scispace - formally typeset
Journal ArticleDOI

Synchronizing Rock Clocks of Earth History

TLDR
This calibration of tephras in marine deposits in Morocco to calibrate the age of Fish Canyon sanidine provides tight constraints for the astronomical tuning of pre-Neogene successions, resulting in a mutually consistent age of ∼65.95 Ma for the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.
Abstract
Calibration of the geological time scale is achieved by independent radioisotopic and astronomical dating, but these techniques yield discrepancies of ∼1.0% or more, limiting our ability to reconstruct Earth history. To overcome this fundamental setback, we compared astronomical and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of tephras in marine deposits in Morocco to calibrate the age of Fish Canyon sanidine, the most widely used standard in 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology. This calibration results in a more precise older age of 28.201 ± 0.046 million years ago (Ma) and reduces the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar method9s absolute uncertainty from ∼2.5 to 0.25%. In addition, this calibration provides tight constraints for the astronomical tuning of pre-Neogene successions, resulting in a mutually consistent age of ∼65.95 Ma for the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.

read more

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

On The Geologic Time Scale

TL;DR: GTS2012 as mentioned in this paper summarizes the international divisions and ages in the Geologic Time Scale, published in 2012, since 2004, when GTS2004 was detailed, major developments have taken place that directly bear and have considerable impact on the intricate science of geologic time scaling.
Book ChapterDOI

The Neogene Period

TL;DR: An Astronomically Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS2012) is presented in this article, as an update of ATNTS2004 in GTS2004, and the numerical ages are identical or almost so.
Journal ArticleDOI

A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes.

TL;DR: A history of sea-level fluctuations for the entire Paleozoic by using stratigraphic sections from pericratonic and cratonic basins is reconstructed, revealing a gradual rise through the Cambrian and a short-lived but prominent withdrawal in response to Hirnantian glaciation.
Journal ArticleDOI

Joint determination of 40K decay constants and 40Ar∗/40K for the Fish Canyon sanidine standard, and improved accuracy for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

TL;DR: In this article, a statistical optimization approach was proposed for estimating the 40Ar/39Ar decay constants from 40K activity data, K-Ar isotopic data, and pairs of 238U-206Pb and 40Ar-39Ar data for rigorously selected rocks to estimate the partial decay constants (λe and λβ).
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Subcommission on geochronology: Convention on the use of decay constants in geo- and cosmochronology

TL;DR: The IUGS Subcommission on Geochronology (FOOTNOTE 4) as discussed by the authors recommended the adoption of a standard set of decay constants and isotopic abundances in isotope geology.
Book

A Geologic time scale

W. B. Harland
Journal ArticleDOI

A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth

TL;DR: In this article, a new solution for the astronomical computation of the insolation quantities on Earth spanning from −250 m to 250 m was presented, where the most regular components of the orbital solution could still be used over a much longer time span, which is why they provided here the solution over 250 m.
BookDOI

A Geologic Time Scale 2004

TL;DR: Gradstein et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a chronostratigraphy approach for linking time and rock in the context of geologic time scales, including the geomagnetic polarity time scale and stable isotope geochronology.
Journal ArticleDOI

Intercalibration of standards, absolute ages and uncertainties in 40Ar/39Ar dating

TL;DR: McDougall et al. as mentioned in this paper derived intercalibration factors for McClure Mountain hornblende (MMhb-1), GHC-305 biotite, GA-1550, Taylor Creek sanidine (TCs), relative to Fish Canyon sanidine(ACs), were derived from 797 analyses involving 11 separate irradiations with well-constrained neutronfluence variations.
Related Papers (5)
Trending Questions (1)
How is the age of a rock related to the history of the Earth?

The age of a rock is determined through techniques like radioisotopic dating and astronomical tuning, which help in reconstructing Earth's history.