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The Age of the Earth–A Summary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

G. Brent Dalrymple
G. Brent Dalrymple*
Affiliation:
College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503
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Extract

After two centuries of scientific endeavor, scientists have concluded that the age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years. This value, which is based on the relationships between lead isotopes in meteorites and in the Earth, has an uncertainty of less than 1 percent and is consistent with numerous radiometric age measurements on ancient rocks found on the Earth and Moon as well as on meteorites. In addition, the antiquity of the Earth is consistent with evidence indicating that the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe are of the order of 14-16 billion years (abbreviated Ga) in age.

Type
Teaching Evolution Convincingly and with Clarity
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 5: The Evolution-Creation Controversy II: Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Geological Education , October 1999 , pp. 17 - 22
Copyright
© 1991 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University 

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