A REVIEW ARTICLE ON AGE OF

EARTH
Khush Bakht Hamdani

JANUARY 15, 2021

Contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Methodology........................................................................................................................................... 3
Objective ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Rationale ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Search strategy ................................................................................................................................... 3
Study eligibility criteria ....................................................................................................................... 4
Discussion................................................................................................................................................ 4
History of the figuring out of earth age .............................................................................................. 4
History of the Earth origin....................................................................................................................... 7
Evolution and Earth age ........................................................................................................................ 10
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 10
 AGE OF EARTH

Abstract

The first estimation of age was done by Patterson in 1953 by comparing the
earlier lead and present lead. Now a days the extensively using age value which is
4.54 billion years was discovered in 1980 by Tera. In 1921 Russel gave the idea
that age can be determined by the comparison of the radioelements and their
products concentrations ( e.g, uranium and lead). In 1942, Gerling gave the idea
that by using isotopes of lead can determine the age. In1947 , Houtermans and
Brown suggested that earlier present lead can be found in mateorites of iron. The
first estimation of age was done by Patterson in 1953. The reason to write a
review is to summarize related topics to the age of earth under the umbrella of
this article. As the literature contains lot of knowledge relevant to the topic but
they are discussed separately here it would be done an effort to bring all these
relevant topic together. The articles were searched in Google scholar, JAVA,
ScienceDirect, Internet archive, ResearchDate, JSTOR and scopus . It is said that
there was a fireball which was boundlessly hot, endlessly dense and tiny, it
exploded and resulted into the formation of universe including Earth and other
planets After formation of earth, there were different events occur including the
extinction of mass, ice ages, life appearance, continents breaks etc. With the
change in earth conditions, life also evolved from time to time.

Introduction
According to the latest data the Earth is 4.54 billion years old. In the start of 20th century this
question was unsolved that how old the Earth is ? But as the time passed there were done different
researches which were proved helpful in the revealing of age of earth. Those were included the
Rutherford discovery about the radioactivity in 1904. According to him the radioactive elements can
be used as a tracker of age of earth. In 1914 J.J. Thomson discovered the isotopes. In 1921 Russel
gave the idea that age can be determined by the comparison of the radioelements and their
products concentrations ( e.g uranium and lead). In 1942, Gerling gave the idea that by using
isotopes of lead can determine the age. In1947 , Houtermans and Brown suggested that earlier
present lead can be found in mateorites of iron. The first estimation of age was done by Patterson in
1953 by comparing the earlier lead and present lead. Now a days the extensively use age which 4.54
billion years was discovered in 1980 by Tera. In this review article it would be discussed that how old
is the Earth, how the age was figured out, development in the search of age, a brief history of earth,
a little view of evolution with the passing time from the establishment of earth, role of isotopes in
age determination, role of rocks in age determination and the history in determining the earth age. (
Dalrymple, 2015 )
Methodology
Objective
To describe the age of Earth and the literature work which has done in this field.

Rationale
The age of earth is the topic discussed broadly from time to time. The reason to write a review is to
summarize related topics to the age of earth under the umbrella of this article. As the literature
contains lot of knowledge relevant to the topic but they are discussed separately here it would be
done an effort to bring all these relevant topic together. So the purpose is :

 To know the age of earth

 How it was figured out?

 History of earth from its establishment

 Evolution and earth establishment

 Changes in the field of search with time

 Isotopes role in determination

 Rocks role in determination

Search strategy
The articles were searched in Google scholar, JAVA, ScienceDirect, Internet archive, ResearchDate,
JSTOR and scopus . But most of the research articles and books were obtained from Google scholar
and Internet archive. Different key words were used in searching data which are: age of earth,
history of earth, fossils and age of earth, how old the earth is? , evolution and the earth history,
determining the age of earth.

Table 1 search query

Query Search Query

No.
1 Age of earth
2 How to figure out the age of earth
3 History of the earth
4 Fossils and the earth age
5 Evolution and earth history
Study eligibility criteria
Only those articles are were eligible which are published in English language and full length. Those
articles which discuss the age of earth and its relevant topics are included. The articles after the
2000 are included which gave the search methods and works in age determination. The articles
which do not come in this inclusion criteria were excluded. Some articles of early 1900 and 19th
century were also excluded while studying.

Discussion
History of the figuring out of earth age
In 1904, by discussing different works done by the scientists age of earth was estimated as younger
than 100 million years old by evaluating the decrease in temperature than the early state. At that
time it was also said by Becker that heat movement can solve our matter. According to him the
earlier estimation were not so much correct as the sun’s age was not also sufficiently known
because of its density. He was not right. Question was not solved by this cooling process or any
sediments formation. It was solved after many years by the radioactivity phenomenon. From 1904
to 1950s when age was revealed a lot of discoveries were done and instruments were invented
which were used. So it is a long journey. In 19th century and early 2oth century there were
considered four methods to determine the age of the earth. These were the temperature changes,
the sediments formation, any change in oceans and the rhythmic physics. Thermal changes involve
the cooling of earth from the ancient starting time when it separated from sun. Orbital physics
involve the ages of other planets or other matters in space. The sedimentation involves the
sediment formation time. The oceans changing include addition of more concentration of elements
e . g sodium. These methods were not accurate, insufficient and gave a very large amount of data. In
all those results if we compare then the results from heat analysis given by Lord Kelvin and Clarence
King (1897) were more precise. No doubt king worked in physics and geology and kelvins
experiences were appreciable but their work was challenged. In 1899, Chamberlin checked the
calculations given by Kelvin and said that those calculation were not correct. Henri Becquerel who
was a French physicst, in 1896 discovered that uranium radiate some rays which can be detected as
X-rays. In 1898, Marie Curie and her husband Pierre also found that thorium also do the same. This
time Radioactivity was discovered by Curie. In 1902, Rutherford and Sody , in their experiments with
thorium told that the response by the element is dependent on the atoms number present in
compound. As this was just the birth of the word radioactivity which takes us toward the age of
earth but at that time there was not sufficient information. The scientists did not know the all
radioelements and their end products. Isotopes and mass spectrophotometer were not also
discovered. But in 1904 in a conference addressed by Becker, Rutherford acclaimed that by using the
radioactive elements we can determine the age of minerals and rocks. According to him if we know
the conc. of helium produced from the radium and it is present in any rock then by checking the
conc. of helium as compare to radium, can determine its age.

In 1905, a scientist Bertram Boltwood was working on the minerals which contains the uranium. He
was basically examining its formation. Every time , there were present helium and lead too. He
observed that there were more lead and helium in aged minerals than the less aged. From this
observation he assumed that the lead may also be a product of uranium with helium. Again in march
1905 Rutherford gave the same concept of geological tracking but this time he gave some examples.
He used the concept of helium formation from uranium. He also said that the age determination was
more acceptable by using lead. After this, number of scientists e.g in 1907 Boltwood, in 1908 R. J.
Strutt and in 1911-13 Arthur Holmes worked on it for next six years and determined the age of
uranium. These ages indicated at some extent that the older methods are not correct. Holmes gave
the idea that earth age should also be estimated by this radioactivity phenomenon with the
calculations earlier done. This radioactivity concept was not accepted by all scientists while some
were against it. Becker was one of them with his old concepts and methods. In 1910, according to
Becker’s cooling and sedimentation methods earth age should be 70 million years. In 1924, F. W.
Clarke proposed that by seeing the erosive process of rocks from the earth surface, from fossils
evidences , the earth age should be between 50 to 150 million years. At that time the radioactivity
was accepted for the determination of age of minerals like uranium etc but not for earth age. But it
was the first time it was taken into consideration that the age of earth may be in billions of years
rather than millions.

In 1921, H. N. Russel first time gave the idea that the earth age or its crust can be determined by the
relative mass of uranium and its products. From the literature he noted the lead and radium ages
and time needed to formed by the uranium. He found the value of 8 gega annum. This was a very big
value. It was also fact that the lead can present already in the crust and it is possibility that uranium
might also decayed by any other element. The smallest value given by Russel was 1.1 Ga. He then
gave the value for earth crust age which was 4×109 years. Like the Boltwood and other scientists this
work did not have any isotopes indication. In 1927 , Holmes again provided the Russel’s examination
and gave the value saying that the earth age can be between 1.6 Ga to 3 Ga.

After this Mass Spectrophotometer was discovered and proved very helpful towards the age
revealing of Earth. In 1914, Thomson find the two isotopes of neon while working on the mass
analyser. In 1919-20, F.W. Aston when he was working in J. J. Thomson’s laboratory set the mass
analyser, advanced it into spectrograph and observed the third isotope of neon. In 1930s there were
found isotopes of many atoms. Lead three isotopes with 206, 27 and 208 masses were discovered. It
was observed then that uranium 238 decay into lead 206. In 1929, Rutherford again worked on the
basis of this isotopic information. He displayed that Pb 207 is the decay product of U 235. He
approximate the half-life of U 235 and said that earth age can be 3.4 Ga as there was same
concentration of both Uranium isotopes at the time of separation. ( Dalrymple, 2015 )

Russel was the one who gave this idea of age determination by the decaying of lead from uranium
and also raised the question about the lead already present in crust. Then E. K. Gerling moved
further with the concept given by Russel. From 1938 to 1941, Nier and his colleagues were working
on the isotopes anatomy. So in these studies they discovered the Pb 204 which was not radioactive
and its difference in concentrations of the Pb 206 and Pb 207 were also noted. Then it was
concluded that Pb 204 was present at the time of separation of earth from sun. while the other two
Pb 206 and Pb 207 were formed by the decay from U 238 and U 235. From this discovery Nier gave a
pathway to move forward and Gerling quickly follow that path. He noticed that the age of earth can
be determined by monitoring the lead of known age. Nier and his co workers found ore of lead in
which the ratios of Pb 206 to 204 and Pb 207 to 204 were very small. Gerling used this ratios and
calculations. He took the lead ore sample of Greenland by Nier and seven other lead samples and
noted the time taken to reach at the level of Greenland lead ore. This time calculated was 3.1 Ga.
Several other researches were done by Gerling because this Greenland ore was not just the
primitive one. On the other hand Arthur Holmes and F. G. Houtermans were working on the
evolution of lead and called Gerling-Holmes-Houtermans model. Houtermans gave the concept the
by examining the iron meteorites, information for the primitive lead can be obtained.

In 1953, Houtermans published in a paper the age of earth which is very close to the present day
value. According to him the troilite of Canyon Diablo contain the lead which was present in the earth
at the time of separation. He worked on 10 out of 22 lead ores and calculated 10 results. From the
average of those ten results he gave the value 4.5 ±0.5 Ga.

It is said that three month before the Houtermans discovery Patterson worked on meteoritic ore
and other samples and gave the values 4.51 and 4.56 Ga but may be it published later or may be any
other reason therefore he is known as the one who first gave the accepted value of Earth.

The first estimation of age was done by Patterson in 1953 by comparing the earlier lead and present
lead. Now a days the extensively use age which 4.54 billion years was discovered in 1980 by Tera.(
Dalrymple, 2015 )

Table 2 History of the determination of age of earth from 19th century to the latest age

Year Scientists name Work and discovery Age of Earth

1896 Henri Becquerel Uranium radiations
1897 Kelvin and King Four methods gor determination of age
1898 Merie Curie and Thorium radiations and ‘Radioactivity’
Pierre
1899 Chamberlin Proved Kelvin’s calculations wrong
1902 Rutherford and More atoms in compound, more
Sody radioactivity.
1904 100 million years
1904 Rutherford Age of minerals by radioactivity
1905 Boltwood Worked on uranium composition and
found Pb and He
1905 Rutherford Geological tracking
1907 Boltwood Age of Uranium
1908 R. J. Strutt Age of Uranium

1910 Becker Used primitive methods like cooling 70 million years

1911-13 Arthur Holmes Idea of determining the age by

radioactivity
1914 J. J. Thomson Neon two isotopes
1921 H. N. Russel Earth crust age by relative mass of U and 4×109 years
Its products
1924 F. W. Clarke Erosion, fossils indication 50 to 150 Million
years
1927 Holmes Russel’s work Examination Between 1.6 Ga to
3Ga
1927 F.W. Aston Mass spectrometer
1919-20 F.W. Aston Neon third isotope
1930s Lot of isotopes discovered
1929 Rutherford basis of isotopic formation
Pb decay from U
 1938-41 Nier and his Pb 204 which was not non radiogenic,
colleagues discovered
1942 Gerling Follow the pathway leading by Nier
Worked on Greenland’s ore of lead and
calculated age of earth
1953 Houtermans Published age 4.5 ±0.5
1956 Patterson Age determination of earth 4.51 and 4.56 Ga
1980 Tera Age determination of earth 4.54 Billion years

History of the Earth origin

It should be in mind that there are many directions leading towards the origin of earth. There are
given many theories. Science and religious point of view contradict. This thing is being investigated
more and more. The highly acceptable theory about earth origin is the Big bang theory which tells
us about the cosmos formation 13.8 billion years ago. Scientist gave different evidences for this. It is
said that there was a fireball which was boundlessly hot, endlessly dense and tiny, it exploded and
resulted into the formation of universe including Earth and other planets. Yet there are many
unsolved questions about this explosion : from where did this matter came? If it came from any
object then from where did that object originated? Why not this happen earlier ? Why did these
condition not came earlier ? these are still unsolved but from religious perspective it is the God’s will
when he wanted he said it and it happened. ( Musharraf et al. 2017)

Figure 1: Layers of Earth: Crust, Mantle, outer and inner core

About earth it is said that it came into existence 4.5 billion years ago. Mateorites heavily fall on the
earth at that time. Around the whole sphere there was high volcanic activities. When the
temperature decreases by time the liquid after cooling made the first layer crust and the other
water into oceans. It is also said that a body with a size of mars hit the earth this collision cause both
to melt. As a result little part of earth mantle expelled around the earth and start to circulate it now
a day we call it Moon.
The collision of mars like body with Earth is known as Giant Impact Hypothesis. The continents on
the Earth keep on changing their positions but primitively there were joine together known as
supercontinent. The last bounded supercontinent position is known as Pangea.

Figure 2: Pangea indicating the continents present separately today.

Back to 240 million years Pangea was present. Then 200 million age separation started. So Pangea
broke into pieces and then these seven continents form present today. The map of Pangea is
displaying the continents which are present in this age which separated and move far away like in
figure 3. So we can say that this movement had caused the extinction of many species due to change
in environmental conditions and habitat.

After the formation of moon, earth was like a hot globule with magma and steam. It was like the
Venus because of its conditions at that time but as the conditions changed temperature started to
decrease lava transformed into rocks and the water into world’s first ocean. Zircons are very
primitive minerals as they were present at that time 4.4 billion years ago. (Osken, 2014)

The present day continents have a widely separated tectonic plates but the younger earth crust
had very few plates. The supercontinents were formed by the volcanic activities, recycling of the
rocks into metamorphic rocks and other activities. So these rocks are rich in gold, copper and silver.
3 billion years ago earth crust formed and grew quickl y with 70 percent of that ancient crust. So the
substances responsible for life also displayed as the first continent appeared.
 3.5 billion years ago only a trace of oxygen was found indicating the evolution of photosynthesis.
2.4 million years ago the level of oxygen spiked but there was not any happening in the planet for
billion years so this is called ‘boring billion’. It is also thought by the researchers that there may be
any connection between the boring billion and plate tectonics. (Osken, 2014)

Figure 3: World Map indicating the present da continents which moved far away

The earth gad the supercontinents which change from time to time. The well known supercontinent
was Pangea which was the place where dinosaurs come into the life. The remains of mountains
provide us the dots which can be connected and give the idea of supercontinent. (Osken, 2014)

If we go seven fifty million years back the super continents broken and boring billion ended. This was
done in the intense cold conditions of earth. He volcanic eruption and rocks formation caused this
separation. In this process carbon dioxide was also captured. There are several evidences of glaciers
also.

Going back to 650 million years, the level of oxygen again started to increase. The first organism also
come into existence at that time. So life appeared first time.

Earth has got troubled many times. But the biggest one was in the Permian age, 252 million years
back. In only sixty thousand years, ninety percent of earth population get extinct. This was due to
the volcanic reactions and flooding of lava. In cretaceous age 85 percent of dinosaurs were extinct
was sixty six million years back.

In the history of earth there are five ice ages. From the arctic region to northern hemisphere the
temperature decrease upto the freezing level travelled. It was 2.6 m ya. (Osken, 2014)
Evolution and Earth age
It is said that the life came into existence when there were attained favourable conditions. If we go
3.5 billion years back then we see the first life presence. It was started from a unicellular organism.
For next three billion of years it remained the best form of organisms. Then as the conditions
changes they combine to form new organisms. As they were oceanic so they evolve in ocean. Then
some of them came to know that the habitat can be other than this aquatic salty medium. So some
of them start their life on land and lead the evolution. It is considered that it was the excess of
oxygen which allow the life to evolve.so the animal moved to land then classified into amphibians,
mammals, insects, reptiles etc. This expansion takes some hundred million years. According to
evolutionists, we the human are also the advanced form of some primitive organisms starting from
that tiny creature. They use fossils records for their proof. They get those fossils from the Africa. This
also has been said that there might be passed fifteen to twenty species of man and confirmation
fossils have found in Africa. The first man was in Africa and then spread in other regions. There are
some contradictions like some fossils are not present for the confirmation of this progress. Similarly
why the organisms in the time of shortage of atmospheric oxygen adapted that environments. These
were some questions raised against the evolution. ( Musharraf et al. 2017)

Conclusions
The age of earth is 4.56 billion years. It was determined after a large time discoveries including the
cooling of earth , sedimentration process , orbital physics , isotopes discovery , mass spectrometer,
radioactivity , lead and uranium decay etc. At last the comparison of lead which was present at the
time of separation of earth from sun and present time lead told us the age of earth.

After formation of earth, there were different events occur including the extinction of mass, ice
ages, life appearance, continents breaks etc.

With the change in earth conditions, life also evolved from time to time.
References
1. Dalrymple, G. B. (2015). The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly)
solved. The Geological Society of London. Retrieved from: http://sp.lyellcollection.org/

2. Osken, B. ( June 30, 2014). Photo Timeline: How the Earth Formed. Retrieved from:
https://www.livescience.com/46593-how-earth-formed-photo-timeline/2.html

3. Musharraf, M. N., Kabooro, N. and Leghari, M.A. ( 2017). AGE OF EARTH AND EVOLUTION –
CAN RELIGION AND SCIENCE RECONCILE?. Australian journal of humanities and islamic
studies research (AJHISR), Vol.3(2).