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The Duration of Geological Time

Abstract

THERE is at the present time a great discrepancy in the numerical values given for geological time by the various methods employed. Considering the period which has elapsed since the commencement of the Cambrian, the evidence afforded by the study of radio-active minerals suggests that its length is of the order of 500 million years. Arguments derived from the study of sedimentation give, according to recent writers, a space of time for the same period not exceeding 50 million years, and the method based on the salinity of the ocean gives a similar figure. It is with regard to sedimentation that I wish here to make a few remarks.

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HOLMES, A. The Duration of Geological Time. Nature 87, 9–10 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087009d0

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