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Age is based on fossils that are found in the rock.

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How are the ages of rocks estimated?

There is a wealth of dating techniques for rocks. Very young materials (mostly soft sediments) are dated via 14C-dating, warve counting, tree-ring counting, lichenometry (sizes of lichen), thermoluminescence and stuff like that but for actual rock material one usually takes biostratigraphy or radiometric dating. Biostratigraphy is a relative dating technique and can be applied only to sedimentary rocks and very slightly metamorphosed sediments as it relies on the identification of specific fossil materials that were only present at a given relatively short period of time in the geologic past. In that way one can for example define that a rock is Jurassic or Cretaceous when one finds a belemnite or it has to be paleozoic if there are trilobites etc. The absolute ages are mostly derived from radiometric dating which relies on measuring the isotopic composition and certain element ratios in the rock. Common rock dating techniques are U-Pb dating, Rb-Sr, Ar-Ar, U-Th disequilibrium and others. Radiometric dates do not necessarily give an information about when the rock was formed (crystallized from a magma) but may instead bear information about when the rock experienced metamorphism or cooled down below a certain temperature.


How can you determine the age of rock layers?

There are a number of ways to tell the age of a rock. Some rocks contain radioactive elements, such as thorium or uranium, which have known half lives (a half life being the amount of time that it takes for half of a given sample to decay) and by analyzing relative quantities of the various isotopes present in the rock, it is possible to figure out how long it took them to reach their present state. There is also stratigraphic analysis, which determines in which layer the rock appears, when there are means of dating the various layers by means of processes that happen at a known speed (erosion, deposition of microscopic shells, etc.).


What is the best possible inference you can create from this information?

That you're trying to get us to do your homework for you, and you're too lazy to even type in the complete information we'd need to do so, and that you deserve to flunk.


What do scientists use to determine the ages of rock within a rock layer?

Geologists use two techniques to date rock layers. The first technique is called "relative dating." If one layer of rock lies above another, we can regard the upper layer as younger, particularly when the layers are relatively horizontal and do not show faulting. When one finds layers at an angle, especially at a sharp angle, one can regard the formation as due to shifts in the earth that occurred after the layers were deposited. When one sees that one kind of rock cuts across layers of other kinds of rock, one can regard the intruding rock material as younger. Rock material enclosed in another kind of rock material can be regarded as older than the enclosing material.Relative dating is basically studying the layers of rock exposed at a site and making common-sense inferences about how the layers could have been formed so as to produce the layering one sees.Relative dating does not allow one to assign a numerical age to a rock formation.Radiometric dating does allow estimation of a numerical age for a rock formation. To carry out radiometric dating, one studies the quantities of specific isotopes of radioactive elements relative to the specific isotopes of the elements into which the radioactive elements decay. For example, uranium 235 decays into lead 207. We know the half-life of uranium 235. So, if we find that the amount of U-235 is equal to the amount of lead 207, we can regard the rock as being about as old as the half-life of uranium, which we know to be on the order of 700 million years. In other words, when the rock we're studying solidified, the uranium was captured within it. The uranium then turned into lead at a known rate, which also remained captured in the solid rock until we came along and examined it. Knowing the rate allows us to calculate the length of time the uranium has been sitting in the rock.Needless to say, the actual process involved in applying this concept has its complexities. However, this is the basis of the procedure. By examining large numbers of rock formations, using both relative and radiometric dating, we can work out the patterns that govern the formation of rock layers. By comparing large numbers of sites to each other, we can learn to see that the rocks at one site have the same characteristics as the rocks at another site. Just as we learn to estimate the ages of people by indirect means, such as skin texture, hair color, posture, voice, and even attitude, we learn to recognize that at a given site, the rock layers show the same characteristics as other rock layers of known age. We can thereby infer the age of rock layers at a site where something prevents us from analyzing the rocks directly.Fossils found in rocks can be useful for determining the age of rocks. From a variety of sources quite independent of rock geology, we know how old some fossils are. When we find such fossils in rock, we can use the fossils as a clue to the age of the rock. In like manner, when we find fossils of unknown age embedded in rock of known age, we can infer the age of the fossils. Of course, as anyone with common sense would realize, we cannot determine both the age of a fossil and the age of the rock around it from each other. We have to compare both specimens to other specimens of known age, and apply, if possible, techniques such as radiometric dating to determine the age of the material we're examining.


Determining how the sea floor changes over time has given scientists information about the?

Determining how the sea floor changes over time has given scientists information about the Earth's tectonic plate movements, the distribution of volcanic activity, and the history of sea level changes. Observing these changes helps scientists better understand the dynamic processes that shape our planet.

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What evidence is given to tell how old the moon is?

Using standard radiometric dating of rocks returned from the Moon by the Apollo missions.


Sedimentary rocks can't be dated?

Sedimentary rocks cannot be given an absolute date by radiometric testing, but they can be given an estimated date from a few geological laws, for example if a bed of desert sandstone ins under a bed of limestone there is a law that says that the sandstone is older.


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How are the ages of rocks estimated?

There is a wealth of dating techniques for rocks. Very young materials (mostly soft sediments) are dated via 14C-dating, warve counting, tree-ring counting, lichenometry (sizes of lichen), thermoluminescence and stuff like that but for actual rock material one usually takes biostratigraphy or radiometric dating. Biostratigraphy is a relative dating technique and can be applied only to sedimentary rocks and very slightly metamorphosed sediments as it relies on the identification of specific fossil materials that were only present at a given relatively short period of time in the geologic past. In that way one can for example define that a rock is Jurassic or Cretaceous when one finds a belemnite or it has to be paleozoic if there are trilobites etc. The absolute ages are mostly derived from radiometric dating which relies on measuring the isotopic composition and certain element ratios in the rock. Common rock dating techniques are U-Pb dating, Rb-Sr, Ar-Ar, U-Th disequilibrium and others. Radiometric dates do not necessarily give an information about when the rock was formed (crystallized from a magma) but may instead bear information about when the rock experienced metamorphism or cooled down below a certain temperature.


What are some top online dating sites?

Their are many online dating sites out their that for one is safe, reliable and has the one hundred percent responsibility of the user. You have to be very careful of what type of information is being given out.


Radiometric dating or carbon dating which is more accurate?

Carbon dating (also called radiocarbon dating) is a very useful archeological tool, but it does have its limitations. Dates derived from carbon dating aren't exact, and they always have a margin of error. For example, a particular object that has been dated might a radiocarbon age of 4500 years, plus or minus 30 years. The margin of error depends on the object, but for samples younger than 10,000 years, the uncertainty is usually at most 40 years. For older samples, the uncertainty period can be several centuries. The reason that carbon dating isn't exact is due to two reasons. First of all, our instruments used to detect the amount of radioactivity in samples aren't perfect. Second of all, in the real world, many events can influence and distort the amount of Carbon-14 present in a sample. Events such as volcanic eruptions can increase or reduce the amount of Carbon-14. Scientists need to account for this with a margin of error. In addition, carbon 14 decays with a half life of about 5,700 years and, even with good quality samples, dating can only go back to around 60,000 years. To date anything older than that, scientists need to rely upon other dating methods, like relying upon other isotopes such as potassium and argon. See the links below for more information. The first one describes the process of carbon dating in general, and the second one discusses the accuracy of carbon dating.


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well its do to the sediment in a rock by it layering


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