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Earth’s History
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Abiotic/Physical Factors | non-living factors such as erosion, wind and sun exposure |
| Benthic | Living at the bottom of the ocean or on the ocean floor |
| Biological/Biotic Factors | Living factors such as decomposers, scavengers and predators |
| Body Fossil | Body parts of organisms that become fossils, such as bones, teeth, skin, leaves, tree trunks |
| Cast | Casts are formed when sediment leaks into mold and hardens to form a copy of the original structure |
| Compression | Fossils formed when an organism is flattened (compressed), leaving a dark stain in the rock |
| Coprolite | Fossilized feces |
| Decomposer | An organism that breaks down the tissue and/or structures of dead organisms |
| Erosion | Weathering or wearing away of rock and earth (and any fossils they contain) caused by wind, sun, and/or water |
| Fossil | The natural remains or traces of past life. Something is considered to be a fossil if it is at least 10,000 years old |
| Fossil Record | ALL of the fossils that have existed throughout life's history, whether they have been found or not |
| Groundwater | Water found underground as a result of rainfall, ice and snow melt, submerged rivers, lakes, and springs |
| Ichnology | The study of trace fossils |
| Igneous Rock | Type of rock produced when molten magma (lava) cools and solidifies |
| Inorganic | Not containing carbon. Not from living things. Ex., mineral |
| Impression | Fossilized prints or marks made by a living thing. Leaf prints, skin prints and footprints are good examples |
| Intertidal | The coastal zone between the low and high tide mark where impact the land |
| Metamorphic Rock | Rock produced when any type of rock is changed by heat, pressure, and chemical activity in the Earth |
| Mineralization | The process whereby living materials is replaced with minerals. |
| Mold | The impression of an organism left behind in the rock. |
| Paleontologists | The study of life in the past |
| Plate tectonics | The concept that explains the movement of the Earth's crustal plates, sea floor spreading, and a number of other geologic processes of the Earth's surface |
| Rock Cycle | The process through which one type of rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) is converted into another |
| Scavenger | An organism that feeds on dead and dying organisms |
| Sedimentary Rock | Rock that is formed when layers of small particles (sediment) are compressed and cemented together |
| Trace fossil | Evidence left by organisms, such as burrows, imprints, coprolites, or footprints |
| Uplift | The process that causes part of the Earth's crust to rise above surrounding areas. This can cause layers of rock to become exposed at the surface |
| Relative age | Is its age compared to the ages of other rocks |
| Absolute age | Is the number of years since the rock formed |
| Law of superposition | To determine the relative ages of sedimentary rock layers |
| Extrusion | Lava that hardens on the surface |
| Intrusion | Magma that cools and hardens into a mass of igneous rock |
| Fault | A break in Earth's crust |
| Unconformity | The surface where new rock layers meet a much older rock surface beneath them |
| Inclusion | A piece of rock that is contained in another rock |
| Index fossil | Fossils of widely distributed organisms that lived during only one short period |