Radiometric dating is a means of determining the “age” of a mineral specimen by determining the relative amounts present of certain radioactive elements. By “age” we mean the elapsed time from when the mineral specimen was formed. Radioactive elements “decay” that is, change into other elements by “half lives. The formula for the fraction remaining is one-half raised to the power given by the number of years divided by the half-life in other words raised to a power equal to the number of half-lives.

If we knew the fraction of a radioactive element still remaining in a mineral, it would be a simple matter to calculate its age by the formula. To determine the fraction still remaining, we must know both the amount now present and also the amount present when the mineral was formed.

Some potential improvements in the effective dating ranges are outlined. from publication: Recent progress in landslide dating: A global overview | Recent.

Barnacles have never been successfully dated by electron spin resonance ESR. Living mainly in the intertidal zone, barnacles die when sea level changes cause their permanent exposure. Thus, dating the barnacles dates past sea level changes. From this, we can measure apparent sea level changes that occur due to ocean volume changes, crustal isostasy, and tectonics.

ESR can date aragonitic mollusc shells ranging in age from 5 ka to at least ka. By modifying the standard ESR method for molluscs to chemically dissolve 20 microm from off the shells, six barnacle samples from Norridgewock, Maine, and Khyex River, British Columbia, were tested for suitability for ESR dating . These ages agree well with 14C dates on the barnacles themselves and wood in the overlying glaciomarine sediment.