Overview

The time-dependent decay of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes or in-growth of their radioactive or stable daughter products form the basis of radiometric dating of several natural processes. Developed in the beginning of the last century mainly to determine the absolute ages of rocks and minerals, radiometric chronology now plays a central role in a broad range of Earth and planetary sciences - from extra-solar-system processes to environmental geoscience. With the prerequisite of only college-level knowledge in physics, chemistry and mathematics, this concise book focuses on the essential principles of radiometric dating in order to enable students and teachers belonging to diverse fields of studies to select, understand and interpret radiometric dating results generated and published by professionals.

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9781107198739

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Reviews

'Well organized, beginning with the basic physics (nuclear structure, radioactivity, nucleosynthesis) then proceeding to how geochronometry actually works, including technical details of mass spectrometry and error analysis, then tackling the ways in which various isotope systems have been used to help understand the history of the earth and the solar system.' Doug Macdougall, Emeritus Professor of Earth Science, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego 'The book is, in my opinion, well organized. The subject matter is vast. I like the way in which the author has presented the physical fundamentals in the early chapters, then the applications to the evolution of the earth and other parts of the solar system later.' Marion E. Bickford, Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University, New York 'From what I have seen in the chapters, the book is well presented and I personally and many others in the field would welcome it.' Sir Robert Keith O'Nions, Former President and Rector of Imperial College London 'Gopalan wanted to produce a concise book for nonspecialist students and researchers. The book focuses on the basic concepts and principles of isotope dating. I have carefully read all the nine chapters. Undoubtedly, it is a valuable addition to the existing literature. ... Gopalan is a physicist by training, so his writing is pretty accurate and precise.' Bor-Ming Jahn, Former Distinguished Chair Professor for Research, Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan Unviersity

'Well organized, beginning with the basic physics (nuclear structure, radioactivity, nucleosynthesis) then proceeding to how geochronometry actually works, including technical details of mass spectrometry and error analysis, then tackling the ways in which various isotope systems have been used to help understand the history of the earth and the solar system.' Doug Macdougall, Emeritus Professor of Earth Science, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego 'The book is, in my opinion, well organized. The subject matter is vast. I like the way in which the author has presented the physical fundamentals in the early chapters, then the applications to the evolution of the earth and other parts of the solar system later.' Marion E. Bickford, Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University, New York 'From what I have seen in the chapters, the book is well presented and I personally and many others in the field would welcome it.' Sir Robert Keith O'Nions, Former President and Rector of Imperial College London 'Gopalan wanted to produce a concise book for nonspecialist students and researchers. The book focuses on the basic concepts and principles of isotope dating. I have carefully read all the nine chapters. Undoubtedly, it is a valuable addition to the existing literature. ... Gopalan is a physicist by training, so his writing is pretty accurate and precise.' Bor-Ming Jahn, Former Distinguished Chair Professor for Research, Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan Unviersity 'An invaluable, affordable, handy text for the student and researcher and a welcome addition to the existing literature and more so which can be readily used as basic teaching material at the graduate-level by teachers at Universities teaching diverse subjects like planetary science, petrology, geochemistry and paleoclimate, to name a few, who could also develop it creatively for use as an advanced text for their individualistically-styled teaching needs.' Ravikant Vadlamani, Journal of the Geological Society of India 'Many texts on this subject tend to avoid the details and just present an equation that should be followed without explanation. At least here, Gopalan makes a good approach to explaining the why as well as the how. ... In all, it's a nice book. It fits easily on the shelf and is a good reference to the basic materials. I understand this book will eventually also be available in electronic form, which will make it more accessible to today's web-connected student.' A. J. Timothy Jull, Meteoritics & Planetary Science

Author Information

Kunchithapadam Gopalan is Honorary Scientist of the Indian National Science Academy. After his postdoctoral research on meteorites and moon rocks with Professor G. W. Wetherill at the University of California, Los Angeles, Gopalan initiated modern isotope geoscientific studies in India at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. His notable distinctions include the Bhatnagar award of the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, M. S.Krishnan Gold Medal of the Indian Geophysical Union, Medal of Honour of the Indian Society for Mass Spectrometry, and Fellowship of the three National Academies of Science.

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