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Layers of Rocks (Stratified Rocks) : Objective

1) Rock layers are deposited sequentially over time and can be used to determine the relative ages of strata using basic principles. 2) The Law of Superposition states that lower layers are older than those above. 3) Unconformities represent gaps in the geologic record where layers are missing.

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Cymhecka Beyje Guinto
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812 views

Layers of Rocks (Stratified Rocks) : Objective

1) Rock layers are deposited sequentially over time and can be used to determine the relative ages of strata using basic principles. 2) The Law of Superposition states that lower layers are older than those above. 3) Unconformities represent gaps in the geologic record where layers are missing.

Uploaded by

Cymhecka Beyje Guinto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Layers of rocks (stratified rocks)

Objective:

E5.3D Describe how index fossils can be used to determine time sequence.
E5.3g Identify a sequence of geologic events using relative-age dating principles.
Relative Dating
In the same way that a history book shows an
order of events, layers of rock (called strata)
show the sequence of events that took place in
the past. Using a few basic principles, scientists
can determine the order in which rock layers
formed. Once they can know the order, a
relative age can be determined for each rock
layer.
*Relative age indicates that one layer is older
or younger than another layer, but does not
indicate the rock’s age in years (absolute age).
Law of Superposition
Sedimentary rocks form when new
sediments are deposited on top of old
layers of sediment. As the sediments
accumulate, they are compressed and
harden into sedimentary rock layers.
Scientists use a basic principle called the
Law of Superposition to determine the
relative age of a layer of sedimentary
rock. *The Law of Superposition is that an
undeformed sedimentary rock layer is
older than the layers above it and younger
than the layers below it. According to the
Law of Superposition, layer 1 was the first
layer deposited, and thus the oldest layer.
The last layer deposited was layer 12, and
thus it is the youngest layer.
*Principle of Original Horizontality
Scientists also know that sedimentary rock generally
forms in horizontal layers. The Principle of Original
Horizontality is that sedimentary rocks left
undisturbed will remain in horizontal layers. Therefore,
scientists can assume that sedimentary rock layers that
are not horizontal have been tilted or deformed by
crustal movements that happened after the layers
formed.
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Unconformities
Movements of Earth’s crust can lift up rock layers that were
buried and expose them to erosion. Then, if sediments are
deposited, new rock layers form in place of the eroded
layers. The missing rock layers create a break in the
geologic record in the same way that pages missing from a
book create a break in a story.

*A break in the geologic record is called an


unconformity. An unconformity shows that
deposition stopped for a period of time, and rock may
have been removed by erosion before deposition
resumed.
*Unconformities
There are three types of unconformities.
1. An unconformity in which stratified
(layers) of rock rests upon unstratified
rock is called a nonconformity.
2. The boundary between a set of tilted
layers and a set of horizontal layers is
called an angular unconformity.
3. The boundary between horizontal layers
of old sedimentary rock and younger,
overlying layers that are deposited on an
eroded surface is called a disconformity.
According to the Law of Superposition, all rocks beneath an unconformity are older than the rocks above the
unconformity.
Crosscutting Relationships
When rock layers have been disturbed by faults (a break or crack in
Earth’s crust) or intrusions (a mass of igneous rock that forms when
magma is injected into rock and then cools and solidifies), determining
relative age may be difficult. In such cases, scientists may apply the
Law of Crosscutting Relationships. *The Law of Crosscutting
Relationships is that a fault or intrusion is always younger than all the
rocks it cuts through above and below the unconformity.
Relative Dating
Relative dating is the science of determining the
relative order of past events (i.e., the age of an
object in comparison to another), without
necessarily determining their absolute age.

Based on what you now know about the Law of


Superposition, the Principle of Original
Horizontality, unconformities, and the Law of
Crosscutting Relationships can you place the
layers indicated in the diagram in the correct
order, starting from the oldest layer?
Absolute Dating
 Absolute dating methods, sometimes called numerical
dating, to give rocks an actual date, or date range, in
number of years.
Most absolute dates for rocks are obtained with
radiometric methods. These use radioactive minerals
in rocks as geological clocks.

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Fossils
Fossilsare the remains or traces of prehistoric
organisms
They are most common in sedimentary rocks
and in some accumulations of pyroclastic materials, especially ash
They are extremely useful for determining relative ages
of strata
geologists also use them to ascertain environments of deposition
Fossilsprovide some of the evidence for organic
evolution
many fossils are of organisms now extinct

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*Index Fossils
Paleontologists can use fossils to determine the relative
ages of the rock layers in which the fossils are located.
Fossils that occur only in rock layers of a particular
geologic age are called index fossils.
To be an index fossil, a fossil must meet certain
requirements:
1. It must be present in rocks scattered over a large
region.
2. It must have features that clearly distinguish it from
other fossils.
3. Organisms from which the fossil formed must have
lived during a short span of geologic time.
4. The fossil must occur in fairly large numbers within
the rock layers.

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