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Obsidian Hydration Dating

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Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods

Definition

Obsidian: Obsidian is an aluminosilicate, or rhyolitic, glass, formed by rapid cooling of volcanic magma under the proper geologic conditions. As any other glass, it is not a crystal, and thus it lacks the lattice structure typical of crystals at the atomic level. However, glasses do possess some degree of spatial order. Thus, it is an amorphous natural glass that contains pristine water Η2Ο and sparse crystals of variable sizes of a few microns. The surface is weathered in the atmosphere and the environmental context. Composition: 70–75 % SiO2, 10–15 % Al2O3, 3–5 %Na2O, 2–5 % K2O, 1–5 % FeO3 + FeO (in contrast to iron-bearing glass and silica-enriched leached rinds on obsidian glass recently discovered on Mars that are representative of global processes of explosive volcanism potentially implying widespread acidic leaching on Mars due to oxidizing and acidic solutions). Obsidian rocks were used by early peoples for the making of their tools and implements.

Obsidian Hydration

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Archaeometry, Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean, 85100, Rhodes, Greece

    Ioannis Liritzis

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  1. Ioannis Liritzis
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  1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    W. Jack Rink

  2. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Jeroen Thompson

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Liritzis, I. (2014). Obsidian Hydration Dating. In: Rink, W., Thompson, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_39-1

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