The Story of the Earth The

Principle of Superposition!
Theory says
The world was originally a large ball of molten
rock which cooled.
As it cooled
Gasses developed making the atmosphere we
have today. This atmosphere holds in the air
and water around us making Earth livable.
Rain came causing oceans, lakes and
rivers
Where/
how
did rain
come
from?
But where did the dirt and soil come
from?

Why isnt the world covered
with just rock and water?


THE ROCK CYCLE!
But the rock cycle has done more than just give
us dirt and soil, it is a book that tells us about
our past.


How? Fossils!
Uniformitarianism
A fancy word meaning that the changes we see
in the world today has not changed. The
same processes of melting, solidifying,
erosion, weathering, heat and pressure that
we see today are the same changes that have
been in place since the Earth first cooled.
Uniform means the
same
Paleontology
The study of past life through fossils.
Fossils
Are the remains or proof of existence of
organisms (plants and animals) preserved by
geologic processes.
There are two ways to tell the age of a
fossil absolute age and relative age

Absolute age means when know the age of the
fossil, exactly.

Like your age, we know when your life began.
How can we figure out.
.the age of an organism that is now dead? It
isnt like we know its birthday!
We compare it to
plants that we know
are older or younger.
We call this relative
age. We dont know
the exact age but we
know how it
compares to others.
An analogy.
We may not know the age of a student in
elementary school but we know they are
younger than most of the middle school
students.
Layers of the Earth are like clothes in a
basket
The oldest dirty clothes are on the bottom and
the newer dirty clothes are on top!
Law of Superposition
We can tell the relative age of items by where
they are located in layers of sedimentary rock.
Fossils in the same
layers are usually
about the same
age. With the
oldest on the
bottom.
Original Horizontality

Why do we say usually and nearly the
same age?
Because sometimes things happen:

Earth can break, bend, push and pull.
So how do we know the relative age of
an item.
Its like making layered brownies.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKcSU80qvT
E
Review Questions..
1) What do we use to help us determine the
approximate age of rocks?
a) Rocks
b) Fossils
c) Radioactive decay
d) Chicken feet






2) How does uniformitarianism help us
understand what rocks can tell us?
a) Rocks have always changed the same way
b) All types of rock change uniformly
c) The way rocks weather have changed over
time
d) Chicken neck
3) How does the Law of Superposition help us
understand the relative ages of rocks?
a) Younger rocks are on the bottom of a stack
of rocks
b) The relative age of rocks cannot be
determined based on their position with one
another
c) Older rocks are on the bottom while younger
rocks are on the top.
d) Chicken nose
4) How does the Law of Original Horizontality
help us understand the relative ages of rocks
and fossils?
a) Rock sediment settle initially into horizontal
layers
b) Sediment settle into areas that are lowest
first then begin to pile up
c) Sediment first settle into piles and then sift
into horizontal layers
d) Chicken knees

What should we remember?
1. Oldest layers are on the bottom because they
were first.
2. Youngest layers are on the top.
3. Fossils are found in layers which were
forming during their life.
4. INDEX FOSSILS!
What is an index fossil?
An index fossil is an organism that we can use to
determine the age of a layer because we know
when it was alive!
Activity
You have eight index cards on your desk.
1. Each card stands for a layer of the Earth
found in a sedimentary rock layer.
2. Each letter stands for a fossil found in that
layer.
3. The letters are in order left to right from
youngest fossil to oldest based on its location
in the layer. Ex: NBU (N is the newest, U is the
oldest.
Activity
Put these in order from newest to oldest (just
like it would be on the sedimentary rock
layer).
C T
AGC
UA
NBU
NB
ON
DXO
MD
This is one possible way to arrange the cards.
Now, answer the questions in your
notes.

1) Which fossil (letter) is oldest?
2) Which fossil is youngest?
3) What fossil shows up the most?
4) Which fossils were only shown once?
5) Which could be index fossils?
6) How can you tell if M or X is older?

Which fossil (letter) is oldest?

Which fossil (letter) is oldest?

T, because it is on
the bottom layer
to the right
Which fossil is youngest?

Which fossil is youngest?

M, because it is on
the top layer to the
left

What fossil shows up the most?


What fossil shows up the most?

N
Which fossils were only shown once?


Which fossils were only shown once?

M, X and G
Which fossils could be index fossils?
Which fossils could be index fossils?
M, X and G
How can you tell if M or X is older?

X is on a layer below M
so it was deposited
earlier and is the
older of the two.