Define luminescence dating

08-Oct-2020 22:15

Techniques include tree rings in timbers, radiocarbon dating of wood or bones, and trapped-charge dating methods such as thermoluminescence dating of glazed ceramics.

Coins found in excavations may have their production date written on them, or there may be written records describing the coin and when it was used, allowing the site to be associated with a particular calendar year.

In historical geology, the primary methods of absolute dating involve using the radioactive decay of elements trapped in rocks or minerals, including isotope systems from very young (radiocarbon dating with Radiometric dating is based on the known and constant rate of decay of radioactive isotopes into their radiogenic daughter isotopes.

Particular isotopes are suitable for different applications due to the types of atoms present in the mineral or other material and its approximate age.

The half-life of potassium-40 is 1.3 billion years, far longer than that of carbon-14, allowing much older samples to be dated.

Potassium is common in rocks and minerals, allowing many samples of geochronological or archeological interest to be dated.

After another 5,730 years only one-quarter of the original carbon-14 will remain.

Thus dating that particular tree does not necessarily indicate when the fire burned or the structure was built.