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UNCONFORMITIES
Not all the rocks that ever formed are preserved.
Many rocks are subjected to weathering and erosion.
Gaps in the geologic record exist.
Cambrian Sawatch
Sandstone overlying the
Precambrian
Pikes Peak Granite
1.6 billion years missing
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
UNCONFORMITIES
ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY
Wingate Sandstone,
overlying
Chinle Formation
Utah
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
CORRELATION
In geology, we try to relate all the rocks on Earth into
a relative age scheme.
Consider sequences of sedimentary rocks from all over
the Earth and fit them together in the proper
order.
Process is called CORRELATION.
40
K19 decays by beta () decay to form 40Ca20
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
DETERMINING NUMERICAL OR ABSOLUTE AGE
ELECTRON OR BETA () CAPTURE
Electron or Beta () capture involves capture of an
electron from the surrounding orbiting cloud
by the nucleus.
These electrons join with a proton and form a neutron.
40
K19 decays by beta () capture to form 40Ar18
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
DETERMINING NUMERICAL OR ABSOLUTE AGE
Radioactive isotopes are incorporated in minerals and
rocks in a variety of ways.
As minerals crystallize from magma, radioactive
isotopes are included in mineral crystal structure.
At the time of crystallization, only parent isotopes are
included in the mineral.
Radioactive parent isotopes then begin to decay
producing daughter isotopes.
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
DETERMINING NUMERICAL OR ABSOLUTE AGE
ISOTOPE DATING uses this process to measure the
amount of time elapsed since the mineral’s
formation.
With time, the amount of parent isotope will decrease
and the amount of daughter isotope will increase.
The DECAY RATE is constant and acts like a “clock”.
Decay rates are not affected by temperature, pressure,
or chemical reaction with the parent isotope.
By measuring the ratio of parent to daughter isotopes in
the mineral and comparing it with the rate of
radioactive decay, we can determine the numerical
age of a rock.
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
DETERMINING NUMERICAL OR ABSOLUTE AGE
The time it takes for HALF of the atoms of the parent
isotope to decay into daughter isotopes is known
as the isotope’s HALF-LIFE (t½).
1:1 parent to daughter
1:3
1:7
TELLING TIME GEOLOGICALLY
DETERMINING NUMERICAL OR ABSOLUTE AGE
To calculate the numerical age of a rock, mineral, bone,
etc., we determine the number of half-lives or
fraction thereof and multiply the number of
half-lives gone by by the known half-life (in years).
Simply put:
In a rock we find 23 atoms of 235U and 161 atoms of 207Pb
Half-life (t½) is 713 million years.
Directions. Read the questions and encircle the letters of correct answers.
1. Rock layering which determine the age of the rock.
a. Half-life b. Isotopes c. Strata d. Stratification