Relative Age Dating

According to scientists, the Earth is approximately this many years old.

• 4.6 billion

• 13.7 billion

• 7.0 billion

• 5.0 billion

• 3.4 million

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

He was a Scottish naturalist and farmer who came up with the Principle of Uniformitarianism. He is considered the person who developed the idea of geologic time and proposed that the Earth was much older than people thought at the time.

• James Hutton

• Nicolaus Steno

• James Newton

• Nicolaus Copernicus

• Nicolaus Tesla

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

According to this Principle, geologic processes that occur today are similar to those that have occurred in the past.

• Uniformitarianism

• Superposition

• Original Horizontality

• Lateral Continuity

• Cross-Cutting Relationships

This is the actual age of something.

• absolute age

• relative age

• superposition

• uniform

• fossils

This is the age of rocks and geologic features as compared with other rocks and geologic features nearby.

• relative age

• absolute age

• superposition

• cross-cutting relationships

• inclusions

According to this Principle, in undisturbed rock layers, the oldest rocks are on the bottom.

• Superposition

• Original Horizontality

• Lateral Continuity

• Cross-cutting Relationships

• Uniformitarianism

According to this Principle, sediments are deposited in large, flat sheets.

• Original Horizontality

• Superposition

• Lateral Continuity

• Cross-Cutting Relationships

• Inclusion

According to this Principle, if one geologic feature cuts across another feature, the feature that it cuts across is older.

• Cross-Cutting Relationships

• Superposition

• Original Horizontality

• Lateral Continuity

• Inclusion

According to this Principle, if one rock contains pieces of another rock, the rock containing the pieces is younger than the pieces of rock it contains.

• Inclusion

• Superposition

• Cross-Cutting Relationships

• Lateral Continuity

• Original Horizontality

This is a piece of a rock that has been broken off and become part of a new rock.

• inclusion

• exclusion

• intrusion

• infusion

• exfoliation