Geology discovery could help with archaeological dating methods
Submitted by vicky on Tuesday, 16 March 2004 Page Views: 1779
EnvironmentScientists' understanding of Scotland's prehistory and the formation of its mountainous landscapes will be revolutionised by groundbreaking research which could also help locate hidden reserves of oil, gas and coal. A team of geologists at the University of Glasgow believe their work will help solve the mystery of how the Highlands formed and shed light on a forgotten era millions of years ago when an ocean separated England and Scotland.Previously, scientists have been baffled by the timescale of cataclysmic events which led to the creation of the Highlands when large parts of Scotland were more closely associated with North America than its southern neighbour. But Dr Tim Dempster and his colleagues have discovered previously unknown properties of a naturally occurring mineral which will have major implications in geology, archaeology and earth science by allowing far more accurate and sophisticated dating techniques. The findings could also have global economic and environmental ramifications by helping companies to pinpoint deposits of oil, gas and coal.
Dr Dempster, of the division of earth sciences at the University of Glasgow, explained the significance of the work into zircon, a mineral which could unexpectedly reveal more about Scotland's prehistoric origins.
He said: "Geology is a historical science and depends on being able to decipher sequences of events from the rock record and relate these to absolute time. Major advances in geological understanding have come through geochemists being able to obtain absolute ages from minerals containing very small quantities of radioactive elements.
"However, application of these methods has been previously limited because some key minerals, such as zircon, are believed not to grow in low temperature, near-surface, environments.
"Contrary to perceived wisdom, we have demonstrated that zircon typically does grow at low temperatures in slates. The exceptionally small zircons that grow in these conditions now reveal exciting potential for dating events occurring during their growth and open up new horizons for the determination of geological ages from rocks that were previously impossible to date."
Source: The Herald 16/03/2004
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