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Dating Rocks with Circular Reasoning?

© Copyright 2000, Jim Loy

Geologists often determine the ages of rock strata (layers) by the fossils that they contain. They also date fossils by which rock strata they are found in. Paleontologists hire geologists to do this. That sounds a little circular, doesn't it? Fossil A determines the age of strata B which determines the age of fossil A. The creationists complain loudly about this practice.

If you think geologists are that stupid, guess again. They never determine the age of fossil A by using fossil A (even with steps in between). They already know the age of fossil A, sometimes from several different lines of evidence, with varying degrees of accuracy. They are determining the age of some other fossil (fossil C perhaps). Nothing (almost) could be more logical than that. It is merely a chain of evidence.


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