Dating Fossils

It is impossible to accurately date dinosaur fossils or layers of sediment. Two types of dating are attempted in determining the age of dinosaur fossils or rock. The first type is relative dating. This type of dating relies on matching the relationship between layers of sediment, and also the relationship of the fossils found in each layer. This type of dating is inaccurate, because the layers of sediment could form in a day under drastic circumstances, such as flooding and volcanic activity. These drastic events would create an imaginary time line in the sediment layers, and animals could be caught in a mudslide or other event and buried in different layers on the same day. This type of method leads to circular reasoning. The second type of dating is called absolute dating. This is done by analyzing the amount of radioactive decay in minerals and rocks. The method suggesting that it takes radioactive decay millions of years to reach half-life, but this is still a calculated guess. Absolute dating still relies on the position of sediment layers and fossil position in those layers. Radioactive decay occurs at different rates like all other decay, affected by elements, oxidization and position (for example: how much pressure is the mineral under). Dating dinosaur fossils is impossible do to the fact that they are formed under great circumstances, like flooding, mud slides, freezing, volcano eruption, etc. **********************************************************************************************A large Dinosaur Fossil Find***************************** **************************************************************************