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fossils
geologic time scale
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| fossils | remains or traces of organisms preserved from the geologic past |
| geologic time scale | the division of earth's history into blocks of time |
| glaciation | covered with or affected by a glacier |
| igneous rock | rock formed by the crystallization of molten magma |
| paleontologist | scientist who studies fossils and the history of life |
| phanerozoic eon | part of geologic time that is represented by rocks containing abundant (lots of various) fossil evidence |
| precambrian eon | all geologic time prior to the Phanerozoic eon |
| radiometric dating | a complex procedure of calculating the absolute age of rocks |
| relative dating | a form of dating by placing rocks in their proper sequence |
| sedimentary rock | rock type that most fossils are found in |
| index fossil | fossil remains of an organism that lived for a short time in many places, used to identify the rock or rock layer in which it was found |