Definition
Radiometric dating uses the decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements to determine the absolute age of geologic events.
Introduction
Time is an essential datum in geology. Some geological processes, particularly those responsible for generating natural hazards, occur over time intervals that can be measured with conventional clocks. Most geologic processes, however, occur on timescales beyond human experience – thousands, millions, and even billions of years (see “Continental Drift”, “Continental Rifts”, “Geodynamics”, “Lithosphere, Continental”, “Paleomagnetism, Magnetostratigraphy”, “Paleoseismology”, and “Plate Tectonics, Precambrian”). For these, the chronometer of choice is radiometric dating, where the decay of naturally occurring radioactive elements is translated into time (Dickin 2005; Faure and Mensing 2005). In its application to geochronology, the most important aspect of radioactive decay is that it occurs at a known, constant rate, independent of...
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Carlson, R.W. (2020). Absolute Age Determinations: Radiometric. In: Gupta, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_69-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_69-1
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