VOCAB #9: The Fossil Record and Geologic Time

Numerical age, in years, of a rock or other object

• absolute age

• relative age

• half-life

• fossil

The age of rocks and geologic features compared with other nearby rocks and features

• absolu

• index fossil

• trace fossil

• relative age

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

The age of rocks and geologic features compared with other nearby rocks and features

• half=life

• trace fossil

• isotopes

• radioactive decay

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons.

• isotopes

• radioactive decay

• half-life

• mold

The time required for half of the amount of a radioactive parent element to decay into a stable daughter element

• radioactive decay

• isotopes

• half-life

• index fossil

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Middle era of the Phanerozoic eon

• Mesozoic Era

• Paleozoic Era

• Cenozoic Era

• epoch

A subdivision of an era

• eon

• epoch

• period

• Mesozoic Era

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

The dying out, or extinction, of many species on Earth within a short period of time

• geographic isolation

• Mesozoic Era

• mass extinction

• Paleozoic Era

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

The oldest era of the Phanerozoic eon

• period

• Mesozoic Era

• Cenozoic Era

• Paleozoic Era

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

A subdivision of a period

• epoch

• eon

• era

• Mesozoic Era