TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 GEOLOGIC TIME -- GEOCHRONOLOGY -- EARLY VIEWS AND DISCOVERIES -- THE PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION OF ROCK STRATA -- THE CLASSIFICATION OF STRATIFIED ROCKS -- THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN GEOLOGIC THOUGHT -- JAMES HUTTON'S RECOGNITION OF THE GEOLOGIC CYCLE -- LYELL'S PROMULGATION OF UNIFORMITARIANISM -- DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF FOSSILS WITH ROCK STRATA -- EARLY ATTEMPTS AT MAPPING AND CORRELATION -- THE CONCEPTS OF FACIES, STAGES, AND ZONES -- THE COMPLETION OF THE PHANEROZOIC TIME SCALE -- THE DEVELOPMENT OF RADIOACTIVE DATING METHODS AND THEIR APPLICATION -- EARLY ATTEMPTS AT CALCULATING THE AGE OF THE EARTH -- AN ABSOLUTE AGE FRAMEWORK FOR THE STRATIGRAPHIC TIME SCALE -- NONRADIOMETRIC DATING -- GEOLOGIC PROCESSES AS ABSOLUTE CHRONOMETERS -- BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AS ABSOLUTE CHRONOMETERS -- GEOCHRONOLOGY CONCEPTS -- BIOHERM -- BIOZONE -- CORDILLERAN GEOSYNCLINE -- THE LAW OF FAUNAL SUCCESSION -- FAUNIZONE -- FOSSIL -- FOSSIL RECORD -- INDEX FOSSIL -- MARKER BED -- PALEOGEOLOGY -- REMANENT MAGNETISM -- TEPHROCHRONOLOGY -- VARVED DEPOSIT -- CHAPTER 2 DATING -- THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN RELATIVE-AGE AND ABSOLUTE-AGE MEASUREMENTS -- THE GLOBAL TECTONIC ROCK CYCLE -- THE DETERMINATION OF SEQUENCE -- CORRELATION -- PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES -- GEOLOGIC COLUMN AND ITS ASSOCIATED TIME SCALE -- ABSOLUTE DATING -- THE PRINCIPLES OF ISOTOPIC DATING -- THE ORIGIN OF RADIOACTIVE ELEMENTS USED IN DATING -- THE ISOCHRON METHOD -- THE ANALYSIS OF SEPARATED MINERALS -- MODEL AGES -- MULTIPLE AGES FOR A SINGLE ROCK -- THE THERMAL EFFECT -- INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURES -- THE MAJOR METHODS OF ISOTOPIC DATING -- OTHER DATING METHODS AND TECHNIQUES -- DENDROCHRONOLOGY -- HELIUM DATING -- IONIUM-THORIUM DATING -- OBSIDIAN-HYDRATION-RIND DATING -- PROTACTINIUM-231-THORIUM-230 DATING -- RADIATION-DAMAGE DATING.

URANIUM-234-URANIUM-238 DATING -- URANIUM-THORIUM-LEAD DATING -- CHAPTER 3 PRECAMBRIAN TIME -- EONS OF PRECAMBRIAN TIME -- THE HADEAN EON -- THE ARCHEAN EON -- THE PROTEROZOIC EON -- THE PRECAMBRIAN ENVIRONMENT -- PALEOGEOGRAPHY -- PALEOCLIMATE -- PRECAMBRIAN LIFE -- MICROFOSSILS AND STROMATOLITES -- EDIACARAN FOSSILS -- PRECAMBRIAN GEOLOGY -- THE MAJOR SUBDIVISIONS OF THE PRECAMBRIAN SYSTEM -- THE OLDEST MINERALS AND ROCKS -- SIGNIFICANT GEOLOGIC EVENTS -- THE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF PRECAMBRIAN ROCKS -- ARCHEAN ROCK TYPES -- PROTEROZOIC ROCK TYPES -- THE CORRELATION OF PRECAMBRIAN STRATA -- ESTABLISHING PRECAMBRIAN BOUNDARIES -- PRECAMBRIAN GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS -- CONCLUSION -- GLOSSARY -- FOR FURTHER READING -- INDEX -- BACK COVER.