The paradox of Pacific guyots and a possible solution for the thick 'reefal' limestone on Eniwetok Island

Guyots are flat-topped seamounts. Thousands of guyots, often in chains and clusters, are strewn across the Western Pacific Ocean, especially between the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. The guyots in the Mid-Pacific Mountains are particularly numerous. The tops of the guyots are generally about 1,500 meters below sea level. Guyots present a number of persistent problems within the uniformitarian paradigm: 'Since Hess first recognized them in 1946, the origin of flat-topped seamounts, or guyots, has remained one of the most persistent problems in marine geology.' 2 Several of these paradoxes were discussed in a recent article in Nature? Scientists have presumed that guyots are erosionally-truncated drowned volcanoes. However, many North Pacific guyots are actually large volcanic platforms capped by thick carbonate, and topped by a veneer of pelagic ooze. Uniformitarian scientists believe the carbonate represents ancient reefs that drowned. This belief is reinforced by ocean drilling program (ODP) drill cores that contain fossils of rudists, corals, calcareous algae, and benthic foraminifera. Since guyots are assumed to have formed at sea level, the main paradox facing uniformitarian scientists is that reef growth should have been one to two orders of magnitude faster than relative sea level rise. Many modern reefs have survived through ice age fluctuations of sea level and a large Holocene transgression. In other words, the ancient reefs should not have drowned. Two hypotheses are presented to explain guyots in the Nature article, each with its problems. The 'death-bye m e r g e n c e a n d s u b m e r g e n c e ' hypothesis postulates regional tectonic and eustatic (sea level) changes that caused a temporary emergence of the reef followed by a rapid relative rise in sea level to drown the reef. The idea of emergence is based on the likely development of holes and caves (karstification) in the limestone cap, based on sink holes and dolines, discovered on many guyots. It is this karst topography that supposedly is evidence of emergence, and when sea level rose again, the karst topography retarded the building of the reef, which therefore aided reef drowning. The second 'death-in-the-tropics,' hypothesis suggests that the reefs drowned while the guyots, which formed in the Southern Hemisphere, passed northward across the equator on the moving Pacific plate. The main problem with this hypothesis is that the equatorial belt is currently a zone of high reef growth. Consequently those who hold this hypothesis must postulate some equatorial reef-retarding mechanism, the opposite of today. A big problem for both hypotheses is that in the Marshall Islands guyots are near surviving atolls, for example Enewetok and Bikinni islands that have thick carbonate caps (Figure l). An atoll is a generally circular reef surrounding a central lagoon. Wilson et al. state that both hypotheses for the drowning of guyots are problematic: Nevertheless, the mechanism responsible for drowning remains poorly constrained.' 9 Based on isotopic, biostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and geochemical data, Wilson et al. favor the 'death-in-the-tropics' hypothesis. The unsolved mysteries of guyots should encourage creationists to examine the evidence closely and reinterpret the hard data within our paradigm. I will suggest a few ideas. First, it is likely guyots do represent a large relative sea level rise, probably at the end of the Flood, because some guyots are flat-topped volcanoes that are not capped by carbonate or any reefal material, and hence were probably sheared off near sea level. (One of the evidences for sea level erosion of guyots is shallow water benthic organisms, but within a Flood Figure 1. Guyots and platforms in Marshall Islands. Islands and atolls shaded. Contour interval is 1000 m (from Introduction by Shipboard Scientific Party).