Found On The Dorset Coast

[nicebloke1]

150 million sea monster fossil. So my question is how on earth can they date such.

[Peter Pedant]

strata

 

[10ClarionSt]

They probably asked some smart alec on this website. 

[nicebloke1]

I just cant see it being possible, 150 million years?

[douglas9401]

It was dated from the expired library card stuck between the teeth.

[THECORBYLOON]

"I just cant see it being possible, 150 million years?"

How not?

[nicebloke1]

Because in my mind its impossible to say that an item is that old. I'm waiting for someone to help me believe it can be dated. Apart from one serious answer, not yet convinced.

[Arrods]

In 20 year's time they'll be able to say the fossil is 150,000,020 year's old. :-)

[Khandro]

As it was found yesterday, it's actually now 150 million years and one day old. 😄

 

[bhg481]

It's organic material so they should be able to use carbon-dating.

[douglas9401]

Guessologists will study it in-depth and arrive at a definitive estimate through carbon dating, microscopic analysis and asking the public on X to vote.

[nicebloke1]

10.39. Good point in a sense, if it was only found yesterday how on earth did they know it to be that old. No examination / test to prove such, even if the latter is possible.

[ToraToraTora]

carbon dating, very accurate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating

 

[Radagast]

The ages of the rock strata in which fossils are found, have already been dated. Carbon dating won't work on things older than about 50000 years. The carbon-14 half-life is too short.

[Peter Pedant]

There are various principles - a higher layer is more recent than a lower

These were laid down by Wheatley and Sedgwick in the 1820s. Can you imagine - Geology tutorials were - "hire a horse and we will ride out to the Cge ( wh uni the young gentlemen attended) countryside and we will inspect the geology of the shire"

NOT necessarily at the same rate - The Deccan plateau went from 120 m making to yesterday ( oops)

The jurassic coast rehearses almost all the layers of Great Britain from Lyme to Christchurch, and the really good one is Blue lias ( seen only at Lyme, Mary Anning etc) and York.

This one is at Kimmeridge ( chalk I think) so I am interested to see the scientific report

NB - The  film confuses ( actually fuses) the Jurassic and cretaceous ( difft times)

[Peter Pedant]

It's organic material so they should be able to use carbon-dating.

no it isnt - the carbon has been replaced by stone ere years ago

I think it is on radioactive decay of much more slowly decaying elements - I will look it up

[pastafreak]

Do you have a link? Google tells me that such a find was reported in a number of news reports back in July.

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-07-10/mysterious-object-on-jurassic-coast-turns-out-to-be-oldest-fossil-of-its-kind

[nicebloke1]

10.49 Have no clue on this subject, but to a degree my thinking was same ( carbon test) 150 million years, is one hell of a long time.

[Peter Pedant]

and decent geologist get paid lots and lots of lula ! - mineral hunting for the big firms.

The scientific history and philsophy of this 1820-50 is worth a whirl. The teachers at Cge were mainly then bachelor priests, and they were the ones describing a changing world. Sedimentary rocks were particularly troublesome. God cd not have created them at one time as the Bible said.

so geology refuted by  observation the creation story

so when Darwin came along, and said change thro evolution applies to biology, no one really said - o  my gaaard this is so  new. They  had been saying it for years

[nicebloke1]

10.52 It was running across the bottom of my TV screen this morning either sky or bbc. I was flicking back and forth.

[Radagast]

Rock strata are dated using isotopes with half-lives much longer than carbon-14.