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Geologic Time
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| relative dating | Any method of determining whether an even or object is older or younger than other events or objects. |
| absolute dating | Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years. |
| geologic time scale | The standard method used to divide Earth's long natural history into manageable parts. |
| index fossil | A fossil that is distinctive and abundant from an organism that lived for a short period of time and spread out over a large geographic area. |
| eon | The longest division of geologic time, representing billions of years. |
| era | A unit of geologic time that is shorter than an eon but longer than a period. (hundreds of millions of years) |
| period | A unit of geologic time that is shorter than an era but longer than an epoch. (tens of millions of years) |
| epoch | A unit of geologic time that is shorter than a period. |