Geologists often need to know the age of material that they find. They use absolute dating methods, sometimes called numerical dating, to give rocks an actual date, or date range, in number of years. This is different to relative dating, which only puts geological events in time order. Most absolute dates for rocks are obtained with radiometric methods.
Absolute Age: Definition & Dating | valeriemillett.com
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Despite seeming like a relatively stable place, the Earth's surface has changed dramatically over the past 4. Mountains have been built and eroded, continents and oceans have moved great distances, and the Earth has fluctuated from being extremely cold and almost completely covered with ice to being very warm and ice-free. These changes typically occur so slowly that they are barely detectable over the span of a human life, yet even at this instant, the Earth's surface is moving and changing.
Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Log in or Sign up. Scientists who study the ancient Earth have been working for hundreds of years to build an accurate timeline of the formation of the planet and the evolution of all life. This is no simple task!
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