Exam 5: Rocks Fossils and Time Making Sense of the Geologic Record

A shell of an ancient marine bivalve is an example of a body fossil.

Fossils are useful in the study of historical geology for determining relative ages of strata, depositional environments, and evidence for evolution.

Compare and contrast regression and transgression. What sea level changes do these geologic sequences imply? What could cause these changes? Give specific examples of regressive and transgressive sequences.

Biostratigraphic units are based on fossil assemblages and are called biozones.

The statement that "the same facies following one another in a conformable vertical sequence will also replace one another laterally" is known as ____.

Compare and contrast the three types of unconformities. What differences in geologic history do these three types imply?

An erosional surface that separates inclined strata below from flat lying strata above is called a/an ____.

Why are most fossils found in sedimentary rock, rather than in igneous or metamorphic rocks?

Discuss the application of absolute dates to the relative Geologic Time Scale. What are the limitations of this application?

Boundaries that separate individual strata from one another are called ____________________.