Fossil/Dating Study Guide 14­15 Fossils 1) What is a fossil? 2) What is an index fossil? 3) What are the qualities of an index fossil? 4) Do older rocks contain simpler or more complex fossils? 5) What kind of rock layer do you find fossils in? Disturbances of Sedimentary Layers 1) What event causes rocks to become wavy? 2) What event causes rocks to have a slice down the center? 3) What event causes there to be a vertical layer of igenous rock cutting through sedimentary rock layers (can be both intrusive and extrusive)? 4) What event causes rock layers to no longer be horizontal but sit at an angle? Relative Dating 1) What is the Law of Superposition? 2) Does the Law of Superposition tell us the absolute age or the relative age of a rock? 3) What is the geologic time scale a record of? 4) What is the relative age of a rock? 5) What is an unconformity? Please determine the order of the rock layers/events in the following images. Absolute Dating 1) What is radioactive dating? What does it help geologists determine (the relative or the absolute age of an object)? 2) What is a parent isotope? What is a daughter isotope? 3) What is a half­life? 4) How old is the Earth? Explain how geologists/paleontologists use ​
index fossils, relative dating and absolute dating to determine the order/age of past events on Earth. Explain the difference between relative and absolute dating.