Dating of Antarctic Meteorites

The use of radioactive dating on meteorites removes some of the uncertainties of the process because they have not been subject to the severe weathering and other Earth processes which might affect the ratios of the constituents of other rocks. Particularly promising are the meteorites found in Antarctica since they have been well preserved in the ice. Intensive collection efforts since about 1970 have collected over 35,000 of these meteorites. 对陨石进行放射性鉴年法可以减少该过程的一些不确定性，因为这些陨石未受到严重的风化作用和其他地球过程的影响，而这些过程可能会影响其他岩石中各组分的比例。特别是南极洲发现的陨石尤为 promising，因为它们在冰中得到了良好保存。自约1970年以来，密集的收集工作已收集到超过35,000枚这样的陨石。

The stony meteorites found in Antarctica are thought to be some of the most ancient, and the least disturbed from the time of their formation. Fraknoi, et al. report that almost all these meteorites have radioactive ages between 4.48 and 4.56 billion years. When the best data and the most accurate values for half-lives are combined, these Antarctic meteorites give an age of 4.54 billion years with an uncertainty of less than 0.1 billion years.