A dating method that measures the amount of radioactive decay that has taken place in the rocks being studied.
the most reliable method of obtaining a 'date' for a rock depends upon the observation that the rate of decay of a radioactive element is a constant. The earliest methods, using uranium and thorium MINERALS as the starting material, yielded evidence that the extent of geological time was at least 2 million years. The development of knowledge concerning radioactive processes since 1939 has made available a number of refined techniques for radioactive dating which are nowadays routine processes.
A technique for estimating the age of material, such as rock, based on the known initial isotopic composition and the known rate of radioactive decay for unstable isotopes originally present.
a technique that gives absolute ages of a material (rather than merely relative ages) from the number of radioactive active atoms remaining in the material.
measurement of the amount of radioactive material (usually carbon 14) that an object contains; can be used to estimate the age of the object
a technique used to measure the amounts of a parent and daughter isotope within a rock or mineral and use the ratio of the two to calculate the absolute age
A technique for estimating the age of an object by measuring the amounts of various radioisotopes in it.
Method of dating ancient objects by determining the ratio of amounts of mother and daughter nuclides present in an object and relating the ratio to the object?s age via half-life calculations.