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How do you tell the age of wood?

Updated: 6/11/2024
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15y ago

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There are different methods for dating different types of rocks.

The most common and usually precise way of dating a rock (or more precisely, the minerals within a rock) is by using radiogenic dating methods. Some isotopes of some elements, like uranium, are radioactive. They decay to form a daughter product (uranium > Lead) at speeds according to their half lives. By measuring the proportion of daughter to parent in a sample, using a mass spectrometer, the age of the mineral can be found.

It is important to note that a radiogenic age is the age of the time the mineral "closed". This refers to the point at which the mineral was cool enough that it could no longer exchange atoms with its surroundings. If a mineral is brought above its closing temperature after its formation, it will re equilibrate, and the radiogenic signature of its age will be erased and brought back to zero (if full equilibration with surrounds occurred)

Sedimentary rocks can be dated using fossil material, as some fossils are known from specific times in the geological record, known as "index fossils".

The interaction of solar radiation with minerals can create what are called cosmogenic nucleotides. Once a mineral grain is buried, it stops forming nucleotides. Measuring the level of nucleotides can give an age of burial, which is useful in dating some regolith material.

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14y ago
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AnswerBot

2d ago

The age of wood can be estimated by counting the growth rings present on a cross-section of the wood. One ring usually represents one year of growth. Alternatively, carbon dating can also be used to determine the age of wood by analyzing the concentration of carbon-14 isotopes present in the wood sample.

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15y ago

counting the rings

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