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earth science vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| fossils | the imprints or remains of organisms that were once alive |
| lithosphere | the crust of the earth it is broken doen into sections called plates |
| absolute age | tells the actual age of a rock or fossil or how long ago an event occured |
| radioactive dating | a means of measuring the age of material by comparing the amount of a radioactive form of an element in a rock or fossil with the amount of its decay product |
| relative age | describes the age of an object or event in comparison to another object or event it determines which event occured earlier or later than others without giving a definite date |
| law of superposition | a scientific law that states that in undistributed sedimentary rock layers older layers of rock lie beneath the younger ones |
| index fossil | a fossil that is found in rock layers of only one geologic age and that is used to establish the age of the rock layer |