Abstract
“THE Age of the Earth” is a somewhat ambiguous phrase. From the geological point of view it is generally understood to mean the age of the ocean: in other words the age of the earth since the beginning of those geological surface changes which are due to denudation. But another meaning may be ascribed to the term. We may assume the beginning to date from the cooling of a highly heated surface to the point of solidification. In this case we include in the age those long periods of Archaean time during which the activity of water played a subordinate part and volcanic commotion prevailed among the semi-fluid, rocky constituents of the globe. Yet a third interpretation refers the birth time to a still more remote and indefinite epoch when the world became differentiated as a planet by activities, of the nature of which we are ignorant. Astronomical deductions and speculations regarding the Age are mainly concerned with the last period.
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JOLY, J. The Age of the Earth1. Nature 109, 480–485 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109480a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109480a0