1.
65 mya- present: cenozoic Era - people and mammals
2.
251-65 mya: Mesozoic Era
3.
542- 251 mya: Paleozoic era- early life developed
4.
absolute dating: scientists estimate the age of fossils by measuring the ratio of unstable to stable atoms in a rock from a fossil and comparing radioactive decay
5.
Age of earth: 4.6 billion years old
6.
Alfred Wegener: theory that earth was once connected into Pangaea
7.
cenozoic means....: recent life
8.
eon: largest time scale
9.
eras: determined by dominant life forms present at the time
10.
geologic time scale: the division of earth's history divided into eras and periods
11.
geologic time scale is based on...: stratigraphy
12.
geology: the understanding of volcanoes, dinos, earthquakes, rock cycles, and other earth systems and the process that act upon it
13.
half-life: amount of time it takes for half of the unstable atoms in a sample to decay
14.
igneous rock: with heat, or hardened lava, it can form a rock
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inclusions: rock pieces found inside another rock
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lithospheric plates: the outer layer of earth
17.
mass extinctions: large scale extinction (5(6 including now))
18.
Mesozoic means...: Middle life
19.
metamorphic rock: with heat and pressure, it can become this
20.
nicholas Steno: In 1666, he realized that "tongue stones" were actually fossils of sharks teeth
21.
palentologists: people who uncover fossils in rock layers and conduct lab techniques
22.
paleozoic means...: ancient life
23.
pangaea: 254 mya, all major continents were fused into a massive landmass
24.
plate tectonics: the movement of lithospheric plates
25.
radiometric dating gives...: absolute dating
26.
relative dating: a method of sequencing events in the order they happened
27.
sedimentary rock: weathering and erosion break down rocks into sediments that over time, layer and layer
28.
stratum: layer of rock
29.
superposition: estimating the age of fossils and rock layers from the arrangement of sedimentary layers
30.
the rock cycle: the process of rock formation and recycling
31.
time scales: eons, eras, periods
32.
uniformitarianism: using the present as keys to the past