Vocabulary words

4. column An ordered arrangement of rock layers that is based on the relative ages of the rocks and in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom.
5. A principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks if the layers have not been distured.
6. dating Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years.
8. The trace or remains of an organism the lived long age, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock
10. The scientific study of the origin, history, and structure of Earth and processes that shape Earth.
14. The weather conditions in an area over a long period of time
15. fossils A fossilized structure, such as a footprint or a coprolite, that formed in sedimentary rock by animal activity on or within soft sedimentary.

1. decay The process in which a radioactive isotope Radiometric dating
2. A method of determining the absolute age of an object by comparing the relative percentages of a radioactive (parent) isotope and a stable
3. A break in the geologic record created when rock layers are eroded or when sediment is not deposited for a long period of time
7. A principle that geologic processes that occurred in the past can be explained by current geologic processes.
9. tends to break down into a stable isotope of the same element or another element.
11. decay The process in which a radioactive isotope tends to break down into a stable isotope of the same element or another element.
12. core A long cylinder of ice obtained from drilling through ice caps or ice, sheets, used to study past climates.
13. time scale The standard method used to divide earth’s long natural history into manageable parts.