A | B |
absolute age | the number of years since the rock formed. |
fossil | The preserved remains or traces of living things. |
cast | A fossil that is a copy of an organism's shape, formed when minerals go into a mold. |
carbon film | A type of fossil that has a very thin coating of carbon on rock. |
trace fossil | A type of fossil that provides evidence of the activities of ancient organisms. |
preserved remains | Remains that have no change or little change. |
law of superposition | In horizontal layers of sedimentary rock, each layer is older than the layer above it and younger than the layer below it. |
extrusion | An igneous rock layer formed when lava flows out of the Earth and hardens. |
intrusion | An igneous rock layer formed when magma hardens inside the Earth. |
fault | A crack in Earth's lithosphere along which the rocks move. |
unconformity | A place where an old, eroded rock surface is in contact with a newer rock layer. |
index fossil | You can find this fossil in many places and it was an organism that lived during only one short period. |
relative age | The age of a rock compared to the ages of other rocks. |
petrified fossil | A fossil in which minerals replace all or part of an organism. |
mold | A fossil formed when an organism buried in sediment dissolves, leaving a hollow area. |
Carbon Dating | a method of estimating age on organic materials (once living). |