Vocabulary
The type of dating that gives a more accurate age of a rock or fossil
Absolute Dating
A preserved remnant of a living thing is called a ....
fossil
List the number of eons, eras, and periods....
Eons - 4
Eras - 10
Periods - 22
What is the most common form of relative dating...
Analyzing Rock Strata
When sediment is MOVED from one place to another is called...
Erosion, Weathering, or Deposition
Erosion
The dating of growth rings in trees
Dendrochronology
The oldest fossil will be found in which layer?
Top, middle, or bottom?
Bottom
The Mesozoic was the age of the _______. (animals)
dinosaurs
When studying tree rings, the wetter the season, the wider/thinner the rings are....
wider
Rock layers that are ON TOP OF a fault line occurred after or before the fault occurred?
After
A linear model of the most important events in Earth's history
Geological Timeline
A law that looks at the positions of the layers of strata to determine a fossil's age...
What form of life evolved during the PreCambrian era?
Marine plants, invertebrates, fish, ferns, amphibians
A _______ isotope is more radioactive than its _______ isotope.
parent/daughter
The person who studies fossils is called a ____________ and a person who studies the material of the earth is called a _____________.
Paleontologist/Geologist
Relative Dating
A marine fossil was found on a bottom rock layer. Above those layers, an oak leaf and deer fossil were found in the layers. Describe the environment of that location.
In previous times, the area used to be a marine ecosystem. In more recent times, the ecosystem was terrestrial.
What main form of life occurred during the Cenozoic Era?
Humans and Large Mammals
When radioactive isotopes give off their energy/radioactivity, it is called _________.
The two categories of change on earth that explain how the earth has changed over time...
Gradual and Catastrophic
Radiometric Dating
List the 4 main systems of the earth....
biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere
Order the main Geologic timeline from smallest to largest:
Periods, Eras, Eons
Isotopes are atoms with the same number of ________ but different number of _________.
protons/neutrons
List two ways that Geologists have reached the conclusion of the earth's age...
analyzing different rock layers and comparing where fossils have been found.