REVIEW.

What are the fundamental

principles of stratigraphy?
EARTHS
HISTORY
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

Geologist establish the age of rocks in 2 ways

1. Relative dating
Used to arrange geological events and the rocks they leave
behind in a sequence.
What are the realizations while creating your personal timeline?

Based on Principle of Superposition

Cannot specify the absolute age of rocks.
Requires an extensive knowledge of stratigraphic succession,
a term for the way rock strata are built up and changed by
geologic processes.
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

2. Faunal Dating
Refers to use of animal bones to determine the age of
sedimentary layers and the materials embedded within those
layers.
Stratigraphic ranges and origins of some major groups of
plants and animals.
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

3. Absolute Dating
A term used to describe any dating technique that tells how
old a rock specimen is in layers.
Analytical method carried out in a laboratory.
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

4. Radiometric Dating
Discovered in 1800s.
Measure the exact age in years of different rocks.
Measured the amount of radioactive decay of a radioactive
isotope with a known half-life, geologist can establish the
absolute age of parent material.
Isotopes that decay slowly are useful for longer periods of time
but are less accurate in absolute years.
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

4. Radiometric Dating
Commonly Used Radiometric Dating
a. Radiocarbon dating, measures the decay of C-14 in organic
material and can be best applied to specimen younger than
60,000 years. Successful in determining the age of fossils.
b. Uranium dating, uses a very important isotope which is U-
238. Used in dating very old rocks, specially rocks that do not
contain fossils.
METHODS USED IN DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED ROCKS

4. Radioactive Dating
Method is independent of all physical and chemical conditions
such as temperature, pressure and chemical agents.
HOW DO MARKER FOSSILS RELATE TO GEOLOGIC TIME?

Fossils, any trace of living creatures

such as a recognizable structure or
impression of a structure of an
organism like skeleton, trails or fecal
remains that are embedded in very old
rocks which are at least 5000 years old.
HOW DO MARKER FOSSILS RELATE TO
GEOLOGIC TIME?
Fossils, marker fossils, guide fossils or
index fossils
Marker fossils, basis for defining
boundaries in the geologic time scale
and also for the correlation of strata.
FOSSIL RECORD OF CLIMATE IN THE PAST

Climatic conditions are used to

define distinct geologic time
periods in the history of earth.
Ex. Periodic warming of the Earth
during the Jurassic and Cretaceous
periods, resulted in a profuse
population of decayed plants and
WHAT IS GEOLOGIC TIME?

The chronology of the Earths

formation, changes, development
and existence.
Measured in geological time scale.
Geological Time Scale, a system of
chronological measurement that
relates stratigraphy time.
FOUR-LEVEL HIERARCHY OF TIME
INTERVALS
1. EON: a very large division of geologic
time equal to a billion years, or a very
old period of time. Phanerozoic Eon is
the most recent and began more than
500 million years ago.
FOUR-LEVEL HIERARCHY OF TIME
INTERVALS
2. ERA: is the smaller time interval that
divides an EON. The Phanerozoic are
divided into three areas: Cenozoic,
Mesozoic and Paleozoic.
FOUR-LEVEL HIERARCHY OF TIME
INTERVALS
3. PERIOD: Eras are subdivided into
periods. The events that bound the
periods are widespread in their extent
but are not significant as those in eras.
Each era has two periods.
FOUR-LEVEL HIERARCHY OF TIME
INTERVALS
4. EPOCH: Finer subdivisions of time are
possible and the periods are frequently
subdivided into epochs.
THE EARTHS STORY

Precambrian Time
Lower limit is not defined, but ended
about 542 million years ago.
Encompasses about 90% of Eraths
history.
Formation of oceans, atmosphere, and
continents, bacteria
THE EARTHS STORY

Paleozoic Era
Began 542 million years ago and
lasted about 291 million years. The
name was compounded from Greek
palaois (old) and zoon (animal)
Invertebrate sea life proliferating
THE EARTHS STORY

Mesozoic Era
Began 251 million years ago and
lasted about 186 million years. The
name was compounded from Greek
mesos (middle) and zoon (animal).
Popular name: Age of Reptiles
THE EARTHS STORY

Cenozoic Era 1
Began 66 million years ago and
includes the geological present. The
name was coumpounded from Greek
kainos (new) and zoon (animal). Popular
Name: Age of Mammals
THE EARTHS STORY

Six Division of Paleozoic Era

1. Cambrian Period, shallow inland seas
covered large portion of
continents(Life remained in the seas).
2. Ordovician Period, Narrow seas began
in the continents (First animal with
backbone appeared)
THE EARTHS STORY

Six Division of Paleozoic Era

3. Silurian Period, Another period of sea
spreading in the continents began.
(Animals with backbone develop further
in seas).
4. Denovian Period, Extensive mountain
building and volcanic activity.(First Fish
THE EARTHS STORY

Six Division of Paleozoic Era

5. Carboniferous period, shallow seas
spread in the continents, (Climate was
warm and moist and giant reptiles and
dinosaur eveolved).
THE EARTHS STORY

Six Division of Paleozoic Era

6. Permian Period, continental seas were
cut off from the ocean and turned into a
wide lakes by foldinf of the Earths crust.
(Very high mountain formed and climate
was mostly very cold in Southerm
Hemisphere).Giant pine trees decreased.
THE EARTHS STORY

Division of Mesozoic Era

1. Triassic period, continents were
covered with vast desert and high
mountains.
2. Jurassic period, seas spread in the
continents again. A bird like reptile
developed.
THE EARTHS STORY

Division of Mesozoic Era

3. Creataceous period, rivers flowed
slowly on the eroded land to form huge
deltas.
THE EARTHS STORY

Division of Cenozoic Era (Tertiary

Period)
1. Paleocene epoch, violent earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions. Dominant
flowering plants.
2. Eocene epoch, The Alphs, Himalayas
and Andes continued to grow.
THE EARTHS STORY

Division of Cenozoic Era (Tertiary

Period)
4. Miocene epoch, Extensive movement
of the Earths crust joined Asia with
Europe and locked in the Mediterranean
Sea.
5. Pliocene epoch, Mountain building
 THE EARTHS STORY

Division of Cenozoic Era (Quarternary

Period)
1. Pleistocene epoch, glaciers and ice spread.
(Mammals and primitive people crossed
land bridges exposed by the sinking water
level.
2. Recent epoch, Glaciers began to melt,
causing water level to rise again, thus
CREATE YOUR OWN
TIMELINE
Materials: cartolina, pentel pen, coloring material
Procedures:
1. Choose a partner to help you make your timeline.
2. Use your arm span from fingertip of one hand to the fingertip of
another hand.
3. Lie down with your arm stretched out to both sides.
4. Have your partner carefully trace the outline of your hands, and
arms. You may include your head, too.
5. Use this layout as the diagram where you will plot your personal
timeline.
CREATE YOUR OWN
TIMELINE
6. Choose the longest fingertip of one hand and label it your
BIRTHDAY. Then, label the fingertip of the other hand (on the other
side) TODAY.
7. Divide your diagram into equal pieces just like a ruler that is
divided equally into inches.
8. Subtract the year you were born from the year today. This
provides the scale of your timeline which is expressed in years.
9. Go back as far as you can remember in your life.
10. Identify the important events that have occurred in your
lifetime and list them in your diagram.
CREATE YOUR OWN
TIMELINE
Questions:
1.Do you see any similarity of your personal
timeline to the geologic time scale of the Earths
history?
2.How will you describe the technique used in
creating your timeline?
3.What are your realizations while creating your
personal timeline?
 QUIZZ
1. Which of the following represents the longest
time period?
a. Cenozoic c. Paleozoic
b. Mesozoic d. Precambrian
2. What specific avenue of investigation gave
scientists the best estimate of the age of the Earth?
a. Archeological dating c. Faunal dating
b. Carbon dating d. Uranium dating
 QUIZZ
3. During which geologic era did human beings
evolved?
a. Cenozoic c. Paleozoic
b. Mesozoic d. Precambrian
4. What time units are eras subdivided into?
a. Days b. Eons c. Epochs d. Periods
5. What does Paleozoic mean?
a. Ancient Life b. Future Life c. Middle Life d.
Recent Life