Use the information in the following Web site to answer the questions 1-7.
How do geologists know how old things are?
1. Define relative age dating.
Click on Relative Geologic Time Scale
2. Give the ages for the important events that are listed.
Return to original page and click on Laws of Geology
3. Define uniformitarianism.
4. Define the principle of original horizontality.
5. Define the principle of superposition.
6. Define the principle of cross-cutting relationships.
Return to original page.
7. When were the first absolute ages determined using radiometric age dating techniques?
Use the information in the following Web site to answer the questions 8-13.
8. Give the age of Earth.
9. Explain why the entire record of the history of Earth is not recorded in the rocks?
Click Next
Click geologic time
10. What do Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic mean?
11. Where do the names of the different periods come from?
Return to Relative Time Scale
12. How are strata, layers of rock, formed?
13. Discuss the concept of index fossils.
Use the information in the following Web pages to answer the questions 14-25.
14. Read the discussion of relative age dating.
15. Read this discussion of strata, and look at the photographs.
16. Explain the concept of uniformitarianism.
17. Explain principle of superposition.
18. How does the principle of superposition apply to the formation of volcanoes?
19. Explain the principle of original horizontality.
20. Explain why strata would not be horizontal. (Thinking question)
21. How does the principle of original horizontality apply to the formation of a shield volcano?
22. Which features of lava flows could be used to determine the up direction? (Thinking question)
23. Explain the principle of cross-cutting relationships.
24. Explain the principle of inclusions.
25. Use the principle of inclusions to determine the relative ages of the tuff, and the basalt blocks in the picture on p. 222 of Roadside Geology of Hawaii.
26. Explain the principle of faunal succession.
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