How Old is the Earth

Several Christian ministries promote the idea that the earth is less than 10, years old, which they say comes from the Bible. In reality, the Bible makes no claim as to the age of the earth, although it does establish a minimum age. This page examines some of the history of the controversy—what the Bible actually says and does not say—and the scientific evidence surrounding the age of the earth.

Age of the earth according to the Bible The following is a summary of the biblical evidence presented on this website regarding the age of the earth. For more detailed explanations of each topic, please click on the associated link.

Sm-Nd method Large variations in Sm/Nd ratios in natural rocks are rare metamorphic age Mineral transformation. Effect of LREE-rich inclusions on garnet dating Price et al. () The evolution of Nd isotopes with time in the mantle, the.

The initial ratio has particular importance for studying the chemical evolution of the Earth’s mantle and crust, as we discussed in the section on igneous rocks. K-Ar Dating 40K is the radioactive isotope of K, and makes up 0. Since K is one of the 10 most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust, the decay of 40K is important in dating rocks. But this scheme is not used because 40Ca can be present as both radiogenic and non-radiogenic Ca.

Note that this is not always true. If a magma cools quickly on the surface of the Earth, some of the Ar may be trapped. If this happens, then the date obtained will be older than the date at which the magma erupted. For example lavas dated by K-Ar that are historic in age, usually show 1 to 2 my old ages due to trapped Ar. Such trapped Ar is not problematical when the age of the rock is in hundreds of millions of years.

The dating equation used for K-Ar is: Some of the problems associated with K-Ar dating are Excess argon. This is only a problem when dating very young rocks or in dating whole rocks instead of mineral separates. Minerals should not contain any excess Ar because Ar should not enter the crystal structure of a mineral when it crystallizes.

Thus, it always better to date minerals that have high K contents, such as sanidine or biotite.