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Science – Grade 11
Learner Activity Sheets
Quarter 1 – Week 5 B:

First Edition, 2021

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Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
 WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS
Earth and Life Science, Quarter 1, Week 5 B

RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE DATING

Name:_______________________________________________________________Section:___________

Most Essential Learning Competency:

Describe the different methods (relative and absolute dating) to determine the age of
stratified rocks. (MELC S11/12ES-Ie-26)

Specific Objectives:
1. Determine the different methods (relative and absolute dating) used to identify the
age of stratified rocks
2. Describe the different methods (relative and absolute dating) to determine the age of
stratified rocks.

Time Allotment: 2 Hours

Key Concepts

Relative Date/ Age refers to the order in which events occurred. To determine which layer of
rock / rock is younger or older.

Absolute Age refers to the age in years. Geologist used field observations to determine relative
ages.

Relative Dating is used in geology to determine the

order of events and the relative age of rocks by
examining the position of rocks in a sequence. It
doesn’t tell you anything about the exact age of rock
layers. You don’t know if a layer is 100 million or 10000
years old- only that it’s younger than the layers below
it and older than the fault cutting through it. Scientist
or Geologists use the information in correlation of
rocks to identify the relative age of rocks.
By correlating fossils from various parts of the world,
scientist is able to give relative ages to particular strata.
Figure 1 Relative Dating
Source: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1485-relative-
dating

Relative Dating Methods

Stratigraphy refers to a soil layers in a deposit accumulate on top of one another, and that the
bottom layers will be older than the top layers, stratigraphy allows archaeologists to construct a
relative chronological sequence from the oldest (bottom) to the youngest(top) layers.

Seriation (or sequence dating) is a technique that was

common in the mid-20th century, seriation looks at changes
in certain styles of artifacts present at a site. A chronology
is developed based on the assumption that one cultural

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
style (or typology) will slowly replace an earlier style
over time. It was First used, and likely invented by
archaeologist Sir William Flinders-Petrie in 1899.

An occurrence seriation of six collections using five artifact types. The

upper portion of the figure shows the unordered collections. The procedure
is to sort the collections (rows) such that each artifact type (each column)
displays a continuous occurrence, signified by the ''þ'' sign. The order
resulting from meeting the expectations of the seriation model is given in
the lower portion of the figure. Note that it makes no difference if the
ordering from top to bottom is ''E, C, A, B, D/F'' or ''D/F, B, A, C, E,''
because the direction of time's arrow is unknown. That knowledge must
come from other data independent of the seriation, such as knowing that
Types 1 and 2 occur late in time and Types 3 and 4 occur early in time,
Figure 2 Seriation
based on associated radiocarbon dates, stratigraphic excavation, or Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/An-occurrence-
documentary evidence. Note also that Collections D and F are identical in seriation-of-six-collections-using-five-artifact-types-The-upper-
portion_fig4_225962757
terms of the types they contain. They cannot be sorted and, in this
example, must be considered contemporaneous (from O'Brien and Lyman,
2000: Fig. 2)

Fluorine Dating is a technique that analyzes how

much of the chemical fluorine has been absorbed by
bones from the surrounding soils in order to determine
how long the specimen has been underground. It is
also a method that can be helpful in detecting
unrelated hard tissue.

Figure 3 Fluorine Dating

Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/1588635/

Absolute Dating / Radiometric Dating is a method

and process that uses properties of atoms in rocks in
order to determine the age of a rock or other object by
comparing the amount of radioactive & non-
radioactive isotopes. Isotopes are atoms of the same
element but with different numbers of neutrons in
their nuclei resulting to a reaction known as
radioactive decay.
Radioactive decay is a process in which the decay of
an atom of an isotope result in a change in the number
of protons and the formation of a new element. For
example, unstable 14C transforms to stable nitrogen
(14N). The atomic nucleus that decays is called the
parent isotope. The product of the decay is called the
daughter isotope. In the example, 14C is the parent
and 14N is the daughter. Radioactive decay
Figure 4
Source: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/isotopes/decay.html

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
Half-life is the time it takes for half the
atoms in a radioactive isotope to decay. For
example, the half -life of carbon 14 is 5730
years. So, it will take 5370 years for half of
the carbon-14 atoms in an object to decay.

Figure 5 Half life

Source: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/isotopes/decay.html

Methods of Absolute Dating

1. Radio Carbon is a method of absolute

dating using carbon-14 for fossils, bones,
and wood up to 75 000 years old. Organism
take in carbon from the environment to build
tissues in their bodies. The amount remains
constant though out their lives. After the
organism dies, the carbon-14 slowly decays
and escapes as nitrogen-14 gas. The amount
of carbon-14 remaining can be measured to
determine the age of the fossil or when
humans used a fire site.
Figure 6 Radio Carbon
Source: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/image_maps/37-c-14-carbon-dating-process

2. Potassium-Argon Dating is a method of

determining the time of origin of rocks
measuring the ratio of radioactive argon to
radioactive potassium in the rock. This
dating method is based upon the decay of
radioactive potassium-40 to radioactive
argon-40 in minerals and rocks; potassium-
40 also decays to calcium-40.
Figure 7 Potassium-Argon Dating
Source: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Nuclear/KAr.html

3. Uranium Lead Dating (U–Pb dating), is one

of the oldest and most refined of the
radiometric dating schemes. It can be used to
date rocks that formed and crystallized from
about 1 million years to over 4.5 billion years
ago with routine precisions in the 0.1–1
percent range
.

Figure 8 Uranium Lead Dating

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/uranium-lead-dating-1440810

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
Exercises/Activities

Activity No.1. Telling Relative Time

Objectives: Determine the different methods (relative and absolute dating) used to identify the
age of stratified rocks.
What you need: Paper and Pen
What to do:
1. Complete the crossword puzzle by filling in the correct word. You can use the words in the
box to help you find the answers.
2. Write your answer in a separate sheet.

Reflection

Which of the concepts listed in the table below interests you the most? the least?
Please put a check mark (/) that corresponds to your answer.

Concepts Most Interested Least Interested

Relative Dating

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
 Rules of Relative Dating
Absolute Dating / Radiometric Dating
Methods of Absolute Dating
Directions: Write your answer in two sentences only in a separate sheet of paper.
1. Did the activities help you understand the topic? Yes, or no? Why?
2. What is the significance of the topic in your life? Why?

References for learners:

Printed Materials:
Baron, Fran. January 21, 2021 Relative and Absolute Dating Methods in Archaeology Retrieved
from
https://hraf.yale.edu/teach-ehraf/relative-and-absolute-dating-methods-in-
archaeology/#relative-dating-methods

Hirst, K. Kris. "Archaeological Dating: Stratigraphy and Seriation." ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/archaeological-dating-stratigraphy-and-seriation-167119 (accessed
August 18, 2021).

O’Brien, Michael & Lyman, R.. (2009). Darwinism and Historical Archaeology. 10.1007/978-0-
387-72071-5_13.
Berger, Rainer, and R. E. I. N. E. R. Protsch. "Fluorine dating." Scientific Dating Methods.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic (1991): 251-270.

Image Sources

Figure 1: Relative Dating

Source:https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1485-relative-dating
Figure 2 Seriation
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/An-occurrence-seriation-of-six-collections-using-
five-artifact-types-The-upper-portion_fig4_225962757
Figure 3 Fluorine Dating
Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/1588635/
Figure 4 Radioactive decay
Source: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/isotopes/decay.html
Figure 5 Half life
Source: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/isotopes/decay.html
Figure 6 Radio Carbon
Source: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/image_maps/37-c-14-carbon-dating-process
Figure 7 Potassium-Argon Dating
Source: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Nuclear/KAr.html
Figure 8 Uranium Lead Dating
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/uranium-lead-dating-1440810

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]
Answers Key Exercise #1

Reflection
Answers may vary

Author: Glenda O. Limon

School/Station: San Roque National High School
Division: DepED Agusan del Sur
email address: [email protected]