GEOL 11042 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Ordovician, Absolute Dating, Half-Life
8 Nov 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The purpose of this lab is to introduce you to the concept of determining the length of geologic history. Relative time can be obtained by determining which event occurred first, which event occurred second, etc. This method, used in the relative age lab, provides us with a detailed sequence of events, but it makes no reference to the precise time that the events occurred. As a refresher, the diagram below illustrates the principal. Note that we now know the geological sequence of this area, but we have no idea how long each of those geological periods lasted. We have established a sequence of relative geological time. This is fundamentally how the modern geological time scale evolved. The other method of determining age of geological events is to determine absolute age which is an attempt to put precise dates, or ages, on events. For example, you may have lunch at 12:00 noon and go to class at 1:00 pm.
