Fossil Vocab

3. fossils of widely distributed organisms that lived only during one short period of time; used to help determine relative age; examples: trilobites and a
9. rock that forms from compacted/compressed bits and pieces of rock
12. the age of a rock or fossil described in comparison to that of another rock or fossil above or below its layer
13. the belief that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe
15. a series of processes on the surface and inside Earth that slowly changes rocks from one kind to another
17. a fossil copy of an organism made when a mold of the organism is filled with sediment or mineral deposits
18. the study of rock layers and the sequence of events they reflect

1. processes by which rock, sand, and soil are broken down and carried away (i.e. weathering, glaciation)
2. rock that forms when existing rock is exposed to high pressure or high heat or both
4. an igneous rock layer formed when magma hardens beneath the Earth's surface
5. the chemical and physical processes that break down rock at Earth's surface.
6. the impression of an organism in a rock
7. rock that forms when melted rock cools or hardens
8. process in which sediment is laid down in new locations.
10. an igneous rock layer formed when lava flows onto the Earth's surface and hardens
11. melted (molten) rock below the surface
14. a break or crack in the Earths crust along which movement occurs
16. melted (molten) rock above the surface