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The Age of The Earth

The Age of The Earth. Moving towards the billion years old concept. Techniques. 1860: Average Sedimentation Rate Age: 3 million years: Highly faulty method as it does not account for past erosion and large variability in sedimentation rates.

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The Age of The Earth

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  1. The Age of The Earth Moving towards the billion years old concept.

  2. Techniques • 1860: Average Sedimentation Rate Age: 3 million years: Highly faulty method as it does not account for past erosion and large variability in sedimentation rates. • 1897: Lord Kelvin assumes earth is initially molten and would take 20-40 million years to cool. • 1899: Joly uses ocean salinity and delivery rate from streams to calculate 90-100 million years. • So by 1900, a reliable age still eludes us

  3. Radioactive Methods • 1896: Becquerel discovers radiation. • 1905: Rutherford and Boltwood uses Uranium decay to Helium to measure 500 million years for the oldest rocks. • But, how do you know where the oldest rocks are? • 1907 Boltwood believes that Lead (not Helium) is the stable end point for Uranium decay and now gets 1.64 Billion years as the Age.

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