GEOL 101 Lab 8

GEOL 101
Professor Bayron
December 8, 2022
Lab 8 Dating of Rocks, Fossils, and Geologic Events
Introduction: For this lab we talked about geochronology, which is the study of time in relation
to Earth’s existence. In this lab we learned about that in geochronology it deals with relative
dating and numerical dating. In addition, we discussed the relative dating is the process of
determining the order in which geological events occurred relating to other events and/or
numerical dating. Therefore, this lab can prepare us to identify the different type of index fossils
and their range zones to help understand which geologic ages they were found and formed.
Activity 8.1
(A)
1. Refer to the figure
(B)
B
1. According to the law of superstition, the ancient red soil is the oldest layer.
3. We need a formation at first for the crack to happen, therefore, the cracks are the
younger than lava flow.
4. The clasts are older than the brown soil because they are weathered material of lava
flow.
(C)
2. At first, the red stone was deposited then the deformational process folded the layer.
Later, the upper conglomerate layer would have been deposited.
(D)
The three rules that geologist could follow to tell the relatives ages of rock layers, fractures,
clasts, and folds in geologic cross-section will include the law of superstition, law of inclusion,
and the law of cross-cutting relationships.
Activity 8.2
(A)
(B)
Activity 8.3
1. The index fossils present is mucrospirifer and phacops.

2. The overlap of these index fossils is from late Silurian to early Mississippian.
3. This rock is 422 million years old.
1. The index fossils present is exogyra and bacufides.
2. The age range of this sandstone is from early Mississippian to Quaternary.
1. The index fossils present is flexicalymene and strophomena.

2. The age range of this sandstone is from middle Ordovician to early Silurian.
(D)
1. The two formations that are separated by a disconformity is C and D because the
orientation of the fossil are same in both formations.
2. The max amount of time that is not reflected in the rock record in the location is 450
million years and min is 350 million years.
(E)
The geologic event that occurred during the Mesozoic Era is the age of the reptiles and
dinosaurs.
Activity 8.4
(A)
1. The number of half-lives of the uranium-235 to lead-207 decay pair have elapsed in the
zircon crystals is 0.4941.
2. The numerical age of the lava flow based on its zircon crystals demonstrates that the
time of formation is 345.8 Myr ago.
3. The age of the rock layers above the lava flow is younger than 345.8 Myr.
4. The age of the rock layers beneath the lava flow is older than 345.8 Myr.
(B)
Earth’s approximate age is around 4.5 billion years old.
(C)
1. A reasonable initial estimate of the age of the peat bed is 23206.5 years.
2. In sampling the peat bed, you must be careful to avoid any young plant roots or old
limestone because the newly deposited plant root will give younger ages than the actual
age of the peat bed.
(D)
1. It does not indicate a modern age because the zircons gives their formational age, which
could be way older than the current age.
2. A rule that geologists should follow when they date rocks based on the radiometric ages
of mineral grains inside of the rocks is that the minerals must be insitu.
(E)
According to the seller’s claims, I can say that we should be suspicious of this bone’s
authenticity because their bone can’t be 400 million years old if they roamed the earth from
232-266 million years ago.
Activity 8.6
(A)

2. This demonstrates an example of a nonconformity because there was contact between
a metamorphic schist and a sedimentary rock.
(B)
This rock shows that it’s about 70000 years ago and it’s younger than the rest.
(C)

2. This photo illustrates an example of an angular unconformity.
(D)
I observed the orientation of the rock layers that is above and beneath the plane and it’s
marked as unconformity. The dipping on the eastern direction on both sides provide the
evidence that it is an angular unconformity.
Conclusion: Overall, in this lab I learned about how to identify the different geologic events that
occurred on earth. In addition, I learned about the different ways to identify fossils and the
kinds of information that I can receive by observing it. Also, the principles for determining a
fossil’s relative age and the sequence of events that happened when the organism was alive. As
a result, this lab helped me further understand sedimentary rocks.

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GEOL 101

Lab 8 Dating of Rocks, Fossils, and Geologic Events

1. The index fossils present is mucrospirifer and phacops.

1. The index fossils present is flexicalymene and strophomena.

1. Refer to the figure

1. Refer to the figure

a result, this lab helped me further understand sedimentary rocks.

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