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sicen test 3
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Uniformitarianism | a principle that geologic processes that occurred in the past can be explained by current geologic processes |
| Catastrophism | a principle that states that geologic change occurs suddenly |
| paleontology | the scientific study of fossils |
| relative dating | any method of determining whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or objects |
| superposition | a principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks if the layers have not been disturbed |
| geologic column | an ordered arrangement of rock layers that is based on the relative ages of the rocks and in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom(it is ideal it normal dose not happen) |
| unconformity | a break in the geologic record created when rock layers are eroded or when sediment is not deposited for a long period of time |
| absolute dating | any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years |
| isotopes | an atom that has the same number of protons (or the same atomic number) as other atoms of the same element do but that has a different number of neutrons (and thus a different atomic mass) |
| radioactive decay | the process in which a radioactive isotope tends to break down into a stable isotope of the same element or another element |
| half-lifei | the time required for half of a sample of a radioactive isotope to break down by radioactive decay to form a daughter isotope |
| fossil | the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock |
| trace fossil | a fossilized structure, such as a footprint or a coprolite, that formed in sedimentary rock by animal activity on or within soft sediment |
| mold | a mark or cavity made in a sedimentary surface by a shell or other body |
| cast | a type of fossil that forms when sediments fill in the cavity left by a decomposed organism |
| biggest to smallest era | phanerozoic, Proterozoic, Archean, and hadean |
| unconformities | process of erosion |
| flosser mineral the make fossil | petrifaction, amber, and sediment |
| he wrote a book like Lyell which got it approved | James Hatton was the person who came up with this stuff |