The Age of the Earth From Lead Isotope Abundances

Russell, Rick; Allan, David W.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-246x.1955.tb00383.x

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…With the development and increasing accuracy of radioactive dating methods for geological materials (Knopf, 1957) it has become apparent that our planet cannot have existed for more than about 4.5, or possibly 5 billions years. The close agreement of recent estimates (Russell and Allan, 1955;Patterson, Tilton, and Inghram, 1955) establishes the reasonable reliability of the methods.…”

supporting

confidence: 70%

Dating the Origin of Life on Earth

Briggs

1959

Evolution

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supporting

confidence: 70%

Dating the Origin of Life on Earth

Briggs

1959

Evolution

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“…The values here found for t a from the variations in Tertiary and Hercynian leads are higher than most of those arrived at by Russell and Allan (1956) from a statistically rigorous treat ment of eighty "young" leads, ranging in age from Caledonian to Tertiary. The difference is mainly due, I think, to the fact that with mathematical impartiality they have included many leads that I should have rejected as anomalous and unsuitable for die purpose.…”

Section: IV Estimates Based On Terrestrial Leadscontrasting

confidence: 50%

“…Later, including some additional lead-isotope data of their own, Collins et al (1953) arrived at 3,500 m.y. More recently an electronic calculating machine has been brought into service, and Russell and Allan (1956) have obtained 3,300 m.y. from Nier's results, taken alone.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

How old is the earth?

Holmes¹

1956

TRNED

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The advances made during the last decade in estimating the time that has elapsed since the original material of the earth became differen tiated into crust, mantle and core are briefly reviewed. The earlier estimates (3,300-3,500 m.y.) based on the isotopic compositions of lead from galenas of known age are now replaced by one of about 4,500 m.y., as a result of the steadily increasing wealth of available data. Patterson and his co-workers have found that the proportions of lead isotopes (to lead-204) in lead from iron meteorites are lower than those in lead from any other known source. Adopting such lead as primeval, Patterson finds that both meteorites and the earth have essentially the same age, 4,550 ± 70 m.y. Using a series of leads ranging in age from the present to over 2,900 m.y. ago, I find 4,500 ±100 m.y. for the time since primary differentiation. Using only Palaeozoic and younger leads, Russell and Allan reach an estimate of 4,300 ±400 m.y. Possible differences between meteorites and the earth in age and primeval-lead composition are discussed, and reasons are given for thinking that the sialic crust seems to be a more likely source of lead ores than the ultrabasic material of the underlying mantle.

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“…General integral equations describing the evolution with time of the isotopic abundance ratios of lead derived from a single common initial composition have been derived by several workers [Geiss, 1954;Russell and Allan, 1956;Wetherill, 1956;Kanasewich, 1968] and can be written in terms of ratios measured at the present day for a particular sample as 2ø6ebb fo 'p -1 when r -1 (and not to), so that t• is the time in the past marking the beginning of the first stage. These solutions are for n stages involving n -1 fractionations.…”

Section: A General Theory Of the Evolution Of Lead Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Episodic uranium‐lead models and the interpretation of variations in the isotopic composition of lead in rocks

Gale¹,

Mussett²

1973

Reviews of Geophysics

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Controversy over the use of rectilinear plots for the interpretation of isotopic rock lead studies has prompted the following analysis of discrete two‐ and three‐stage episodic models, which is partly in the nature of a review, but which also introduces some new results. An investigation is made of the restrictive conditions under which these models lead to rectilinear plots in the isochron, lead‐lead, and modified concordia diagrams; the question of the solubility of these models and the possibility of discriminating between them are discussed. It is shown that there are two special three‐stage models that lead to rectilinear plots in all diagrams and that one of these models cannot (from uranium‐lead data alone) be distinguished from the two‐stage model. The alternative special rectilinear three‐stage model, which can be distinguished both from the two‐stage and from other three‐stage models on the basis of uranium‐lead data alone, cannot be fully solved on the basis of these data alone. The necessity of using data other than the uranium‐lead data (such as the ‘age of the earth’ or the duration of the last stage of lead evolution) either to solve or to distinguish the models makes it clear that a fully independent age of the earth cannot be derived from uranium‐lead data alone. A discussion is also given of the solubility of general three‐ and four‐stage models by use of ‘age‐corrected’ isotope ratios to correct back one stage. It is shown that careless application of a particular multistage model without proper investigation of its consistency with the data can lead to false interpretations. Recent controversy over the use of multistage models is discussed; much of the controversy is shown to arise out of a confusion of the models with the particular diagram used to plot the data. In general no one diagram is to be preferred to another, with the exceptions that if µ1 is variable the modified concordia diagram must be used, whereas the discussion of age‐corrected isotope ratios necessitates use of the lead‐lead diagram. A brief discussion is given of the interpretation of oceanic lead data, for which the analytical precision at present may often be insufficient for the proper application of consistency tests; individual sets of oceanic lead therefore are not susceptible of unambiguous interpretation at this time. It is emphasized that this real lack of information cannot be overcome (as has been implied in some papers) by the use of alternative presentations of the data. The new Tera‐Wasserburg diagram is examined, as is the recently introduced idea that the initial 207Pb/206Pb ratio may serve as an important chronometer for early planetary system evolution. Both ideas are shown to contribute no information that cannot be derived from the modified concordia diagram. The application of the Tera‐Wasserburg diagram in the attempt to derive from lunar basalt U‐Pb data an independent age of the moon is shown to rest on precisely the same principles and to be subject to the same restrictions and uncertainties as earl...

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The Age of the Earth From Lead Isotope Abundances

Cited by 18 publications

References 13 publications

Dating the Origin of Life on Earth

Dating the Origin of Life on Earth

How old is the earth?

Episodic uranium‐lead models and the interpretation of variations in the isotopic composition of lead in rocks

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