Potassium Argon Dating

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. History of the K/Ar-Method of Geochronology

   • F. G. Houtermans

   Pages 1-6

3. Determination of Radiogenic Argon

   • T. Kirsten

   Pages 7-39

4. Potassium Analysis

   • O. Müller

   Pages 40-67

5. The Diffusion of Argon in Potassium-Bearing Solids

   • H. Fechtig, S. Kalbitzer

   Pages 68-107

6. K-Ar dating of Precambrian Rocks

   • G. W. Wetherill

   Pages 107-117

7. K-Ar Dating of Plutonic and Volcanic Rocks in Orogenic Belts

   • Richard Lee Armstrong

   Pages 117-133

8. K-Ar Dating of Sediments

   • P. M. Hurley

   Pages 134-151

9. The Problem of Contamination in Obtaining Accurate Dates of Young Geologic Rocks

   • G. H. Curtis

   Pages 151-162

10. Tektites

    • O. A. Schaeffer

    Pages 162-173

11. K-Ar Ages of Meteorites

    • D. Krankowsky, J. Zähringer

    Pages 174-200

12. Back Matter

    Pages 200-234

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Perhaps no dating method has the wide range of applicability as does the potassium argon dating method from either consideration of the ranges of ages which can be dated or the availability of suitable material to date. Minerals as young as tens of thousands of years to minerals billions of years old have been successfully dated. Many minerals retain for times of the order of billions of years the daughter, Ar40, and many minerals contain as a component K40 the parent element, potassium being a common element in the earth's crust. As a result, most rock contains at least one mineral which can be successfully dated by the potassium argon method. Even though this method has been applied for over fifteen years, there is as yet no work which summarizes the experimental techniques and the results available. The sixtieth birthday ofW. GENTNER, one of the pioneers in this field of research, is a suitable time to present such a summary.

• Argon
• Potassium
• mineral
• research
• sediment
• stratigraphy
• tectonics

• Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, L. I., USA

  O. A. Schaeffer

• Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany

  J. Zähringer

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