MODULE 11 -Relative and Absolute dating Flashcards
What absolute dating technique depends on the traces of radioactive isotopes
found in fossils?
Radiometric
What geological dating technique is very effective in estimating the age of fossils
through comparing it with fossils of known ages?
Relative Dating
Refers to the breakdown of isotopic energy
Radioactive decay
refers to atoms of the same element that have the same
number of protons but different numbers of neutrons?
Isotopes
What do you mean by strata
Rock layers
What law of stratigraphy describes that sedimentary rocks are formed particle
by particle and bed by bed, and the layers are piled one on top of the other?
Law of superposition
What is the science that deals with all the characteristics of layered rocks and
how these rocks relate to time?
Stratigraphy
What law of stratigraphy states that any rock, fault or structure that cuts
another rock or other structure is younger than the rock or structure it cuts?
Law of cross-cutting relationships
What is the originally deposited horizontal layers that folded or tilted and then
eroded?
Angular unconformity
refers to the layer of sediments which are uplifted without
folding but exposed to erosion and weathering
Disconformity
What system is used by scientists to relate stratigraphy and time to any
geologic events?
Geological time scale
What is commonly used to date rocks?
Potassium-Argon
