Circular reasoning of carbon dating

These are often characterised as the norm, rather than the exception.

I thought it would be useful to present an example where the geology is simple, and unsurprisingly, the method does work well, to show the quality of data that would have to be invalidated before a major revision of the geologic time scale could be accepted by conventional scientists.

Much of the Earth's geology consists of successional layers of different rock types, piled one on top of another.

The most common rocks observed in this form are sedimentary rocks (derived from what were formerly sediments), and extrusive igneous rocks (e.g., lavas, volcanic ash, and other formerly molten rocks extruded onto the Earth's surface).

They are the "initial working hypotheses" to be tested further by data.

In such a situation, the "principle of superposition" is easily applied, and the strata towards the bottom are older, those towards the top are younger.An early summary of them is found in Charles Lyell's .In no way are they meant to imply there are no exceptions.For example, the principle of superposition is based, fundamentally, on gravity.In order for a layer of material to be deposited, something has to be beneath it to support it.