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25 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Who is considered the "father of modern geology?
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Hutton |
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What name is given to the theory that is best described by the phrase "the present is the key to the past?
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uniformitarianism
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placing events in their proper sequence from oldest to youngest
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Relative dating |
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In an undeformed sequence of rocks the older rocks are at the bottom and the younger rocks are at the top |
Law of Superposition |
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Rocks are generally deposited in horizontal layers |
Principle of Original Horizontality |
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A fault or other feature that cuts through another feature must be younger than what it cuts |
Cross-cutting Relationships |
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Organisms have succeeded one another in a definite and determinable pattern through Earth history |
Fossil Succession |
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Matching up rocks of the same age that are located in different areas is called
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Correlation |
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A break or gap in the rock record, when deposition did not occur, or when erosion removed rocks, is called
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an uncomformity |
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Putting an actual number of years on an event |
Absolute Dating |
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All atoms of the same element have the same number of
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Protons |
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Variants of an element, based on different numbers of neutrons, are called
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Isotopes |
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How old is the earth? |
4.5 Billion Years |
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Cenozoic means |
Recent life |
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Mesozoic means |
middle life |
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Paleozoic means |
ancient life |
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What does Phanerozoic refer to?
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visible life |
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What unit of time includes 87% of all Earth history?
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Precambrian |
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he beginning of the Paleozoic Era is marked by
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the sudden appearance of organisms with hard parts
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What Era is known as the Age of Reptiles?
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Mesozoic |
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What Era is known as the Age of Mammals?
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Cenozoic |
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When was the extinction of the dinosaurs?
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about 66 million years ago, at the end of the Mesozoic |
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The earliest life on earth was |
single-celled organisms like bacteria and algae |
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In order to be preserved as a fossil, an organism needs
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Hard parts and/ or rapid burial |
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What does the end of the Paleozoic have in common with the end of the Mesozoic?
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Mass extinction events |
