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relative and absolute. relative is determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age. Absolute is the process of determining an approximate computed age in Archaeology and geology.

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To determine the absolute age of rocks and fossils geologists use?

They would look for evidence of index fossils, those of certain rapidly evolving creatures that lived during a specific time period. This method is called relative dating. For a closer estimation they would be able to date the rock using radiometric techniques that base its age on the degree of isotope decay . This method would reveal the much more specific absolute age.


Can you use radiocarbon dating on shale containing leaf fossils?

No,fossilsare just the impressions of an organism engraved on geologic material (rock, sediment, resin etc). Scientists useradiometric datingto date these types of materials.


What would you use to do absolute dating of a rock layer?

To do absolute dating of a rock layer, you would typically use radiometric dating methods such as radiocarbon dating, uranium-lead dating, or potassium-argon dating. These methods rely on the decay of radioactive isotopes in the rocks to determine the age of the rock layer.


How would a geologist determine the age of rock layers and fossils if the geologist found a never before seen rock layer that contain fossils?

First step would be relative-dating: examining the new unit in the context of known rocks above and below it. Then look for correlative formations & fossils elsewhere.


How would Alfred wegener explain fossils of warm weather plants found on actic island?

He stated that the island had moved and gone underneath all of the other continents then surfaced in the Arctic, along with the plants fossils/ remains

Related Questions

To determine the absolute age of rocks and fossils geologists use?

They would look for evidence of index fossils, those of certain rapidly evolving creatures that lived during a specific time period. This method is called relative dating. For a closer estimation they would be able to date the rock using radiometric techniques that base its age on the degree of isotope decay . This method would reveal the much more specific absolute age.


Which method dating would you use with frozen fossils?

Among many methods, carbon dating is most commonly used to date fossils. In carbon dating, scientists look at how much carbon is left in the fossil, look at the half-life period, and use that to see when it was from.


Why would a scientist use both relative and absolute dating?

A scientist would use both relative and absolute dating methods to cross-verify results and obtain a more accurate estimation of the age of a sample or artifact. Relative dating provides a chronological sequence, while absolute dating provides an actual age in years. Using both methods can help confirm the reliability of the age determination.


Can you use radiocarbon dating on shale containing leaf fossils?

No,fossilsare just the impressions of an organism engraved on geologic material (rock, sediment, resin etc). Scientists useradiometric datingto date these types of materials.


How do people know dinosaurs lived?

Our most provident evidence would be carbon dating and fossils.


How can the age of a rock be related to fossils?

If a lava flow or bed of volcanic ash was dated using isotopic dating methods and fossils were found in a sedimentary rock beneath the volcanic rock, it can be surmised that the fossils were older than the lava or ash. If the same species of fossils were found in another part of the world it would make sense that the rocks there were the same age as previous fossils. By cross checking with many other areas with other volcanic rocks, it can be found that all the rocks around the world containing those fossils were of a similar age.


Radiocarbon dating would be useful in dating the age of the earth?

Radiocarbon dating is not typically used to determine the age of the Earth because it can only accurately date organic materials up to around 50,000 years old. Other dating methods, such as radiometric dating of rocks and minerals, are used to estimate the age of the Earth, around 4.5 billion years.


What would you use to do absolute dating of a rock layer?

To do absolute dating of a rock layer, you would typically use radiometric dating methods such as radiocarbon dating, uranium-lead dating, or potassium-argon dating. These methods rely on the decay of radioactive isotopes in the rocks to determine the age of the rock layer.


How would a geologist determine the age of rock layers and fossils if the geologist found a never before seen rock layer that contain fossils?

First step would be relative-dating: examining the new unit in the context of known rocks above and below it. Then look for correlative formations & fossils elsewhere.


How would Alfred wegener explain fossils of warm weather plants found on actic island?

He stated that the island had moved and gone underneath all of the other continents then surfaced in the Arctic, along with the plants fossils/ remains


How would you explain a horizontal sedimentary rock layer containing Cambrian fossils lying on top of a rock layer containing Ordovician fossils?

The Adirondack rocks have been both severely folded and sheared by ductile deformation and shattered by brittle.


Why would it be difficult to date an item that was 1000000 years old using this technique?

Dating an item that is 1,000,000 years old using techniques like carbon dating would be difficult because carbon dating can only accurately measure up to around 50,000 years due to the half-life of carbon-14. For items older than that, other dating methods such as uranium-lead dating or argon-argon dating would need to be used, but these methods have limitations and uncertainties that increase with the age of the sample, making precise dating challenging.