Earth & Life Science

Difference between Relative and Absolute Dating

Relative dating methods estimate whether an object is younger or older than other things found
at the site. Relative dating does not offer specific dates, it simply allows to determine if one
artifact, fossil, or stratigraphic layer is older than another.

Absolute dating methods provide more specific origin dates and time ranges, such as an age
range in years. How specific these dates can be will depend on what method is used.

Relative Dating laws

Law of Original Horizontality

Sediments were deposited in ancient seas in horizontal, or flat, layers. If sedimentary rock layers
are tilted, they must have moved after they were deposited.

Law of Superposition
Superposition refers to the position of rock layers and their relative ages. Relative age means age
in comparison with other rocks, either younger or older.

Law of Lateral Continuity

Rock layers extend laterally, or out to the sides. They may cover very broad areas, especially if
they formed at the bottom of ancient seas.

The basis of radiocarbon dating is simple: all living things absorb carbon from the
atmosphere and food sources around them, including a certain amount of natural,
radioactive carbon-14. When the plant or animal dies, they stop absorbing, but the radioactive
carbon that they've accumulated continues to decay.

Potassium–argon dating, abbreviated K–Ar dating, is a radiometric dating method used in

geochronology and archaeology. It is based on measurement of the product of the radioactive
decay of an isotope of potassium into argon.