Notes c.

Law of Inclusion
This law states that any rock,
Earth Science fragment, clast, or intrusion that
is included inside of another rock
Module 12: Rock Dating and Geologic Time
is older than the rock in which it is
included.
Lesson 1
Methods of Dating Rocks

Rocks are composed of layers or

features called “Strata” (Singular,
Stratum).

Ways to Determine the Age of Rocks Absolute Rock Dating

Relative Rock Dating Also known as “Radiometric Dating”, is

used to determine the absolute age of
This is used to determine the the rock. Decay rate of radioactive
comparative or relative age of the rock. isotopes that are embedded in the rock
ONLY used to arrange geological events are measured.
based on rock strata.
Types of Absolute Dating
Relative rock dating is guided by
three basic laws, Steno’s Law, a. Carbon Dating
authored by Nicolaus Steno. Radiocarbon dating (also referred
to as carbon dating or carbon-14
a. Law of Superposition dating) is a method for
This law states that the older determining the age of an
stratum lies below the younger object containing organic
layer. material by using the
properties of radiocarbon, a
radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was developed in
the late 1940s at the University of
Chicago by Willard Libby.

b. Potassium Dating
Potassium-argon dating, method
b. Law of Crosscutting
of determining the time of
This law states that any feature
origin of rocks by measuring
such as fault that cuts across a
the ratio of radioactive argon
sequence of rocks is younger
to radioactive potassium in the
than everything it cuts.
rock. This dating method is
based upon the decay of
radioactive potassium-40 to
radioactive argon-40 in minerals
 and rocks; potassium-40 also Geologic Time Scale is divided into
decays to calcium-40. time spans called Eon (Largest Time
Span)
c. Uranium Dating
The oldest known crystal on earth Eon: Era
is the zircon crystal from
Australia. It remained intact for an a. Precambrian Era
incredible 4.4 billion years which
is almost the same age as the ● Divided by Hadean, Archean, and
planet earth. The radioactive Proterozoic events.
isotope used to determine the ● This time span lasted from 4.6
absolute age of zircon crystal billion to 541 million years ago.
was uranium which decayed into ● Half of the Earth’s deposits of
lead atoms. mineral rocks belong to this time.
● The appearance of the
multicellular organism.
Younger rocks can be dated using ● The first soft bodied invertebrates
carbon-14. Igneous rocks contain the appeared and the first bacteria
radioactive isotopes which make them and blue green algae began to
good for radiometric dating. In free oxygen to the atmosphere.
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks,
scientists will look for the presence of b. Phanerozoic Era
igneous rocks embedded in them to
determine their absolute ages. ● Divided into 3 eras: Paleozoic
era which means ancient life;
Lesson 2 Mesozoic Era means middle
Rock Ages and Geologic Time life; Cenozoic Era which means
present life.
Chronostratigraphy
Era: Periods
The branch of stratigraphy that studies
the ages of rock layers or features in
In The Paleozoic era, there are 6
relation to geologic time.
periods, namely: Permian,
Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian,
Scientists use Geologic Time Scale or
Ordovician and Cambrian periods.
GTS to explain which event on earth
Permian period is known as the “age of
occurred first and which event occurred
amphibians”; Silurian period is where
last.
the first insects appeared; jawed fish
and vascular plants also appeared in
This GTS is a chart that marks as a
this period; corals first appeared in
guide on the earth’s major events in its
Ordovician period while the Cambrian
history. The discovery of the fossils and
period is the age of trilobites.
the oldest rocks are the bases of these
markings in the GTS.
The Mesozoic era has 3 periods and
these are Triassic wherein dinosaurs
are dominant in this period; Jurassic
period wherein birds first appeared in
this time and Cretaceous period which
is the mark of the extinction of
dinosaurs.

In the Cenozoic era of the Phanerozoic

eon, the ice age occurred.

Period: Epochs

A Period is further subdivided into

Epochs. An epoch is a time scale which
is longer than an age but shorter than
the period. In the Carboniferous period,
there are two epochs, namely:
Pennsylvanian and Mississippian. An
epoch is subdivided into Ages. The
Mississippian epoch has 3 ages. These
are Tournaisian, Visean and
Serpukhovian. Triassic, Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods of Mesozoic era is
the “age of Reptiles”; Devonian period
part of the Paleozoic era is the “age of
fishes” while Cenozoic era is the “age of
mammals.

Our current time where we are now

belongs to the Holocene Epoch of the
Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic era.

In order to identify the ages of the rocks

and fossils found in our planet through
exhumation, scientists use radiometric
dating which uses the radioactive
isotopes 10 present in the exhumed
artifacts. After determining the age of
the artifact, the age is compared to the
geologic time scale above.