Geochronometer

Quick meaning: Geochronometer is a noun meaning (geology, geochronology) Any of several techniques used to measure the age of rock, especially any technique of radiometric dating, the measuring of the relative abundance of particular radioactive or radiogenic isotopes in order to evaluate the progress of radioactive decay.

Meaning

(geology, geochronology) Any of several techniques used to measure the age of rock, especially any technique of radiometric dating, the measuring of the relative abundance of particular radioactive or radiogenic isotopes in order to evaluate the progress of radioactive decay.

More Meanings

1. Any of several crystalline minerals that remain stable over geologic time and that when formed contained radioisotopes whose abundance relative to their decay products can be measured to calculate the age of the crystal (and thus that of the surrounding rock).

Example Sentences

Application of the K-Ca geochronometer therefore is best suited to minerals with high K/Ca ratios (Marshall & DePaolo, 1982) and K-bearing clay materials might appear to be amenable to its use.

Other geochronometers like ^{₈₇}Rb-\!^{₈₇}Sr, ^{₁₄₇}Sm-\!^{₁₄₃}Nd, or ^{₁₈₇}Re-\!^{₁₈₇}Os are also successfully applied to dating ore deposits and magmatic, metamorphic, or sedimentary processes.

K-bearing minerals such as biotite, sanidine, plagioclase, and hornblende are geochronometers representative of the time of their crystallization once they were erupted from a volcano, and then transported into marine sedimentary basins.

Word Forms

• geochronometers

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include geochronology, geochrony, radiochronology, geochronologist, thermochronometry, chronogeny.

Related Dictionary Tools