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Rock Layer: Timeline of Life in Earth

The rock layers of Earth's crust can be grouped into three major eras based on the life forms that existed at the time of their formation. The eras are the Paleozoic Era characterized by invertebrates and primitive plants and animals, the Mesozoic Era known as the age of dinosaurs, and the Cenozoic Era which includes the current era and mammals. Scientists use relative dating methods like examining stratigraphic succession and fossil succession to determine the sequential order of rock layers, and radiometric dating techniques like measuring radioactive decay to determine the actual ages of rocks in years.

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Kaye Angeli Villacrusis
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68 views2 pages

Rock Layer: Timeline of Life in Earth

The rock layers of Earth's crust can be grouped into three major eras based on the life forms that existed at the time of their formation. The eras are the Paleozoic Era characterized by invertebrates and primitive plants and animals, the Mesozoic Era known as the age of dinosaurs, and the Cenozoic Era which includes the current era and mammals. Scientists use relative dating methods like examining stratigraphic succession and fossil succession to determine the sequential order of rock layers, and radiometric dating techniques like measuring radioactive decay to determine the actual ages of rocks in years.

Uploaded by

Kaye Angeli Villacrusis
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ROCK LAYER: TIMELINE OF LIFE IN EARTH There are thousands upon thousands of layers in the Earths crust.

However,
scientists have grouped the layers into three major groups of era;
Most of the rocks exposed at the surface of the Earth are sedimentary
formed from particles of older rocks that have been broken apart by water Three Major Eras:
or wind.
1. Paleozoic Era- characterized by the appearance of invertebrates
Slight changes in particle size or composition result in the formation living in sea and land, primitive fishes, ferns, insects, land plants,
of layers, also called beds, in the rock. amphibians, and primitive reptiles (after Greek, paleo, ancient
and zoon, a living being).
Layering or bedding is the most obvious feature of sedimentary
rocks. 2. Mesozoic Era- often called the age of dinosaurs characterized by the
appearance of dinosaurs, primitive flowering plants, birds, and
Rock layers are also called strata (the plural form of the Latin word
mammals (after Greek, meso, middle).
stratum) and stratigraphy is the science of strata.
3. Cenozoic Era- often referred to as the age of mammals. This is the
Stratified Rocks- are rocks that is made of visible layers of sediment
latest era and the current layer that is still deposited in oceans,
formed by compaction, cementation or crystallization of successive
deserts, and swamps all around the Earth today (after Greek,
beds of deposited materials.
kainos, new).
Sediment layers- create the banding pattern visible in stratified
rocks.
Methods of Geological Dating: Numerical and Absolute Dating
Stratification- division into layers, is the most obvious characteristic
of sedimentary rocks. Relative Dating- scientists compare different layers of rock to
determine an ordered sequence of events in geologic history.

Common Form of Relative Dating are;


Two Laws or Principles of Geology
1. 1. Stratigraphic Succession- the way rock layers are built up and
Law of Original Horizontality- Stenos Law of Original Horizontality
changed by geologic processes.
states that most sediments, when originally formed, were laid down
2. 2. Fossil Succession- a method in which scientists compare fossils in
horizontally that had different color texture, and fossils. As these
different rock strata to determine the relative ages of each.
sediments stack up vertically, they often harden, forming rock
layers.
Law of Superposition- fundamental to the interpretation of Earth Numerical Dating
history. The Law of Faunal succession explains that fossils found in
In 1896, Henri Becquerel a French physicist discover a radioactivity in an
rock layers are ordered with the oldest layers on the bottom, and
element called Uranium.
the most recent layers on the top.
Radioactive Decay- emission of energetic particles to produce new
elements.
In 1905, Ernest Rutherford discovered the use of radiation to establish the
ages of rocks.

Radiometric Dating- the principle form of numerical dating, the


method of using radioactive decay to determine the age of rocks.

Relative Dating is use to know how old rocks are in relation to


each other while Numerical Dating is use to know actual or
approximate ages of rocks.

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