PCB 4674 Lecture Notes - Lecture 44: Sedimentary Rock, Radiocarbon Dating, Radiometric Dating
14 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Deep within the earth there is a great source of heat. Convection of heat from molten rock in the interior of the planet would keep the earth warm much longer than kelvin"s calculations. Once a rock has cooled enough to crystallize, the relative amount of radioactive isotopes and their decay products are fixed. Any additional decay will result in alteration of ratio of isotopes to decay products. Estimated that the earth was an excess of 70k years. Provided a source of heat ( a mechanism for how the earth stayed warmer than it otherwise would). Radioactive isotopes undergo radioactive decay to form other elements. How long will it take for one half of the atoms in a sample to undergo radioactive decay. What is the isochron method? (read chapter 3!!!!!) Allows geologists to accurately estimate the age of rock samples. Useful for more recent samples (5715 year half life)
