the past. They observe rocks and landforms and ask
questions such as \u201cWhat geologic processes shaped that
mountain range?\u201d \u201cWhen did the mountains rise and

rounded mountain range, with the Tetons, whose rocky
peaks rise precipitously from the valley floor. We might ask,
\u201cDo the two ranges seem so different because the
Appalachians are older and have been eroding for a longer
time? Were the Appalachians once as steep as the Tetons
are today? If so, when did their rocky summits rise, and
when did they become rounded?\u201d

Fossil trilobites. Trilobites dominated the seas during Cambrian time
and survived for about 300 million years, until the end of the
Paleozoic Era.(\u00a9 John Cancalosi/OKAPIA 1991)

While most of us think of time in terms of days or years, geologists commonly refer to events that happened mil- lions or billions of years ago. In Chapter 1 you learned that the Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old. Yet humans and our human-like ancestors have existed for 4 million years, and recorded history is only a few thou- sand years old. How do geologists measure the ages of rocks and events that occurred millions or billions of years ago?

Geologists measure geologic time in two different ways. Relative age lists the order in which events oc- curred. Determination of relative age is based on a sim- ple principle: In order for an event to affect a rock, the rock must exist first. Thus, the rock must be older than the event. This principle seems obvious, yet it is the ba- sis of much geologic work. For example, consider the rocks shown in Figure 9\u20131. Sediment normally accumu- lates in horizontal layers. If you observe a fold in the lay- ers, you can deduce that the folding occurred after the sediment was deposited. The order in which rocks and

tinct 65 million years ago. The Teton Range in Wyoming began rising 6 million years ago. Absolute age tells us both the order in which events occurred and the amount of time that has passed since they occurred.

Absolute age measurements have become common only in the second half of this century. Prior to that time, ge- ologists used field observations to determine relative ages. Even today, with sophisticated laboratory processes available, most field geologists routinely use relative ages. Geologists use a combination of common sense and a few simple principles to determine the order in which rocks formed and changed over time.

Theprinciple of original horizontality is based on observation that sediment usually accumulates in hori- zontal layers (Fig. 9\u20132a). If sedimentary rocks lie at an