Unit 3-Earths Layers

Sediments building up over time, creating layers

• igneous Rocks
• Deposition
• Lithification
• Index fossils

How can a fossil of a shell be found at the top of a mountain?

• A bird flew over and dropped it
• Gravity pulled it up the mountain
• Wind blew it up to the top of the mountain
• Uplift forced an area that was once ocean up over time

What is an index fossil?

• a fossil found only in a specific time period
• a fossil found across many time periods
• When only one fossil is found among thousands of others

What is a terrestrial environment?

• Found in the atmosphere
• Water based
• Land based

What fossils would give an indication that an area once was a swamp?

• Trees and grasses
• Fern, Dragonfly, frog
• Ferns and Trees
• Birds and Trees

Where are the youngest layers of rock located in a land formation?

• In the middle
• At the bottom
• At the top
• The one with the fossils

How does fossil pollen help us understand past environments?

• it allows us to understand the climate by what plants grew in that area
• It allows us to see what animals lived there
• It allows us to see the layers of the earth

faunal succession is

• Each layer showing how organisms have changed over time - less complex organisms near the top
• All the fossils are the same in each layer
• The layers getting older as we get closer to the top
• Each layer showing how organisms have changed over time - more complex organisms near the top

Uniformitariansim

• The same geologic changes that occur on the earth today, occurred the same way in the past
• Geologic processes change over time
• In any layer of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest are at the top
• Certain rock layers have certain types of fossils

Law of Superposition

• In any rock formation, the youngest layer is on the bottom and the oldest is on the top
• In any rock formations, the youngest layer is on the top and the oldest is on the bottom