Why Only Creationism So Politicized?

This forum is a lot of fun, isn't it? From what I've seen here, you can pretty much find a knowledgeable person for just about any question you ask - as long as you show you're willing to actually read and consider the answers. However, I think you'll find it's even MORE fun to participate. For example, your statement: would seem to require a bit more info provided on your part before it can really be addressed. For instance, could you reference where you got these figures? They seem to be somewhat off as far as what geologists and pedologists say is the case. "Evolutionists", for instance, mostly say things like, "Wow, those 3.5 gya microstructures sure resemble stromatolites. That must mean there were oceans that long ago, since those critters only live in oceans." If you could give a reference for the 62 million year sediment figure, that would be helpful.

As far as hearing or reading specific papers, in most cases it it depends on your area of interest. For instance, I've read the Paabo paper Mammuthus cited, but wouldn't really want to comment on how "influential" it might be or may have been. Mine is a different area. For example, I would have cited Orr, HA 1995 "The Population Genetics of Speciation: The Evolution of Hybrid Incompatibilities" (Genetics 139:1805-1813) as an influential paper, or maybe even the book Wilson EO, MacArthur RH, 1967 "The Theory of Island Biogeography" (Princeton Uni Press) which although dated somewhat was the seminal work that mostly launched the entire field by providing a theoretical framework for all the observations that had been made since Wallace and Darwin on biogeography.I can probably come up with a number of other papers I consider "influential" in my field, so I don't understand the point you're trying to make in reference to Mammuthus's choices - he works with ancient DNA, I work(ed) as an ecologist. Thus the choice of what would be considered "influential" in our respective fields is going to be different. Maybe you could explain what you're asking for?