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potassium-argon dating

[ puh-tas-ee-uhm-ahr-gon ]

noun

, Geology.
  1. a method for estimating the age of a mineral or rock, based on measurement of the rate of decay of radioactive potassium into argon.


potassium-argon dating

noun

  1. a technique for determining the age of minerals based on the occurrence in natural potassium of a small fixed amount of radioisotope 40K that decays to the stable argon isotope 40Ar with a half-life of 1.28 × 10 9years. Measurement of the ratio of these isotopes thus gives the age of the mineral Compare radiocarbon dating rubidium-strontium dating
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

potassium-argon dating

  1. A method of radiometric dating , involving analysis of the ratio of potassium 40 (a radioactive isotope of potassium) to argon (the product of radioactive decay of potassium 40) in a given sample.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of potassium-argon dating1

First recorded in 1965–70
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Example Sentences

Using a method known as potassium-argon dating, Zinjanthropus was determined to be 1.75 million years old.

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