<p>For dating old geological material, <a href="https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/earth-inside-and-out/zircon-chronology-dating-the-oldest-material-on-earth" rel="nofollow noreferrer">zircon dating</a> is sometimes used. Also see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium%E2%80%93lead_dating" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Uranium-lead dating</a>. There is also data from Antarctic and Greenland <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Paleoclimatology_IceCores" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ice cores</a>.</p>
<p>Other things you could look are <a href="https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/%7Ehilke/181/pictures/AnswerQEarth.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Earth formation theories</a> - the core accretion model &amp; the disk instability model as well as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">plate tectonics</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift" rel="nofollow noreferrer">continental drift</a>.</p>
<p>There are also the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_water_on_Earth" rel="nofollow noreferrer">theories about the origin of water on Earth</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-04T09:07:43.550Z
2021-10-04T09:16:18.653Z
2021-10-04T09:16:18.653Z
Fred
<p>Take a look at the work of John Valley at the University of Wisconsin.  He has dated zircons from the Jack Hills in Australia.  Now, he is analyzing glassy inclusions in zircons.  The inclusions are unaltered siliceous magma that formed the crust of the early earth. The American Geophysical Union published a volume of papers you should see.  The book &quot;The Early Earth&quot; is at <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118860359" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118860359</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-19T03:56:23.323Z
2021-10-19T09:27:26.460Z
2021-10-19T09:27:26.460Z
svtv6
<p>The oldest radioactive dating is uranium lead quantities and zircon. Oceanic fossils and minerals give us a estimate of height of primitive oceans. And the oxide mineral contents of geologic strata give us estimate of how much carbon and oxygen were in our primitive atmosphere.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-19T19:52:29.497Z
2021-10-19T19:52:29.497Z
LazyReader
<p>A friend of mine asked our teacher but the class was over and in online mode, I can't ask my teacher until the next lecture. It sparked my curiosity, I know we use carbon dating for finding the age of organic material, snowball hypothesis is there and Theories of Oparin Haldane tell us about primitive atmospheric conditions. Is there anything I don't know about, it may be some method in geography? Just tell me the name of the method if you can't tell in detail, I'm stuck on it &quot;Modeling early earth&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-04T08:00:28.380Z
Carbon dating does not go back further than ~50 ka, you probably think of other, longer-lived isotopes.
Jean-Marie Prival
<geology><models><earth-history>
What methods/apparatus are used to model the early Earth? What do we know of their accuracy?
gagan
# What methods/apparatus are used to model the early Earth? What do we know of their accuracy?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-04)

A friend of mine asked our teacher but the class was over and in online mode, I can't ask my teacher until the next lecture. It sparked my curiosity, I know we use carbon dating for finding the age of organic material, snowball hypothesis is there and Theories of Oparin Haldane tell us about primitive atmospheric conditions. Is there anything I don't know about, it may be some method in geography? Just tell me the name of the method if you can't tell in detail, I'm stuck on it "Modeling early earth".

**Tags:** geology, models, earth-history

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Carbon dating does not go back further than ~50 ka, you probably think of other, longer-lived isotopes.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-10-04. Score: 1

For dating old geological material, [zircon dating](https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/earth-inside-and-out/zircon-chronology-dating-the-oldest-material-on-earth) is sometimes used. Also see [Uranium-lead dating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium%E2%80%93lead_dating). There is also data from Antarctic and Greenland [ice cores](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Paleoclimatology_IceCores).

Other things you could look are [Earth formation theories](https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/%7Ehilke/181/pictures/AnswerQEarth.pdf) - the core accretion model & the disk instability model as well as [plate tectonics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics) and [continental drift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift).

There are also the [theories about the origin of water on Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_water_on_Earth).


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### Answer by username_3 on 2021-10-19. Score: 0

Take a look at the work of John Valley at the University of Wisconsin. He has dated zircons from the Jack Hills in Australia. Now, he is analyzing glassy inclusions in zircons. The inclusions are unaltered siliceous magma that formed the crust of the early earth. The American Geophysical Union published a volume of papers you should see. The book "The Early Earth" is at <https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118860359>


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### Answer by username_4 on 2021-10-19. Score: 0

The oldest radioactive dating is uranium lead quantities and zircon. Oceanic fossils and minerals give us a estimate of height of primitive oceans. And the oxide mineral contents of geologic strata give us estimate of how much carbon and oxygen were in our primitive atmosphere.


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