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potassium-argon dating

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potassium-argon dating
n
(Physics / General Physics) a technique for determining the age of minerals based on the occurrence in natural potassium of a small fixed amount of radioisotope 40K that decays to the stable argon isotope 40Ar with a half-life of 1.28 ✕ 109 years. Measurement of the ratio of these isotopes thus gives the age of the mineral Compare radiocarbon dating, rubidium-strontium dating

potassium-argon dating
A method of radiometric dating, involving analysis of the ratio of potassium 40 (a radioactive isotope of potassium) to argon (the product of radioactive decay of potassium 40) in a given sample.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.potassium-argon dating - geological dating that relies on the proportions of radioactive potassium in a rock sample and its decay product, argon
dating, geological dating - use of chemical analysis to estimate the age of geological specimens


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Geophysicist Michael McWilliams of Stanford University dated the Brunhes-Matuyama transition at 780,000 years ago using the argon-argon technique, a variation of the standard potassium-argon dating method.
Potassium-argon dating of the volcanic rocks puts the islands' ages between about 1 million (western islands) and 4 million (eastern islands) years.
 
 
 
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