RADIOMETRIC DATING

- Given the proportions of the original isotope and the decay product, you must be able to calculate the age of the rock (notes-M&M lab-hw ditto)
-Carbon 14 cannot be used to date an igneous rock from the Mesozoic Era.  Give two (2) reasons explaining why. (notes)
- The oldest known rock on earth is a sedimentary rock.  How do we know that even older rocks must have once existed on earth at one time? (notes-previous rock/mineral notes)

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE/GEOLOGIC MAPS

- The geologic time scale is a record of the major events in the history of the earth.  By studying fossils, we have learned that life on this planet has undergone two major changes.  What are they? (notes-reference tables)
-What is the fundamental difference between uniformitarianism and catastrophism? You must discuss the age of the earth and earth changes. (notes)
- Given a location in New York State, you must be able to determine its age in years, the eon, era, period, & epoch it belongs to, the rock type, and the fossil content (notes, hw ditto’s)

GEOLOGIC HISTORY DIAGRAMS

-Given a geologic cross section, you must be able to recognize folding, faulting, intrusions, unconformities, and tilting (notes-hw ditto-labs)
- What are the methods of correlation? (notes-lab(
- What two characteristics make a fossil an index fossil? (notes-lab)
- What is the principle of superposition?  (notes-hw ditto-lab)
- Given a geologic cross section, you must be able to use relative dating to construct an age sequence (oldest to youngest)   (notes-hw ditto-lab)
- What is an unconformity and what does it represent? (notes-lab)