Unit 6: Clues to Earth’s Past - Vocabulary Test

The age of rocks or geologic features compared to other rocks and features nearby.

• absolute age

• half-life

• radiocarbon dating

• relative age

A piece of an older rock that becomes part of a new rock.

• inclusion

• faulting

• folding

• correlation

A surface where rock has eroded away, producing a break, or gap, in the rock record.

• unconformity

• correlation

• inclusion

• eon

This process occurs when rocks move along a fracture (a break in the rock caused by forces within the Earth).

• inclusion

• faulting

• folding

• correlation

This process occurs when rock layers bend or tilt by forces within the Earth.

• inclusion

• faulting

• folding

• correlation

This process involves matching rocks and fossils from separate locations.

• inclusion

• faulting

• folding

• correlation

The preserved remains or evidence of a past living organism.

• fossil

• isotope

• eon

• unconformity

A fossil that represents a species that existed on earth for a short length of time, were abundant, and inhabited many locations; when found in rock layers at different locations, geologists can infer that the layers are of similar age.

• isotope

• inclusion

• organic material

• index fossil

The numerical age, in years, of a rock or an object.

• absolute age

• half-life

• radiocarbon dating

• radiometric dating

Atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons.

• half-life

• isotope

• radiocarbon dating

• radiometric dating