Radiometric dating

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Introductory Geology, Oswego State : One Thread

What are other ways to tell the age of a rock? How does it vary for the differnt types?

-- Philip R Reitz (Dscacci1@twcny.rr.com), March 30, 2001

Answers

There are two types of dating according to our notes from class (page 1 Ch. 9)relative and absolute dating. According to our book relative age is "The age of a geologic event or feature relative to other geologic events or features and expressed in terms of the geologic time scale." One type of relative dating is superposition according to our notes. That tells us that the rock layer on top is younger than the layers below it. Therefore it gives us a relative age of a rock compaired to the rocks around it. The other type of dating is Absolute dating. According to our book Absolute dating is "the age in years of a particular geologic event or feature, generally obtained with radiometric dating techniques." According to Dr. Gabel's lecture you can not use radiometric dating on metamorphic rocks accurately because during heating metamorphic rocks lose isotopes. Hope this was some help.

-- Laura Smith (LilRed1525@aol.com), April 04, 2001.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ