Dating Rocks
And The Layer Is...
Stratigraphy
Fossils
Misc.
100
Fossils found in the lowest layer of sediment are:
(a) youngest
(b) oldest
(c) heaviest
(d) lightest
(b) oldest
100
The youngest layer in the outcrop.
What is layer 4?
100
The law of superposition gives us the ... of rock layers.
A. Absolute age
B. Relative age
Relative Age
100
What can tree rings tell us about the past?
They can tell us about climate and environmental events.
100
These body parts are most likely to become fossils.
Hard parts (bones, teeth, shells)
200
This term describes how we determine the age of an object based on the age of surrounding layers.
What is relative age?
200
Older than layers G and F but younger than layers D, C, and B.
Either A or E
200
It is the principle that states that younger rock layers are always found on top of older rock layers.
What is the principle of superposition?
200
This type of replacement fossil is an imprint of an organism that leaves a hollow space.
What is a mold?
200
Why are the La Brea Tar Pits a good place to find fossils.
Animals are immediately covered and prevented from decaying quickly.
300
Measuring the actual age of an object in years using any method.
What is Absolute Dating?
300
The youngest feature in the outcrop?
What is G?
300
Why are fossils not found in metamorphic and igneous rocks?
The temperature and pressures during the process would destroy the fossils.
300
This type of replacement fossil is formed when a mold becomes filled
What is a cast?
300
What is a coprolite?
Fossilized feces!
400
Why would a dry climate help create fossils?
It helps to reduce the rate of decay.
400
This principle tells you that intrusion 6 is the youngest feature of the outcrop.
What is the principle of cross-cutting relationships?
400
It states that sedimentary rocks are deposited in a horizontal or nearly horizontal layers.
What is the principle of original horizontality?
400
A prehistoric arrowhead and dinosaur footprints are examples.
What are trace fossils?
400
These types of elements are used to do radiometric dating of rocks and fossils.
What are radioactive isotopes?
(Carbon-14 and Uranium-Lead)
500
Give me two reasons that fossils are hard to find.
-Most organisms decay before being fossilized
-Only hard parts get fossilized
-Fossils form under very specific conditions
-They have to be in unmodified sedimentary rock
500
From oldest to youngest, it is the correct order of the features in this outcrop.
What is B, C, D, E, A, F, G?
500
It's the principle that states that the present is key to the past. Processes happening now are assumed to have happened the same way in the past.
What is Uniformitarianism?
500
List four of the seven different ways fossils form.
1) Formed in Rock
2) Formed in Amber
3) Formed in Asphalt/Tar
4) Petrified
5) Formed in Ice
6) Mold/Cast
7) Trace Fossils
500
This term describes the process of turning organic material into rock.
What is mineralization?