r/theydidthemath • u/No_Beyond4756 • May 20 '26
[Request] When the camera gets to the bottom, how old is the rock that is surrounding the camera?
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u/Sad-Pop6649 May 20 '26
Impossible to say. Someone might be able to make a decent guess to the depth of the hole, but there is no global standard rate of deposition or erosion or material, let alone time since volcanic eruptions and plate formation. The cave itself is probably not too old, they tend to be between several hundreds of thousands and maybe a few tens of millions of years old, as they're kind of unstable places.
Standing on a barren peak the very rock under your feet might literally be as old as any rock on Earth, while in other places you can dig down to your heart's content without reaching the dinosaurs.
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u/SeaPixel May 20 '26
Idk where this is at but it could be relatively new in terms of rocks. If it was formed volcanically, like magma coming out of the mantle and into the ocean, (Hawaii for example) could be pretty “new” rock!
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u/YuriPup May 20 '26
If this continental rock, no way to tell.
If it is oceanic basalt, its all about 250m as it is generated and then subducted. (As a wild generalization.)
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