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Fossils
Key Vocabulary for Fossils Learning Check
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Fossil | the preserved remains or traces of living things |
sedimentary rock | the rock in which most fossils are found |
petrified fossil | organism that has been turned to stone |
trace fossil | provide evidence of the activities of an ancient organism, such as footprints, tail tracks |
extinct | a type of organism that no longer exists on Earth |
evolution | the process by which all the different kinds of living things have chnaged over long periods of time to adapt to their environment |
mold | a hollow area of sediment that shows the shape and size of an organism |
cast | a copy of the shape of the organism |
Law of Original Horizontality | All rock layers are laid down in a flat (horizontal) position |
Law of Superposition | Each rock layer is older than the layer above it (rocks go older to younger from bottom to top) |
Relative Age | the age of an object or event in comparison to another object or event |
Absolute Age | The actual age of rock or fossil |
Erosion | when a rock layer is changed by wind, water or ice |
Folding | when rock layers are moved from underneath, causing layers to look like a rainbow |
Faulted | a break or crack in the Earth's lithosphere along which rocks move. |
tilted | When unequal forces within the Earth push up in one area |
Intrusion | when lava rises from deep within the Earth but does not go onto the surface |