Article
Article
- Earth Science
- Geology and geodesy
- Dating methods
- Anthropology & Archeology
- Archeology
- Dating methods
Dating methods
Article By:
Brown, Francis H. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.181200
- Relative Dating
- Stratigraphic dating
- Paleontologic dating
- Paleomagnetic dating
- Annual counting methods
- Tephrostratigraphy
- Chemical methods
- Calibrated isotopic scales
- Quantitative Methods
- Isotopic methods
- Other methods based on radiation
- Astronomical Methods
- Milankovitch cycles
- Cosmochronology
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
Relative and quantitative techniques used to arrange events in time and to determine the numerical age of events in history, geology, paleontology, archeology, paleoanthropology, and astronomy. Relative techniques allow the order of events to be determined, whereas quantitative techniques allow numerical estimates of the ages of the events. Most numerical techniques are based on decay of naturally occurring radioactive nuclides, but a few are based on chemical changes through time, and others are based on variations in the Earth's orbit. Once calibrated, some relative techniques also allow numerical estimates of age. See also: Archeology; Astronomy; Geology; Radioisotope
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