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4. 2. Absolute age dating

2. Absolute age dating

Chapter contents:
Geological time
– 1. Relative age dating
– 2. Absolute age dating ←
– 3. Geological time scale
– 4. Geological maps
Absolute age dating deals with assigning actual dates (in years
before the present) to rocks or geological events. Contrast this
with relative age dating, which instead is concerned with
determining the orders of events in Earth's past. The science of
absolute age dating is known as geochronology and the
fundamental method of geochronology is called radiometric
dating.

Scholars and naturalists, understandably, have long been

interested in knowing the absolute age of the Earth, as well as
other important geological events. In 1650, Archbishop James
Ussher famously used the genealogy of the Old Testament of the
Bible (e.g., Genesis, Chapter 5)--and the human lifespans
recorded in it--to estimate the age of the Earth; he concluded that
the Earth was young in age, having formed in 4004 B.C., or about
6,000 years ago.
Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) (public domain; WikiMedia Commons).

In the 1800's, practitioners of the young science of geology

applied the uniformitarian views of Hutton and Lyell (see
the introduction to this chapter) to try to determine the age of the
Earth. For example, some geologists observed how long it took for
a given amount of sediment (say, a centimeter of sand) to
accumulate in a modern habitat, then applied this rate to the total
known thickness of sedimentary rocks. When they did this, they
estimated that the Earth is many millions of years old.

We now know that this estimate is far, far too young*. But, unlike
Ussher's calculation, this estimate was on the order of millions of
years, rather than 6,000. Geologists were beginning to accept the
views of Hutton that the Earth is unimaginably ancient. [*In part,
this estimate is so low because these early geologists did not
recognize that unconformities--which represent missing units of
time, often caused by erosion--are rampant in the rock record, as
well as the fact that some metamorphic rocks were once
sedimentary, and thus left out of their calculations.]

What key discovery, then, allowed geologists to begin assigning

absolute age dates to rocks and ultimately discover the age of the
Earth? The answer is radioactivity.
Radiometric dating
Hypotheses of absolute ages of rocks (as well as the events that
they represent) are determined from rates of radioactive decay of
some isotopes of elements that occur naturally in rocks.

Elements and isotopes

In chemistry, an element is a particular kind of atom that is
defined by the number of protons that it has in its nucleus. The
number of protons equals the element's atomic number. Have a
look at the periodic table of the elements below. Carbon's (C)
atomic number is 6 because it has six protons in its nucleus;
gold's (Au) atomic number is 79 because it has 79 atoms in its
nucleus.
Periodic table of the elements. Image by Sandbh - Own work, CC BY-SA
4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55162370.

Even though individual elements always have the same number

of protons, the number of neutrons in their nuclei sometimes
varies. These variations are called isotopes. Isotopes of individual
elements are defined by their mass number, which is simply the
number of protons + the number of neutrons.

Consider, for example, the three different isotopes of Carbon:

 Carbon-12: 6 protons, 6 neutrons

 Carbon-13: 6 protons, 7 neutrons
 Carbon-14: 6 protons, 8 neutrons

Most isotopes are stable, meaning that they do not change. Some
isotopes are unstable, however, and undergo radioactive decay.

Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay involves unstable isotopes shedding energy in
the form of radiation, causing their numbers of protons and
neutrons to change, in turn resulting in one element changing
into another.

As a matter of convention, we call the atomic nucleus that

undergoes radioactive decay the parent and the resulting product
the daughter product (or, decay product).

The rate at which a particular parent isotope decays into its

daughter product is constant. This rate is determined in a
laboratory setting and is typically represented by its half-life. A
half-life is the amount of time needed for half of the parent atoms
in a sample to be changed into daughter products. This is
illustrated in the chart below.
Relationship between the amount of radioactive parent atoms in a sample
relative to the number of daughter atoms over the passage of time,

measured in half-lives. Image by Jonathan R. Hendricks. This work is

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License.

At the start time (zero half-lives passed), the sample consists of

100% parent atoms (blue diamonds); there are no daughter
products (red squares) because no time has passed. After the
passage of one half-life, 50% of the parent atoms have become
daughter products. After two half-lives, 75% of the original parent
atoms have been transformed into daughter products (thus, only
25% of the original parent atoms remain). After three half-lives,
only 12.5% of the original parent atoms remain. As more half-lives
pass, the number of parent atoms remaining approaches zero.

Based on this principle, geologists can count the number of

parent atoms relative to daughter products in a sample to
determine how many half-lives have passed since a mineral grain
first formed. Consider the example shown below.
An example of how the initial number of radioactive parent atoms (blue
diamonds) in two mineral grains (gray hexagons) changes over time
(measured in half-lives) relative to the number of daughter products (red

squares). Image by Jonathan R. Hendricks. This work is licensed under

a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The left-most box in the figure above represents an initial state,

with parent atoms distributed throughout molten rock (magma).
As the magma cools, grains of different minerals begin to
crystalize. Some of these minerals (represented above as gray
hexagons) incorporate the radioactive parent atoms (blue
diamonds) into their crystalline structures; this marks the
initiation of the "half-life clock" (i.e., the start time, or time zero).
After one half-life has passed, half (50%, or four) of the parent
atoms in each mineral grain have been transformed into their
daughter products (red squares). After two half-lives have passed,
75% (six) of the original parent atoms in each grain have been
transformed into daughter products. How many parent atoms
would remain if three half-lives passed?

Calculating radiometric dates

By counting the numbers of parent atoms remaining in a sample
relative to the number originally present, it is possible to
determine the number of half-lives that have passed since the
initial formation of a mineral grain (that is, when it became a
"closed system" that prevented parent and daughter atoms from
escaping). You might be wondering how it is possible to know the
number of parent atoms that were originally in a sample. This
number is attained by simply adding the number of parent and
daughter atoms currently in the sample (because each daughter
atom was once a parent atom).

The next step in radiometric dating involves converting the

number of half-lives that have passed into an absolute (i.e.,
actual) age. This is done by multiplying the number of half-lives
that have passed by the half-life decay constant of the parent
atom (again, this value is determined in a laboratory).
To summarize, the key piece of information that needs to be
determined from a mineral specimen in order to determine its
absolute age is its age in number of half lives.

This can be mathematically determined by solving for y in this

equation:

Np / N0 = (1 - λ)y

where Np = the number of parent atoms currently in the

sample, N0 = number of parent atoms present in the sample when
the system became closed (so, N0 = Np + Nd, where Nd = the
number of daughter atoms currently in the sample), λ = the
decay constant, which for half-life is 0.5, and y = the number of
half-lives that have passed.

Let's work through a hypothetical example problem. Suppose you

analyzed a mineral sample and found that it contained 33,278
parent atoms and 14,382 daughter atoms. Further, suppose that
the half-life of the parent atom is 2.7 million years. How old is the
mineral sample?

First, we know
that: Np = 33,278; N0 = Np + Nd = 33,278 + 14,382 = 47,660; and
that λ = 0.5. So,

Np / N0 = (1 - λ)y

33,278 / 47,660 = (1 - 0.5)y

0.698 = 0.5y

log 0.698 = y * log 0.5

log 0.698 / log 0.5 = y

-0.156 / -0.301 = y

y = 0.518

So, we conclude that 0.518 half-lives have passed since the

formation of this mineral sample. To determine the absolute age
of this mineral sample, we simply multiply y (=0.518) times the
half life of the parent atom (=2.7 million years).
Thus, the absolute age of sample = y * half-life = 0.518 * 2.7
million years = 1.40 million years.

As noted above, a radiometric date tells us when a system

became closed, for example when a mineral containing
radioactive parent elements first crystalized. An individual mineral
grain may have a long history after it first forms. For example, it
may erode out of an igneous rock and then be transported long
distances and over long periods of time before it is finally
deposited, becoming one grain among billions in a layer of
sedimentary rock (e.g., sandstone). If a radiometric date were to
be attained from this mineral grain, it would tell us when the
mineral first formed, but not when the sedimentary rock formed
(it would, however, tell us the maximum possible age of the
sedimentary rock layer).

Further, heating mineral grains to great temperatures can cause

them to leak parent and daughter material, resetting their
radiometric clocks. This can be a concern when calculating
radiometric dates from samples of metamorphic rocks, which are
sedimentary or igneous rocks that have been altered by great
amounts of heat and/or pressure. The melting involved with
metamorphic change can reset the radiometric clock. For
example, suppose an igneous rock formed 2.0 billion years ago. If
it were subjected to metamorphism 1.2 billion years ago,
radiometric dating would tell us that a sample from the rock is 1.2
billion years old, not 2.0 billion years old.

Variation in half-lives among different

isotopes
As noted above, the rate at which a given radioactive isotope
decays into its daughter product is constant. This rate, however,
varies considerably among different radioactive isotopes. Further,
many radioactive isotopes undergo a series of transformations--
some of which have half-lives that persist for only very short
amounts of time--before they are converted into their final
daughter products.
Below are some of the decay series that are commonly used in
radiometric dating of geological samples. Note the great
variations in their half-lives.

Final
Parent Half-
decay
isotope life
product

4.47
Uranium-
Lead-206 billion
238
years

710
Uranium-
Lead-207 million
235
years

1.25
Potassium
Argon-40 billion
-40
years

50
Rubidium- Strontium-
billion
87 87
years

Nitrogen- 5,730
Carbon-14
14 years

Note that the half-life for the rubidium-87 to strontium-87 series is

50 billion years! Since the entire universe is 13.8 billion years
old, we know that not enough time has passed for even half (i.e.,
one half-life) of the universe's supply of rubidium-87 to decay into
strontium-87.

At the other end of the spectrum, note the very short half-life of
carbon-14: 5,730 years. The is the isotope that is used in "carbon
dating." Carbon-14 forms in Earth's upper atmosphere. Both it
and carbon-12 (which is stable, meaning that it does not undergo
radioactive decay) are incorporated into the tissues of plants as
they grow. After a plant dies, the carbon-12 in its tissues remains
stable, but the carbon-14 decays into nitrogen-14. The ratio of
carbon-14 relative to carbon-12 in a sample, therefore, may be
used to determine the age of organic matter derived from plant
tissues. Because of its short half-life, carbon-14 can only be used
to date materials that are up to about 70,000 years old (beyond
this point, the amount of carbon-14 remaining becomes so small
that it is difficult to measure). Because of its precision, it is
nevertheless very useful for dating organic matter from the near
recent geological past, especially archeological materials from the
Holocene epoch.
Age of the Earth
At the beginning of this chapter, you learned that the Earth is
4.54 billion years old. As it turns out, the oldest dated mineral--a
grain of zircon from the Jack Hills of Western Australia--is 4.4
billion years old and the oldest known rock unit--the Acasta
Gneiss from the Northwest Territories of Canada--is 4.0 billion
years old.
A single grain of zircon, imaged using a scanning electron
microscope. Image by Gunnar Ries, Creative Commons BY-SA 2.5.

A sample of 4.0 billion year old Acasta Gneiss from the Northwest Territories
of Canada. Image by Mike Beauregard, Wikimedia Commons, Creative
Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
If the oldest mineral grain is 4.4 Ga and the oldest rock 4.0 Ga,
how then do we know that the Earth is 4.54 Ga? The answer is
radiometric dating of meteorite specimens, which we presume to
have formed around the same time as the Earth, Sun, and other
planetary bodies in our solar system. One such dated meteorite
comes from Meteor Crater in Arizona.
The Holsinger Meteorite, which is a piece of the meteor that crashed in
ancient Arizona, forming Meteor Crater. Samples from this meteor were used
by Clair Patterson to determine the age of the Earth. Image by Marcin
Wichary - originally posted to Flickr as The biggest discovered fragment, CC
BY 2.0, Link
Next Section: Geological time scale

Previous section: Relative age dating

Review
Question

True or False: It is generally not possible to use carbon

dating to date samples older than 70,000 years.
Answer

True.
Question

After three half-lives, what percentage of the original

radioactive parent isotope will remain in a sample?
Answer

12.5% (1st half-life: 50%; 2nd half-life: 25%; 3rd half-life

12.5%).
Question

What key discovery allowed scientists to begin

measuring the absolute ages of rock samples?
Answer

Radioactivity.
Question

True or False: Different isotopes of the same element

vary in their numbers of protons.
Answer

False. They vary in their numbers of neutrons.

Question

True or False: The age of the Earth was determined by

dating a rock sample found at the bottom of the Grand
Canyon.
 Answer

False. It was determined by dating meteorite samples.

Question

If you know the number of radioactive parent atoms

remaining in a sample, as well as the number originally
present, what additional key piece of information is
needed to calculate the age of the sample?
Answer

Half-life decay constant.

Question

True or False: Radioactive isotopes of different elements

decay at the same rate.
Answer

False. They decay at different rates.

Question

Adding the number of protons and the number of

neutrons in an atom gives you what value?
Answer

Atomic mass number.

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