Review of concepts and sample problems (UES 200) Answer keys will be posted. This is not graded; just for practice 1. Pebbles of an igneous rock are incorporated within a conglomerate. The pebbles yield a radiometric age of 300 million years. What can you say about age of the conglomerate based on this data? Ans: The conglomerate is younger than the pebbles, so it’s younger than 300 million years. 2. A geologist has dated a dinosaur (as 60 Million ys old), based on a layer of decayed wood found buried below its skeleton. Could this age be acceptable? Ans: No. The half-life of “C is only 5730 years, all the “C would have long since decayed away. "'C dating is no good past about 50,000 to 100,000 years. 3. A bone was recently recovered from a site in eastern Africa. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the bone contains 12.5% of the original amount of "C. How old is the bone? (Half life of *C = 5730 year). Ans: 12.5% of the original remaining indicates that 3 half-lives have passed, 3 half- lives x 5730 year/half-life = 17190 years old. 4. The half-life of an element is 50 years. In a certain rock, there is 1/16th of the original parent element, and 15/16th of the daughter element. How old is the rock? a. 25 years b.50 years c. 100 years d. 200 years Answer :d 5. A scientist is radiometrically dating 3 different rocks. Rock A is dated using element A (half-life = 50 years), rock B is dated using element B (half-life = 100 years), and rock C is dated using element C (half-life = 1000 years). Ifeach rock contains 50% of the radioactive element, and 50% of the daughter element, which rock is oldest? a. Rock A b. Rock B c. Rock C d. Impossible to tellAnswer : 6.Inwi asa fossil? A. sea floor B. forest floor C. coastal beach D. toe of an active glacier of the following environments is an organism most likely to be preserved Answer A 7. [fan element has a half-life of ten million years, and there is 12.5% (1/8) of it remaining in a rock, how old is the rock? a.5 million years b.10 million years c.20 million years d. 30 million years Answer: D. If 1/8 of the parent material remains, that means that the rock is 3 half- lives old. 1 half-life = 1/2 remaining. 2 half-lives = 1/4 remaining, and 3 half-lives = 1/8 remaining. If each half-life is 10 million years, then 3 x 10 million = 30 million ‘years old. Remember, the less parent element remains, the older the rack is! 8. Calculate the age of a rock containing the following atoms of radioactive parent element A:1,125,000 atoms. Stable daughter element B:34,875,000 atoms. The half-life of element A is 6.25 million years. What is the absolute age of the rock containing these parent and daughter elements? Answer: 1,125,000 atoms/(1,125,000 atoms + 34,875,000 atoms) = 1,125,000 atoms/36,000,000 atoms = 0.03125 = 1/32. 3.125% of parent remains, and 5 half-lives have passed. 5x 6.25 million years = 31 million years. 9. A geologist is required to date the fossil of an organism that lived 1 million year ago, using the sample of an igneous rock. Can you suggest the stratigraphy that preserves the fossil and whether the date is relative or absolute? Answer10. The cartoon below shows section of an excavated field where a geologist is, trying to obtain the date of the peaty horizon using "C. While the dead root gives an older date, the peat through which it cuts gives an younger date. How can you explain this? a Living peat: 22002120 yr Dead roots ofa corn plant Answer: Could be due to exchange of carbon through younger vegetation. 11. A geologist confirms that what is shown in the picture below is the footprint of a Dinosaur that lived around 70 Ma. What can you infer about the relative age of the rock, and its nature when the animal walked on it?