Week 1 Determining Relative Age Notes

James Hutton

◼ Father of modern _______ (the study of rocks)

◼ 18th century physician and farmer

◼ Hutton’s principle of _________________.

Uniformitarianism
“The present is the key to the past”

uniformitarianism a principle that geologic processes that occurred in the ____ can
be explained by _______ geologic processes

◼ Landscape or form

◼ Similar processes, changing rates

Relative Age
________ ___ the age of an object compared to the ages of other objects; does ___
give ______ ages of rocks

◼ Scientists study Earth’s history

▪ They determine the order in which rock layers and other rock structures
formed

Relative Age of People

What are five visual clues that help you determine if someone is older or younger than
you?

◼ _____ __ ____

◼ ________

◼ ______
◼ _______ ________

◼ _____

◼ ________ ___ _______

Law of Superposition
“older on bottom, younger on top” – dirty laundry on your bedroom floor

___ __ ____________ the law that older rock layers are BELOW younger rock layers

Principle of Original Horizontality

______________________________ sedimentary rocks left undisturbed will remain
in horizontal layers

◼ Tilted or deformed layers are caused by crustal movements that happened after
formation

Predictions
What might disturb the layers of rock? Write 3 predictions.
-
-
-

Unconformity
____________ is a break in the geologic record

◼ Rock layers are ______

◼ Sediment is not deposited

Types of Unconformities

______________ occurs when sedimentary rock rests upon igneous/metamorphic rock

__________________________ the boundary between a set of tilted layers and a set

of horizontal layers

________________ the boundary between horizontal layers of old rock and layers
 that are deposited on an eroded surface

Cross-Cutting Relationships
_____________________________ the principle that a fault or body of rock is
younger than any other body of rock that it cuts through

-A _____ is a _____ or crack in Earth’s crust along which rocks shift their
position

-An __________ is a mass of _______ rock that forms when magma is injected
into rock
-The law of crosscutting relationships can be used to determine ___________
Tell The Story:

Following the Law of _____________, write the order that the layers most likely
formed in.

1.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
2.

1. What type of unconformity is U1?

2. What type of unconformity is U2?