GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Radiometric dating uses the decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements to determine the absolute age of geologic events.

Detailed explanation-2: -To establish the age of a rock or a fossil, researchers use some type of clock to determine the date it was formed. Geologists commonly use radiometric dating methods, based on the natural radioactive decay of certain elements such as potassium and carbon, as reliable clocks to date ancient events.

Detailed explanation-3: -The rubidium-strontium method has been a popular method to determine the absolute age of geological processes. When discussing decay rates, scientists refer to “half-lives”-the length of time it takes for one-half of the original atom of the radioactive isotope to decay into an atom of a new isotope.

Detailed explanation-4: -Uranium–lead radiometric dating involves using uranium-235 or uranium-238 to date a substance’s absolute age. This scheme has been refined to the point that the error margin in dates of rocks can be as low as less than two million years in two-and-a-half billion years.

Detailed explanation-5: -Geologists use a variety of techniques to establish absolute age, including radiometric dating, tree rings, ice cores, and annual sedimentary deposits called varves. Radiometric dating is the most useful of these techniques-it is the only technique that can establish the age of objects older than a few thousand years.