Exploration of Geologic Time

What evidence can we find in rocks?

Rocks tell the story of Earth’s History

Red Rock Canyon CO

Devil’s Tower
• Wyoming

Painted Desert
Arizona
 Rocks tell the story
Rocks can provide evidence

Age of the Earth

Type of organisms
Evolution of Species
Environmental Changes
Link for image
 Original Remains
Fossils that are the actual bodies or body parts
Who is ICE MAN?

Who needs Ice if you have

Maverick?
Ice Man
Ice Man Close Up
Inferences from NatGeo
Trapped in Amber
Tar Pits
Fossils in Sedimentary Rocks
Mold: hollow area left by the living thing

Cast: solid mineral deposit that filled the mold, leaving a copy

Image Link
Image Link
 Trace Fossils

Trace: tracks, burrows, nests

Image Link

Image Link
 Petrification
tissue replaced by minerals
Carbon Films
Ice Core Samples
 Relative Dating
How old something is in comparison
to something else
 Index Fossils
Only
around for
short
periods of
time
 Ammonite
Found in sedimentary rock layers
about 400 million years ago
 Trilobite
Fossils show:
Biodiversity
How species have changed over time
Correlation between rock layers from around the
world
Relative ages to particular strata
Evidence for the geological time scale
 Law of Superposition
Law that states the older layers were laid down first, then
younger materials was put down on top of it

Younger Igneous Rock

can cut through rock layers
Closer Look at Rock Layers

Do you see evidence of

Erosion
Earthquake
A river
Principles of Crosscutting
The geologic feature which
cuts another is the younger of
the two features
What kind of rocks are these fossils in?

Which layer is oldest?

Which layer is youngest?

How do you know?

 Intrusions vs Extrusions
Extrusion: when lava
Intrusion: when magma cools cools outside the earth
within the earth
Always younger than the rock around it

Image C

Image A Image B
Is this an Igneous Intrusion?
 What evidence do we see in these
Road Cuts?

Image A Image B Image C

Image D Image E Image F

Did the fold happen before the red rock was deposited?
What could have caused F? When did it happen?
Did the eruption happen before or after layer H?
What story does these rocks tell?
Where is the river?
Between which two layers was a fast moving river?
 Absolute Dating
The actual age of the event

Half Life: the length of time it takes for half of the atoms in a
sample of a radioactive element to change from an unstable
form into another form