preserved we would expect to find the host plants preserved as well. Not even a fragment or root cast was found. The lack of further work: Stainforth's second sentence of his paper is, "Individual authors will doubtless publish detailed stratigraphic and palynologic accounts of the occurrence in due course." No further work was done. Stainforth himself published up until 1982 and lived until 2002 but never published another word on this pollen [5]. Stainforth's paper is cited just once in the scientific literature, one year later [6]. The topic never resurfaces in half a century. On the one hand we are presented with the wholly implausible notion that a discovery that would have radically altered our understanding of the natural world was forgotten or ignored by everybody who worked on it. On the other hand, we are presented with the much less exciting but more realistic possibility that the pollen was simply a matter of contamination and warranted no further attention. Summary: - Pollen heated to the temperatures experienced by the Roraima hornfels is converted to graphite. This has been documented in two cases observed in nature, one laboratory experiment and is the basis of the technique of palynofacies. This is not observed in the Roraima pollen described so it must be contamination. - Pollen is removed by ultrasonic cleaning demonstrating that it isn't bound within the rock but is on surfaces or bedding planes. This demonstrates that it is not part of the rock. Again, contamination. - The absence of any plant fossils mitigates against the pollen being produced at the time that the rock was formed. - The lack of any further work demonstrates that the pollen from the Roraima hornfels did not have an explanation worthy of further publication. This suggests a mundane explanation rather than one which would have led to a paradigm shift in geology and biology at the very least. Sources: [1] Batten, DJ (1982) Palynofacies, palaeoenvironments and petroleum. Journal of Micropalaeontology 1: 107-114. http://jm.lyellcollection.org... [2] Ercegovaca, M and Kostić, A (2006) Organic facies and palynofacies: Nomenclature, classification and applicability for petroleum source rock evaluation. International Journal of Coal Geology 68(1-2): 70-78. http://www.sciencedirect.com... [3] Graded Bedding - USGS http://education.usgs.gov... [4] Green, R (2009), The Lost World of Venezuela's Mt. Roraima, Los Angeles Times (July 24, 2009) [5] R. M. Stainfoth: Stratigrapher and Micropaleontologist http://rpasmd.org... [6] Hargraves, RB (1967) Palaeomagnetism of the Roraima Dolerites. Geophys. J. Int. 16 (2): 147-160.