Time scale
What is the principle that states the oldest layers of rock are found at the bottom?
Principle of superposition
What are trace fossils?
Animal tracks
What is nuclear Decay
An unstable atom emits a charged particle from its nucleus.
What principle states that sedimentary beds originate as continuous layers that extend in all directions.
Lateral Continuity
Describe how permineralization works.
Minerals in groundwater flow through an object and minerals are deposited.
Define half-life in the context of radioactive decay.
The time it takes for one-half of a radioactive sample to decay.
Dikes or igneous rock formations.
Explain the process of fossilization in sedimentary rock.
What is the difference between alpha decay and beta decay?
In alpha decay, 2 protons and 2 neutrons are emitted, while in beta decay, only a proton is emitted.
Explain cross-cutting relationships
States that geologic features that cut across rocks must have formed after the rocks they cut through
what type of fossil is formed from an organism that is preserved in ice?
Preserved remains or frozen fossil
How is nuclear decay used to date ancient artifacts and fossils?
Measuring the ratio of the remaining radioactive isotope to its stable decay product.
Which of the three unconformity deposits is described as consisting of tilted or folded sedimentary rocks that are overlain by younger rock?
Angular Unconformity
How do fossils help the correlation of rock layers principle?
Fossils allow geologists to match up rock layers found in different locations to determine if they were formed at the same time.
Different isotopes of the same element have the same number of protons, but have different neutron numbers. This causes the to be unstable: Carbon-14 and Carbon-12.