Name __________________________________ Date _____________ Section ________

Relative Dating PracticePART 1 – Directions: Use the principle of superposition to number the rock layers in the order that they formed. Rock layer #1 would be the oldest layer (it formed first).

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3. Draw your own layers in the box below and number them in the order that they were formed. Your column should have at least 4 layers.

PART 2 – Directions: Use the principle of faunal succession to perform the tasks below.

1. Number the organisms in order of their ages (1 being the oldest because it lived first).

2. A student read on Wikipedia that a Neanderthal bone will never be found in the same horizontal rock layer as a Megalosaurus bone. In fact, the Neanderthal bone will be found much higher in a column of rock than the Megalosaurus bone. Explain why using the principle of faunal succession.

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3. Use the principle of faunal succession to match up the rock layers (draw a line between matching layers.

PART 3 – Directions: Use the law of cross-cutting relationships to number the rock layers, intrusions, and faults in the order that they occurred (1 = oldest).

1. Rock layers with an igneous intrusion.

2. Rock layers with a fault.

3. Rock layers with a fault and an intrusion occurring separately.

4. Rock layers with a fault and an intrusion occurring together.

PART 4 – Use the index fossil chart and the geologic time scale chart to determine about how old the rock layers are on the next page. Fill in the ages in the spaces provided below the rock layers.

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

INDEX FOSSILS

ROCK LAYERS

The oldest rock layer is about ____________________ million years old.

The middle rock layer is about _____________________ million years old.

The youngest rock layer is about _____________________ million years old.

PART 5 – There are many unconformities in the diagram below. Label at least two unconformities and tell whether each was caused by erosion, tilting of layers, or both.

Paradoxidea pinus

Mucrospirifer mucronatus

Perisphinctes tiziani