Potassium-Argon (K-Ar) dating is the most widely applied technique of radiometric dating. Potassium is a component in many common minerals and can be used to determine the ages of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The Potassium-Argon dating method is the measurement of the accumulation of Argon in a mineral.

Is potassium-argon dating used for?

The potassium-argon dating method has been used to measure a wide variety of ages. The potassium-argon age of some meteorites is as old as 4,500,000,000 years, and volcanic rocks as young as 20,000 years old have been measured by this method.

What is K-Ar dating and how is it used in archeology?

fossils, including hominids, as well as archaeological material that has been found in the sequence. The potassium-argon (K-Ar) isotopie dating method is widely used for numerical age measurement of rocks, especially igneous rocks, which are formed by cooling of magmas after emplacement or after eruption as lava flows.

Is K-Ar dating relative or absolute?

The potassium–argon (K–Ar) geochronological method is one of the oldest absolute dating methods and is based upon the occurrence of a radioactive isotope of potassium (40K), which naturally decays to a stable daughter isotope of argon (radiogenic 40Ar, also known as 40Ar*).