Learn Unit 11 Vocabulary: Relative and Absolute Dating (of rocks

the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly in sedimentary rock

​fossil

chronological collection of life's remains in sedimentary rocks

​fossil record

the bending of rock layers due to stress in the Earth's surface

​folding

sudden movement of rock masses along a fault

​faulting

a molten mass that pushes into rock from below, then cools and hardens

igneous intrusion

determining the age of rock by comparing it to other rocks (younger/older)

relative dating

Law that states that younder layers of rock are deposited on top of older layers

Law of Superposition

technique used to determine the actual age of a rock using radioactive dating (number of years passes since it formed)

Absolute dating

finding the age of a rock based on the amount of radioactive decay of certain elements in the rock (igneous and metamorphic only)

radioactive dating

an arrangement of rock layers in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom

geologic column