Earth's story

Key Concepts:

Terms in this set (12)

catastrophism
a principle that states that geologic change occurs suddenly
uniformitarianism
principle that states that geologic processes that occurred in the past can be explained by current geologic processes
Paleontology
The scientific study of fossils
relative dating
determining whether an object or event is older or younger than other objects or events
superposition
the principle that in undisturbed rock layers, the oldest rocks are on the bottom
geologic column
an arrangement of rock layers in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom
unconformity
a gap in the geologic record that shows where rock layers have been lost due to erosion or lack of deposition
disconfomities
where part of a sequence of parallel rock layers is missing
nonconformities
where horizontal sedimentary rock layers lie on top of an eroded surface of older rock layers
Angular unconformitites
are found between horizontal layers of sedimentary rock and layers of rock that have been tilted or folded
relative time
The sequence in which events took place (not measured in time units).
absolute dating
any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years
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