Buzsaw writes:
From searching, I learned that most fossils consisted of sedimentary rock and were void of original organic matter. This raised the question in my mind as to why the aggregate age of the rock or sand grains in the sediment would not be calculated as the age of the fossil rather than the time the organism was deposited.
If Moose is correct, in that fossils are dated from the time of deposit, why wouldn't that apply to sea shore sand and for that matter, even a house built of stone, some of which had aged fossils in it.
ah. well, i found your problem. you asked a question about
sand when you really wanted to know about
sandstone. the two are
not the same thing.
sedimentary rocks can be dated by the
other stuff that collects in it during the sedimentation process -- usually stuff found in the liquid environment that produces it. for relative methods, the fossils and their correlated dates ("index" fossils) can be used, but i know you'll find this circular. the
absolute dating method you're looking for potassium-argon dating.
while it can be used to date the source rock as well, potassium also collects during the deposition of the sediment, too. this is particularly easy with
glauconite sandstone. so, yeah, ask for what you want to know -- cause you miss stuff when you make intuitive leaps for the sake of argument.
Edited by arachnophilia, : No reason given.
אָרַח
™ Version 4.2