Dating Of The Rocks

Pavan Barot
M.Sc 1
Paper 401
Guided by : Dr. H. V Majethiya
CONTENT

1 INTRODUCTION

2 RELATIVE METHOD

3 ABSOLUTE METHOD

4 REFERNCES
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
 The earth is 4600 million years . This age may
represent the age of the earth’s accretion, of the
core formation or of the material from which it was
formed.

 The oldest known rock on the earth surface is

Canadian shield. It is the large area with its great
volcanic history. The rocks which are found here
ranges from 2.5 to 4.6 billion years. It has almost
150 volcanic belts.

 The dating of the rocks is also useful for the study

of meteoroids & other astronomical materials .
TYPES OF DATING METHOD
1. Relative dating asks “Is a given event older or
younger than another event?”

2. Numerical (Absolute) dating asks “How many years

ago did an event take place?”

1.
2.
RELATIVE METHOD
RELATIVE METHOD

Geologists use relative dating to figure out if rock

is older or younger than another rock.

Index fossil can also be used to show the

approximate ages of rock

Types of relative method:

Sedimentation clock method
Varve clock method
Salinity clock method
Rate of cooling of earth
Evolutionary change of animals
RELATIVE METHOD

Problems…
law of superposition
Rock layers should not be disturbed.
Volcanism
Unconformity
Erosion & Deposition
Tectonic Activity
ABSOLUTE METHOD
ABSOLUTE DATING METHOD

Finding the exact age of an object is called Absolute Dating

Two types: 1. Radiometric

2. Non-radiometric

1. Radiometric dating always involves the decay

of a radioactive isotope.

2. Non-radiometric dating always involves a

change in mass or condition of a material
 ABSOLUTE DATING
Everything is made of atoms.
The defining characteristic of an atom is
the number of protons.
The number of neutrons can vary from
one carbon atom to another or from one
hydrogen atom to another. These are
called isotopes.
Over time, some of these atoms may
change into a different type of atom.

The original atom is called the “Parent.”

The new form of the atom is called the
Daughter
HALF-LIFE
 A Half-life period is the time required for one
half of an original amount of a radioactive
element to disintegrate.

 For geological purpose the unit of time is in

year.
Decay Curve
Scientists compare the number of parent atoms to the number of
daughter atoms.

The more daughter atoms there are, the older the rock is.

Example:
 The half time of a rock is 10,000 years.
 Originally, there is 16mg of parent atoms.
 10,000 years go by . . .
 Half of the 16mg of parent atoms turn into daughter atoms.
 16 ÷ 2 = 8
 So there are 8mg of daughter atoms now
 And there are 8mg of parent atoms left.
Parent: 16  8
Daughter: 0  8
 Then another 10,000 years go by . . .
 Half of the 8mg of parent atoms turn into daughter atoms.
 8÷2=4
 Now there are 4mg more daughter atoms.
 Add this to the 8mg that has already formed
 8 + 4 = 12 mg of daughter atoms
 And there are only 4mg of parent atoms left.
 Then another 10,000 years go by . . .
 4÷2=2
 12+ 2 = 14 mg of daughter atoms

Parent: 16  8  4  2
Daughter: 0  8  12  14
Conclusion:
Here, it happens after every 10000 years.

So if it happened 3 times, then the object is:

 The age of the rock is

3 x 10,000 = 30,000 yrs old

 RADIOACTIVE METHOD
The basic principle underlying all
the radioactive methods is that “A
radioactive parent element decays
into a stable daughter element at a
constant rate”.
The Radioactive decay is usually
expressed in terms of “half life Period”

Types of radioactive method:

1. Uranium Lead Method
2. Thorium Lead Method
3. Potassium Argon Method
4. Rubidium Strontium Method
5. Radiocarbon Method
1. Uranium Lead Method
The chemical element U 238 will
continuously emit helium atom till it is
reduced to Pb206.
U 238 Pb206 +8He4
The half life of uranium238 is 4500
million years. One gram of U 238 will
produce 1/7600000000 gram of stable
lead.
Similarly the second isotope U 235
undergoes disintegration and give rise to
Pb 207.
U 235 Pb207 +7He4
2. Thorium Lead Method
The chemical element Th 232 will
continuously emit helium atom till it is
reduced to Pb208.
Th 232 Pb208 +6He4

The half life of Thorium is 13,900

million years.
3. Potassium Argon Method
 Potassium is found in many minerals
& rocks, it has three isotopesK39 ,K40 ,K41.

 The radioactive K40 will give rise to the

Aragon which has same atomic weight Ar
40 .

K40 Ar 40

The half life of K40 is 11900 million years.

4. Rubidium Strontium Method
This method is based on the radioactive
decay of Rb 87 and its transformation into
Sr 87.
Rb 87 Sr 87

 The half life of Rb 87 is 50000 million

years.

By this method, rock of any geological

time range can be measured but sometime
s it creates analytical difficulties for the
rock material younger than 20-30 million
years because of its slow decay.
5. Radiocarbon Method
Everything is made up of carbon. In
upper atmosphere due to cosmic rays N14
converts into C14.

 When organism dies C14 starts

decaying at constant rate.

This method is useful to determine the

age of the fossils by the fossils the age of
the rocks can be determine.

The half life of C14 is 5670 years.

Important Rocks Of India
India has one of the oldest
and youngest rocks in the
world.
The oldest rocks found in
peninsula.

Example:
1. Charnockites
2. Khondalites
3. Dharwar System of rocks

The youngest rocks found in

Himalayas.
Example:
1. Siwalik System
REFERNCES
https://serc.carleton.edu

http://colloidalfrere.blogspot.com/2015/03/rubidium.html

https://socratic.org/

http://www.rsc.org/

http://ykonline.yksd.com/

Geological formations of India by A. Balasubramanian

http://courses.missouristate.edu/

https://prezi.com
Thank you