What evidence can we use to determine a newer rock layer?
Fossils found in a particular rock layer help scientists determine the age of the rock. Scientists use a technique called radiocarbon dating to find out the age of the fossils. Once they know the age of the fossil in the rock, they also know that rock itself is about the same age!
What evidence might show that one rock is older or younger than another?
To establish the age of a rock or a fossil, researchers use some type of clock to determine the date it was formed. Geologists commonly use radiometric dating methods, based on the natural radioactive decay of certain elements such as potassium and carbon, as reliable clocks to date ancient events.
How do you determine if the layers of the rocks is oldest and youngest?
Sedimentary rocks are deposited one on top of another. Therefore, the youngest layers are found at the top, and the oldest layers are found at the bottom of the sequence.
Which is a process that allows scientists to compare different rock layers in a sequence to determine their age without knowing an exact age of the rock layer?
In the process of relative dating, scientists do not determine the exact age of a fossil or rock but look at a sequence of rocks to try to decipher the times that an event occurred relative to the other events represented in that sequence. The relative age of a rock then is its age in comparison with other rocks.
What can be used to help identify the relative age of a rock layer?
Index fossils
Index fossils are useful because they tell the relative ages of the rock layers in which they occur. Geologists use particular types of organisms, such as trilobites, as index fossils.
Which theory does evidence found in sedimentary rock best support?
Which theory does evidence found in sedimentary rocks best support? most organisms from Earth’s history still exist.
What evidence supports the law of superposition?
The law of superposition states that each rock layer is older than the one above it. So, the relative age of the rock or fossil in the rock or fossil in the rock is older if it is farther down in the rock layers. Relative dating can be used only when the rock layers have been preserved in their original sequence.
How does the fossil record best support the theory of evolution?
Fossils are important evidence for evolution because they show that life on earth was once different from life found on earth today. Paleontologists can determine the age of fossils using methods like radiometric dating and categorize them to determine the evolutionary relationships between organisms.