Editor's Note
One of
the important aspects of geology is the ability to use the rock record
to look back in time at earth history. This not only gives
scientists a window into the ancient earth but a method by which
processes that occur beneath the earth’s surface and over long periods
of geologic time can be studied. The tools of this understanding
involve measuring time itself against geologic events that have
occurred in the past. The measurement of time can either be
relative, sequencing geologic events through the rock record, or
absolute, measuring time by the breakdown of radioactive elements
within the crust of the earth. Both tools come into play in
building our greater understanding of geologic time and earth history.
How
Do Scientists Measure Earth Age?
Marsha Barber and Diana Schielde Bartos
Louisiana Energy & Environmental Resource & Information Center
Louisiana State University
http://www.leeric.lsu.edu/bgbb/1/measuring.html
Marsha Barber and Diana Schielde Bartos
Louisiana Energy & Environmental Resource & Information Center
Louisiana State University
http://www.leeric.lsu.edu/bgbb/1/measuring.html
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Additional Reading
Fossils,
Rocks and Time
Lucy E. Edwards and John Pojeta, Jr.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/
United States Geological Survey
online publication
Lucy E. Edwards and John Pojeta, Jr.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/
United States Geological Survey
online publication
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Geologic
Time
William L. Newman
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/
United States Geological Survey
online publication
William L. Newman
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/
United States Geological Survey
online publication
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