Geologically Important Radioactive Elements Used for Radiometric Dating · Earth and Space Sciences Reference Tables (ESSRT)
| ⇱ All Earth and Space Sciences Reference Tables (ESSRT) | |
| ← Generalized Cross Section Model of Earth's Surface and Interior | Locations of Selected Hotspots → |
The Geologically Important Radioactive Elements Used for Radiometric Dating table from the Reference Tables for Earth and Space Sciences (ESSRT) lists the radioactive isotopes used to find the absolute age of rocks, minerals and organic materials. It primarily supports HS-ESS1-6.
What the radiometric dating table shows
Six parent isotopes are listed with their daughter decay products: samarium-147 (neodymium-143), rubidium-87 (strontium-87), uranium-238 (lead-206), uranium-235 (lead-207), potassium-40 (argon-40) and carbon-14 (nitrogen-14). For each, the table gives the approximate half-life, from 5730 years for carbon-14 to 106 billion years for samarium-147, the useful dating range and the materials that can be dated. Carbon-14 is useful for organic materials from about 100 to 70,000 years old, while the other isotopes date minerals and rocks as old as 4.6 billion years.
Regents Exam Questions
Released Regents questions that cannot be answered without this table, listed by exam. Each link opens the question with its answer key; the standard is the one the question assesses. The exams through August 2026 were given with the earlier edition of the ESSRT, which has the same table.