Unit: Historical Geology
Key Learning:
Rocks and fossils contain clues to Earth’s past. This information is used
to understand Earth’s processes, how life evolves, and determines the age
of the Earth.
Instructional Tools:
Unit Essential Question:
How do rocks and fossils aid scientists in understanding Earth’s
biological and geological past?
Concept:
Relative Age
Earth Science Standard: 3.5.10.A,
3.5.10.B
Biology Keystone Anchor: Bio.B.3.1,
BIO.B.3.3
Lesson
EQ:
How does Uniformitarianism
help explain Earth’s history?
Concept:
Fossil Formation
Earth Science Standard: 3.5.10.A, 3.5.10.B
Biology Keystone Anchor: BIO.3.2,
BIO3.3
Lesson EQ:
What does the fossil record show
about how life has changed over
time?
Concept:
Absolute Age
Earth Science Standard: 3.5.10.A.,
3.5.10.B,
Biology Keystone Anchor: BIO.3.2
Lesson EQ:
What is radioactivity and how
can it be used to find absolute
age of rocks?
What are the key principles of
relative dating and how do they
allow geologists to interpret
Earth’s history?
Vocabulary:
Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism
Law of Superposition, Principle,
Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Relative dating,
Principle of original horizontality,
Principle of cross cutting,
Principle of inclusions,
Unconformity, fault
Vocabulary:
Fossil, fossil succession, index
Fossil, correlation, trace fossil,
Petrified remains, cast, mold,
Amber
Vocabulary:
Radioactivity, half-life, radioMetric dating, carbon dating,
Absolute dating, parent material,
Daughter product
Concept:
Geologic Timeline
Earth Science Standard: 3.4.10.A,
3.5.20.B, 3.1.10 D
Biology Keystone Anchor: BIO.3.1
Lesson EQ:
What are the major
divisions of the geologic
time scale and how was it
constructed?
Concept
Earth as a System
Earth Science Standards:
3.3.10.A, 3.3.104
Biology Keystone Anchors:BIO.3.1
Lesson EQ:
How does Earth’s system
drive an evolving &
dynamic Earth?
Vocabulary:
Geologic time scale, eon,
Era, Period, epoch,
Evolution, stromatolites,
Extinction
Geosphere,
Atmosphere,
Hydrosphere,
Biosphere
System
Curriculum Area: __________________
Know
Facts, formulas, vocabulary
Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism
Law of Superposition, Principle,
Igneous, Sedimentary, MetaMorphic, Relative dating, Principle
of original horizontality, principle
of cross cutting relationships,
principle of inclusions,
Fossil, fossil succession, index
Fossil, correlation, trace fossil,
Petrified remains, cast, mold,
Radioactivity, half-life, radioMetric dating, carbon dating,
Absolute dating, parent material,
Geologic time scale, eon, era,
Period, epoch, extinction,
Evolution, stromatolites, Geosphere,
Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere,
System
Unit Name: ________________________________
Grade Level: ____________________
Understand
Do
Concepts, principles, generalizations
Skills such as literacy, numeracy, thinking
Explain how rocks allow geologists to interpret
Earth’s history.
Rocks record geologic and changing life of the past
We have learned that Earth is much older than anyone
had previously imagined and that its surface and interior
have been changed by the same geologic process that
continue today.
Uniformitarianism means that the forces and processes
that we observe today have been at work for a very long
time.
Relative dating can’t tell us how long ago something took
place. It can only tell us the sequence in which they
occurred.
Recognize how uniformitarianism helps explain
Earth’s features.
Analyze the key principles of relative dating and
describe how geologist use relative dating in their
work.
Describe the importance of unconformities in
unraveling Earth’s history: geologically and
biologically.
Define fossils and explain how fossils are made.
The law of superposition states that in an undeformed
sequence of sedimentary rocks, each bed is older than the
one above it and younger than the one below it.
Interpret data from fossil records relevant to the
theory of evolution.
The principle of original horizontality means that layers of
sediment are generally deposited in a horizontal position.
State and Interpret the principle of fossil
succession.
An unconformity represents a long period of duration
which deposition stopped, erosion removed previously
formed rocks and then depiction resumed.
Utilize the laws /principles of relative age dating to
analyze geologic cross-section.
Define radioactivity and half-life
Fossils are remains or traces of prehistoric life.
The type of fossil that formed is determined by the
conditions under which an organism died and how it was
buried.
The principle of fossil succession combines the laws of
supposition and the study of the fossils the rock layers
contain.
Analyze a half-life graph to interpret the age of a
rock.
Describe how carbon-14 is used in radiometric
dating.
Create the geologic time scale.
Explain how the geologic time scale is organized
A half-life is the amount of time necessary for one half of
the nuclei in a sample to decay to its stable isotope.
Identify some complications in dating rocks.
An accurate radiometric date can be obtained only if the
mineral remained a closed system during the entire period
since formation.
Explain how the evolution of Earth has been driven
by interactions between the lithosphere,
hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
When an organism dies, the amount of carbon 14
gradually decreases as it decays. By comparing the ratio
of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in a sample, radiocarbon dates
can be determined.
Explain how the Earth’s systems and its various
cycles are driven by energy.
Geologist have divided Earth’s 4.56 billion year history into
specific time units.
Eons represent the greatest expanses of time; Eons are
divided into Eras. Each Era is subdivided into periods,
based on geological and biological events. Finally periods
are divided into still smaller units called epochs.
Earth System Science aims to study Earth as a system
made up of numerous interacting parts, or subsystems.
A system can be a group of interacting parts that forma
complex whole.
The sun drives the external processes that occur in the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, and at Earth’s surface. Earth’s
interior energy is driven mainly from radioactive decay &
heat left over from when Earth formed.
Our action produce changes in all other parts of the Earth
System.