Fossil Dating
Why
Geologists are
mostly
Relative and woman?
Absolute Dating
Reason
They love to dig the past.
Magaling silang maghalungkat ng
nakaraan.
HOW DO WE
KNOW THE AGE
OF FOSSILS?
- Scientists use 2
methods to
determine the
age of fossils:
1. Relative
Dating
2. Absolute
Dating
Relative and Absolute Dating
What is Dating?
When geologists date rocks, they are
determining how long ago they formed.
Two ways to do this:
Relative Dating
Absolute Dating
Relative Dating
Determining how old something is
compared to something else
Use words like “older” or “younger”
instead of exact numbers
I. Relative Dating
Relative Dating is when you give the age
of a rock or fossil compared to another
rock or fossil.
Example: Rock A is OLDER than Rock B.
An actual age in years is not determined.
II. Rules of Relative Dating
1. Law of Superposition: When sedimentary
rock layers are deposited, younger layers
are on top of older deposits.
Rules of Relative Dating
2. Law of Original Horizontality: Sedimentary
rock layers are deposited horizontally. If
they are tilted, folded, or broken, it
happened later.
Rules of Relative Dating
3. Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships: If an
igneous intrusion or a fault cuts through
existing rocks, the intrusion/fault is
YOUNGER than the rock it cuts through
Order these layers from oldest to
youngest
Youngest layer
Oldest layer
Order the events from oldest to youngest
YOUNGEST LAYER/EVENT
Fault
Gray Layer
Multicolored layer
Spotted Layer
OLDEST LAYER/EVENT
Absolute Dating
Determining how old
something is
Use numbers (in
millions of years, mya)
Only works for
Igneous Rocks
Absolute Dating
Determines the specific age of a fossil
Looks at chemical properties
2 types:
Carbon-14 (radiocarbon)
Potassium-Argon
Carbon-14 Dating
Also known as Radiocarbon dating
Used to date organic substances
Scientists measure the radiocarbon in the
fossil to determine its age
Can only date specimens up to about
60,000 years old
Potassium-Argon Dating
Scientists determine the age of the rock
surrounding the fossil to determine the
fossil’s age.
Used only for inorganic substances (rocks
and minerals)
Scientists measure the amount of argon in
the rock to determine its age
Dates rock 60,000 years old and older
How Absolute Dating Works
When magma/lava cools, radioactive elements
are incorporated into the minerals
Examples:
-- Potassium 40
-- Uranium 235
How Absolute Dating Works
These elements begin to decay at a known rate
starting when the rock cools
We can measure how much of the element is
left
Tells us how much time has passed since the
rock formed.
What can we learn from this?
Geologist
Basalt, dated to 80
mya
T-Rex Fossil Sandstone
Basalt flow, dated
to 100 mya
So when did this T-Rex live?
Between 100 and 80 mya
This may not seem very accurate, but compared
to the 4,500 million years the earth has been around
it gives us a lot more information than we had
before
What can we learn from this?
Absolute Dating
Helps us determine the age of the earth
Helps us determine when specific events in the
history of the earth happened (ex. Extinction of
the dinosaurs)
Relative Dating
Can help us estimate the time span between
major earthquakes, storms, tsunamis etc
Can help us determine the order that life forms
developed on earth
QUIZ
Which rock layer is the
oldest? Youngest?
1
Youngest
2
Oldest
If you wanted to figure out the
exact age of a rock, what
technique would you use?
[Link] Dating
[Link]-14 Dating
[Link] of Superposition
[Link]-Argon Dating
If you were looking to find the
exact age of a fossil that is at
least 1 million years old, what
technique would you use?
a. Carbon-14 Dating
b. Potassium-Argon Dating
c. Relative Dating
d. You can’t; it is impossible
If you wanted to figure out the
exact age of a fossil that is less
than 40,000 years old, what
technique would you use?
a. Carbon-14 Dating
b. Potassium-Argon Dating
c. Relative Dating
d. You can’t; it is impossible