Geologic Record - Flashcard 1

Front

What can be inferred about rock layers with trilobite fossils found high in the mountains?

Back

They were ocean layers that were pushed up by plate tectonics.

Front

What is the system that organizes Earth's history into units of time based on rock record?

Back

Geologic time scale.

Front

What theory states that sudden, violent events changed the earth?

Back

Catastrophism.

Front

What do scientists use to get an accurate age of rocks?

Back

Radioactive decay.

Front

What principle did James Hutton state with 'The present is the key to the past'?

Back

Uniformitarianism.

Front

What are trilobites?

Back

Trilobites are extinct marine arthropods that lived during the Paleozoic era.

Front

What is the significance of the geologic time scale?

Back

It helps scientists understand the timing and relationships of events in Earth's history.

Front

What does the term 'catastrophism' refer to in geology?

Back

The idea that Earth's landscape has been shaped by sudden, short-lived, and violent events.

Front

What is radioactive decay?

Back

The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting radiation.

Front

How does plate tectonics relate to the geologic record?

Back

Plate tectonics explains the movement of Earth's lithosphere, which can uplift marine sediments to form mountains.