STRATIGRAPHY

• the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their
relationship to the geological time scale.
• the analysis of the order and position of layers of archaeological remains.
• In geology and related fields, a stratum (plural: strata) is a layer of sedimentary rock or
soil, or igneous rock that were formed at the Earth's surface, with internally consistent
characteristics that distinguish it from other layers
UNIFORMITY

• James Hutton
• in geology, the doctrine suggesting that Earth’s geologic processes acted in the same
manner and with essentially the same intensity in the past as they do in the present and
that such uniformity is sufficient to account for all geologic change. This principle is
fundamental to geologic thinking and underlies the whole development of the science of
geology.
LAWS OF
STRATIGRAPHY
NICOLAS STENO- A SCIENTIST AND A PIONEER IN BOTH ANATOMY AND
GEOLOGY
LAW OF SUPERPOSITION

• Geology. a basic law of geochronology, stating that in any

undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest
layer is on top and the oldest on bottom, each layer being
younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above
it.
LAW OF LATERAL CONTINUITY

• that layers of sediment are continuous, unless a barrier

prevents the sediments from spreading during deposition, or
subsequent changes in the landscape break those sediment
layers apart
LAW OF CROSS CUTTING

• The principle of cross-cutting relationships states that an igneous intrusion is always

younger than the rock it cuts across.
• Sometimes magma pushes, or intrudes, into cracks in existing rocks. When the melted
rock cools and solidifies, the resulting feature is called an igneous intrusion.
UNCONFORMITY

• is the contact between sedimentary rocks that are significantly different in age or
between sedimentary rocks and older, eroded igneous or metamorphic rocks.
• Unconformities represent gaps in the geologic record, periods of time that are not
represented by any rocks.
DISCONFORMITIES

• are usually erosional contacts that are parallel to the bedding planes of the upper and
lower rock units.
• Since disconformities are hard to recognize in a layered sedimentary rock sequence, they
are often discovered when the fossils in the upper and lower rock units are studied
• A gap in the fossil record indicates a gap in the depositional record, and the length of
time the disconformity represents can be calculated.
• Disconformities are usually a result of erosion but can occasionally represent periods of
nondeposition.
DISCONFORMITY

• is the contact that separates a younger sedimentary rock unit from an igneous intrusive
rock or metamorphic rock unit.
• A nonconformity suggests that a period of long‐term uplift, weathering, and erosion
occurred to expose the older, deeper rock at the surface before it was finally buried by
the younger rocks above it.
• A nonconformity is the old erosional surface on the underlying rock.
ANGULAR UNCONFORMITIES

• is the contact that separates a younger, gently dipping rock unit from older underlying
rocks that are tilted or deformed layered rock.
• The contact is more obvious than a disconformity because the rock units are not parallel
and at first appear cross‐cutting.
• Angular unconformities generally represent a longer time hiatus than do disconformities
because the underlying rock had usually been metamorphosed, uplifted, and eroded
before the upper rock unit was deposited.
PARA CONFORMITY

• Where the strata are parallel to each other and the

contact is a simple bedding plane indicative of
continuous deposition,
ABSOLUTE DATING
• Is a method of measuring the age of n event or object in years
• To determine the absolute ages of fossils and rocks
• The atoms of some chemical elements have different forms, called isotopes. These break
down over time in a process scientists call radioactive decay. Each original isotope, called
the parent, gradually decays to form a new isotope, called the daughter. Each isotope is
identified with what is called a ‘mass number’.When ‘parent’ uranium-238 decays, for
example, it produces subatomic particles, energy and ‘daughter’ lead-206.
POTASSIUM-ARGON

• Potassium-40
• which has a half-life of 1.3 billion years and as it decays, at leaves a daughter material
argon.
• More than 100,000 yrs.
URANIUM-LEAD

• Uranium-238 to Lead-206
• Half life of 4.5 billion years ago
• More than 10 M years old
RUBIDIUM- STRONIUM

• Rubidium-87 to strontium 87
• Half life of 49 billion years a
• More than 10 million years old
Carbon 14
• Carbon 12 carbon 13
• The method is used mainly for dating things that lived within the past 30 000 years.