14
votes
Could the earth be much older than the currently accepted number?
The age of the solar system is 4.6 billion years. We know that because almost all meteorites are 4.6 billion years old¹. Therefore, that puts a very solid upper boundary to the age of the Earth.
...
- 11.7k
7
votes
How old is Earth's groundwater?
The age of groundwater can vary over a large span. The moment a drop of rain enters the ground it becomes groundwater and when it reaches the groundwater table, the water starts to flow towards a ...
- 5,946
5
votes
Accepted
How to sample for K-Ar dating?
I run an argon lab which does also K-Ar measurements.
The sample amount depends on the age because you need enough signal strength to measure the radiogenic argon component precisely. Young rocks ...
- 851
5
votes
How old is Earth's groundwater?
Groundwater ages vary enormously across the globe and with depth: from hours in parts of Florida and areas with Karstic geology, to tens of thousands of years in the American breadbasket, all the way ...
- 2,813
4
votes
Accepted
What would be the predicted/calculated ages using several samples of soil with the help of carbon 14 test?
Radiocarbon dating cannot be used to date rocks or lava, only organisms that absorbed carbon from the atmosphere in the last 50'000 years or so.
The older the samples, the more difficult it is to get ...
- 851
4
votes
How Old Are the Verkhoyansk Mountains in Northeastern Russia?
Depends on what exactly you are looking for.
The mountains contain material which is much older, some as old as the Permian. This material is hosted in detrital sandstones, so obviously that area was ...
- 23.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Does the heat of reentry affect the reliability of radiometric dating of meteorites?
Current consensus says heat does not affect the rate of radioactive decay and if it does it is due to time dilation, the effect of whihc is very small. Thus the heating of meteorites as they enter ...
- 24.8k
3
votes
Could the earth be much older than the currently accepted number?
From zircon dating we know that the age of the earth is close to the age of the asteroids in our solar system (i.e. there is not a huge discrepancy between their ages). Without evidence indicating ...
- 2,187
3
votes
Could the earth be much older than the currently accepted number?
The chances of this actually being accurate are remote to the extreme, but Earth could in theory be a captured planet older than the solar system, and the resurfacing from the giant impact removed all ...
- 5,897
3
votes
Could the earth be much older than the currently accepted number?
The ages are not the only piece of information that we have. Gerrit covered most of the age issue in his answer.
To summarise: We know the age of the solar system (4.5-4.6) and the oldest material we ...
- 23.1k
2
votes
Could the earth be much older than the currently accepted number?
Claire Patterson et al settled the Age of the Earth in 1956. In this paper, which can be obtained for free from Colorado.edu, we read:
"The following assumptions are made concerning meteorites: ...
- 281
1
vote
How is limestone dated?
Normally, limestone is going to be dated via the fossil record and with the relationship it has with other formations above and below.
They can be dated using isotopes, potassium - argon I would ...
- 544
1
vote
Why were the Interglacial periods in the early Pleistocene spaced about one million years apart, but recent ones only 100,000 years apart?
It was a transition from a 41000 year cycle to a 100000 year cycle that happened about a million years ago (the Mid-Pleistocene Transition), not from a 1000000 year cycle to a 100000 year cycle. There ...
- 23.9k
1
vote
What would be the predicted/calculated ages using several samples of soil with the help of carbon 14 test?
Geochron's answer is correct. For the sake of completeness I will add this:
sample from surface of the earth = Sample A
You will get some age, if the sample is young enough.
sample from 1km ...
- 23.1k
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