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s.m/ 8.2 vocab
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Antibiotic/ 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 a 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 of 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 |
Intertidal | The coastal zone between the low and high tide mark where waves 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 material is replaced with minerals |
Uncomformity | The surface where new rock layers is not always complete |
Inclusion | Piece of rock that is contained in another rock |
Index Fossil | Fossils used to define and identify geologic periods |
Relative Age | The age compared to the age of other rocks |
Absolute Age | Number of years since the rock formed |
Law of Superposition | To determine the relative ages of sedimentary rock layers |
Extrusion | Lava that hardens on surface |
Intrusion | Magma that cools and hardens into a mass of igneous rock |
Fault | A break in earths crust |
Sedimentary Rock | Rock made from sediments that have been deposited and pressed together to form solid rock |
Mold | The impression of an organism left behind in the rock |
Paleontology | The study of life in the past |
Paleontologists | People who study fossils and other types of evidence to learn about life in the past |
Plate Tectonics | The concept that explains the movement of the earths crustal plates, sea floor, spreading, and a number of other geologic processes of the earths surface |
Rock Cycle | The process which through one type of rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) is converted into another |
Scavenger | An organism that feeds on dead and dying organisms |
Trace Fossil | Evidence left by organisms such as burrows,imprints, coprolites, or footprints |