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unit 7
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| uniformitarianism | A principle that geologic processes that occured in the past can be explained by current geologic processes |
| fossil | The trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago most commonly preserved in sedimentry rock |
| trace fossil | A fossil structure such as a footprint or a croprolite that formed in sedimentry rock by animal activity on or within soft sediment |
| climate | The weather condition in an area over a long period of time |
| ice core | A long cylinder of ice obtained from drilling through ice caps or ice sheets used to study past climates |
| relative dating | Any method of determing 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 |
| unconformity | A break in geologic record created when rock layers are eroded or when sediment is not deposited for a long period of time |
| geologic column | An ordered arrangement of rock layers that is based on the relative rocks ages of rocks in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom |
| absolute dating | Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years |
| radioactive decay | The process in which a radioactive isotope tend to break down into a stable isotope of the same element or another element |
| half-life | The time required for half of a sample of radioactive isotope to break down radiation decay to form a daughter isotope |
| radiometric dating | A method of determining the absolute age of an object by comparing relative percentages of a radioactive parent isotope and a stable daughter isotope |