TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 RADIOMETRIC DATING

2.1 Accuracy of Radiometric Dating

2.2 Timescale of Radiometric Decay

2.3 Half-Life

2.4 Fundamental Radioactive Decay

2.5 Equational Expression of Radioactive Decay

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Limitation of Radiometric Dating

3.1     Application of Radiometric Dating

3.1.1 Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) Dating on Environmental Studies

3.1.2 Quaternary Studies and Climate Change

3.1.3 APPLICATION OF RADIOCARBON IN BIOMEDICAL

3.1.4 APPLICATION OF RADIOCARBON IN FORENSIC SCIENCE

3.1.5 MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

3.1.6  IN INDUSTRY

3.2 RADIOMETRIC DATING METHODS

3.2.1 Radiocarbon dating methods

3.2.2  Uranium-lead radiometric dating method

3.2.3 Samarium–neodymium dating

continental crust formation  (Klein, 2003).

3.2.4  Rubidium–strontium dating

3.2.5  Potassium–argon dating

3.2.6  Uranium-thorium dating

3.2.7  Fission track dating

3.2.8  Luminescence dating

consideration when determining the age (Rhodes, 2011).

3.2.9  Chlorine-36 dating method

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0     SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1     Summary

4.2     Conclusion

           REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Radiometric dating, radioactive or radioisotope dating is a technique used to date materials such as rock or carbon, in  which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed (Allen, 1999). The method compare the abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope within the material to the abundance of decay product, which form at a known constant rate of decay. The use of radiometric dating was first published  in 1907 by Bertram Boltwood and is now the principal source of information about the absolute age of rock and other geological features, including the age of fossilized life forms or the age of the Earth itself, and can also be used to date a wide range of natural and manmade materials (Allen, 1999).

Together with stratigraphic principles, radiometric dating methods are used in geochronology to establish the geologic time scale (Ludwig and Renne, 2000). Among the best known techniques are radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating and uranium-lead dating. By allowing the establishment of geological time  scales, it provides a significant source of information about the ages of fossils and the deduces rates of evolutionary change. Radiometric dating is also used to date archaeological materials including ancient artifacts (Baecher et al., 2000). Different methods of radiometric dating vary in the timescale over which they are accurate and the materials to which they can be applied. The aging process in human being is easy to see. As we age our hair turns gray, our skin wrinkles and our gait slows. However, rocks and other objects in nature do not give off such obvious clues about how long they have been around. Radiometric dating is used to calculate their ages. Different methods of radiometric dating can be used to estimate the age of a variety of natural and even man made materials

Using  a variety of methods geologist are able to determine the age of geological materials to answer the question: “ how old is this fossil”? Relative dating methods are used to describe a sequence of  events. These methods use the principles of stratigraphy  to place events recorded in rocks from oldest to youngest. Absolute dating  methods determine how much time has passed since rocks formed by measuring the radioactive decay of isotopes or the effects of radiation on the crystals structures of minerals. Paleomagnetism measures  the ancient orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field to help determine the age of rocks  (Baecher et al., 2000).