T352 Improvements and Challenges in Geochronology: Organizing the Past while Planning for the Future (Posters)

Wednesday, 25 October 2017
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Halls 4EF

EARTHTIME 2.0, ACCELERATING THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF INTEGRATED METHODOLOGIES FOR THE QUANTIFICATION OF GEOLOGICAL TIME

Paper number: T352-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The EARTHTIME Initiative has been active since the inaugural workshop in 2003. The first phase (EARTHTIME 1.0, 2004 to ~2016) was focussed on addressing shortcomings in the ‘high-precision’ geochronometers (e.g., U-Pb and 40Ar-39Ar), issues that limit their widespread application at the quoted levels of precision/accuracy. Many of these shortcomings (e.g., inter-laboratory bias) have been addressed through experiments conducted over the past ~12 years and the accuracy and precision of both of these widely used dating systems has been significantly improved. Perhaps the most significant outcome has been the development of a strong and lasting sense of a geochronology community. Not only has this community brought the 40Ar-39Ar and U-Pb isotope dilution sides together (for experiments and application) but it has expanded to include a wider range of decay schemes (e.g., Re-Os and U-Th) and analytical approaches (e.g., microbeam U-Pb).

The motivation for accelerating progress in the various dating methods has been that they underpin a wide range of Earth science research areas. The initiation of the EARTHTIME Initiative was driven by a combined need from within the geochronology community, but also from those reliant branches of Earth sciences. High-precision methods and chronology of the stratigraphic record was a focus at the start, however as EARTHTIME has evolved this delineation of what EARTHTIME is about has moved, with the emphasis on improving methods and application, irrespective of the level of precision. In 2016 two workshops were held to discuss and plan the future of the EARTHTIME Initiative. An outcome of the workshops was a broad definition of the EARTHTIME mission: To accelerate the development and application of integrated methodologies for the quantification of geological time for the underpinning of Earth sciences. A new structure is being developed and a revised web site is being developed: www.earth-time.org to communicate this.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-302929

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