Earth Science

Quarter 2- Module 5

Dating the
Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the learners will be able
to:

1.DESCRIBE HOW STRATIFIED ROCKS ARE

FORMED;
2.DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF
DETERMINING THE AGE OF STRATIFIED
ROCKS.
1. What is the name of an erosion surface that separates two sets of
sedimentary layers with non-parallel bending planes?
A. fault C. cross-bedding
B. formation D. angular unconformity

2. Which of the following is the length of time it takes half of the

radioactive parent isotope of one element to decay into the new
daughter isotopes of another element?
C. half life C. absolute dating
D. index fossils D. radiometric dating

3. Which of the following could be used to tell if a rock layer was right up
side or up side down?
E. Faults C. symmetrical ripple marks
F. asymmetrical ripple marks D. all of these could be used
4. We cannot accurately measure time in years with stratigraphy for several
reasons. Which of the following is FALSE?
A. Many sedimentary rocks contain fossils that have not been identified.
B. Sediments accumulate at different rates in different sedimentary
environments.
C. Stratigraphy alone cannot be used to determine the relative ages of widely
separated beds.
D. The rock record does not tell us how many years have passed between
periods of deposition.

5. Which do geologists primarily use to determine the absolute ages of

boundaries on the geologic time scale?
E. Correlation methods C. Law of superposition
F. Cross-cutting methods D. Radiometric dating
6. What features of rock strata would be most useful for a geologist to analyze in
order to correlate rock layers in two different locations?
A. Inclusions C. Angular unconformities
B. faunal succession D. Cross-cutting relationships

7. How does the principle of faunal succession allow geologists to correlate rock
strata in different geographic locations? It states that ______.
C. layers of rock strata at different locations can be correlated according to the
unique set of fossils they contain.
D. fossils within rock strata are mostly homogeneous, suggesting that rock strata
throughout a region should reveal similar sets of fossils.
E. the fossils in rock strata are older than the rock layers, allowing geologists to
link younger and older layers across a region.
F. the evolution of fossils in one region should correlate with the evolution of
fossils through different rock strata in another region
8. What property of index fossils makes them so useful for
subdividing geologic time? They are _________.
A. short-lived.
B. exceptionally old.
C. radioactive.
D. present in both young and old layers of rock.

9. Which would generally NOT be involved in determining the

relative age of rock strata?
E. Unconformities C. Rule of superposition
F. Radioactive decay D. Cross-cutting relationships
10. Which shows the correct order, from oldest to youngest, of the
relative ages of the formations shown?
13. What type of rock is layer VII?
A. Igneous C. Sedimentary
B. Metamorphic D. None of the above

14. What type of rock are fossils most found?

C. Igneous C. Granite
D. Sedimentary D. Metamorphic

15. What principle states that the Earth processes occurring today
are similar to those that occurred in the past?
E. catastrophism C. superposition
F. unconformity D. uniformitarianis
Concept
Map.
 The Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384-322 BC),
thought that the Earth was in perpetual existence.
The Roman poet, Lucretius (15 BC to 99 BC),
believed that the earth had not existed for a long
time based on the absence of accounts prior to the
Trojan war. One of the famous assumptions came
from James Ussher of Ireland, who believed that
the time of creation of the earth was 4004 BC. It
was in the 1660s when Nicolas Steno, a Danish
anatomist and a priest, formulated the modern
concepts of deposition of horizontal strata. In the
1700s, James Hutton, a Scottish geologist,
proposed the principle of uniformitarianism
which states that the physical, chemical, and
Relative Age
Relative dating is used to arrange geological events,
and the rocks they leave behind, in a sequence. The
method of reading the order is called stratigraphy
(layers of rock are called strata). Relative dating does
not provide actual numerical dates for the rocks.
Sedimentary rocks have bedding, a kind of planar
feature in the rock. A layer of sedimentary rock that
is visually separable from other layer is a bed or
stratum/ strata.

How Stratified rocks are formed?

Stratification is a layered structure formed by the
deposition of sedimentary rocks. Changes between
the depositional agent, e.g., currents, wind, or waves,
or in changes in the source of the sediment.
Stratigraphic Law
Stratigraphy is the study of strata, or sedimentary
layers. The principle of original horizontality states that
sedimentary layers are deposited horizontally or nearly
so. The basic principles considered by geologist in
relating rocks to Earth’s history are;
1. Principle of
superposition states that
in an undisturbed
sequence of stratified
rocks, each layer is older
than the one above it and
younger than the one
2. Principle of original
horizontality states that
sediments that are deposited in
flat layers. Thus, if the rock still
maintains its horizontal layers, it
means that it is not yet disturbed
and still has its original
horizontality
3. Principle of cross-cutting
relationships states that when a
fault or a dike – a slab of rock
that cuts through another rock –
or when magma intrudes to the
rock, that fault or magma
intrusions is younger than the
rock.
4. Principle of inclusion states
that a rock mass that contains
pieces of rocks, called inclusions,
is younger than other rock
masses.
5. Principle of fossil succession
( also known as the law of faunal
succession), states that organisms
evolve in a definite order, that species
evolve and become extinct, never to
re-­‐evolve. Thus the evolution of species
and its extinction become time
markers separating time into three
units one before the organisms existed,
one during the existence of the
organisms, and one after the organism
went extinct. Index, or guide fossils are
 6. Principle of unconformities
states that rock layers that
formed without interruption.
Although there are sections or
strata that are considered
conformable, no place on Earth is
completely free from
interruptions as the rock layers
are deposited. An unconformity is
a boundary between rocks of
distinctly different ages where
What is Absolute Dating? rocks were either deposited and
then eroded, or simply not
deposited.
Absolute dating is commonly used for methods of determining
numerical ages of rocks. It is also known as isotopic dating or
radiometric dating. This uses natural radioactive decay to measure
the age of rocks by determining the half-life of the radioisotope
takes half of the radioactive parent isotope of one element to
decay into the new daughter isotopes of another element. It gives
rocks an actual date or date range in number of years. Notice that
absolute here does not denote precise or accurate. This means
that an absolute date may have error given with a plus-or minus
(±) sign, which indicates the range of possible values.

Radiocarbon dating is the use of the decay of carbon-14, an

isotope of carbon, to date events in the past. It can give ages of
sedimentary rocks with fossils because fossils have carbon. It
involves reactions with carbon. Carbon-14 has a short half- life
compared to the age of many rocks and cannot be used if the
sample is over 70,000 yr. For rocks older than 70,000 yrs.,
isotopic dating generally applies to igneous and metamorphic
rocks. We can, however, combine isotopic and relative dating.
Using what we call indirect dating.
Different elements have different half-lives, ranging from
 Table 1. Common Radioactive Isotopes used in Radiometric dating and
their Half-lives
Name of Radioacti Symb Daughte Symbo Half Age Rock Type
Dating ve ol of r l -life Rang e
System Isotope pare Isotope of
(Parent) nt Daug
Used for Isoto hter
Dating pe Isotop
Rocks e
Carbon- Carbon- Nitrogen 573 100 Sedimenetary
14 C 14N
14 dating 14 - 0 yr. and
14 ±30 70,00
0 yrs.
Potassiu Potassium Argon-40 1.3 50,00 Igneous/
40K 40Ar
m-argon -40 Byr. 0 yr metamorphic
dating to 4.6
Byr
Uranium- Uranium- Lead-206 4.56 10 M Igneous/
238U 206Pb
Lead 238 Byr to 4.6 metamorphic
dating Byr
Uranium- Uranium- Lead-207 704 10 M Igneous/
235U 207Pb
235 235 Myr to 4.6 metamorphic
 Exercise 1. Relative Dating
Direction: Answer the following questions on a separate sheet
of paper.

1.Use stratigraphic superposition to list the order of formation of the

sedimentary and volcanic rocks Fig. 7, from oldest to youngest.
___________________________________________________________
2.Does the principle of inclusions give the same results for D as
stratigraphic superposition?
___________________________________________________________
 Exercise 2.

Direction: Identify the words described by the following

phrases. Write your answer in a separate sheet of paper.

_______________1. It states that a rock mass that contains

pieces of rocks, called inclusions, is younger than
other rock masses.
_______________2. It means that organisms evolve in a
definite order, that species evolve and become
extinct, never to re-evolve.
_______________3. These are organisms that existed for a
short period of time, and that went extinct.
_______________4. It states that rock layers that formed
without interruption.
_______________5. It states that when a fault or a dike – a
slab of rock that cuts through another rock.
______________ 6. These are sediments that are deposited
in flat layers.
______________ 7. It states that in an undisturbed sequence
of stratified rocks, each layer is older than the one
above it and younger than the one below it.
______________ 8. It is the study of strata, or sedimentary
layers.
______________ 9. A method used to arrange geological
events, and the rocks they leave behind, in a
sequence.
____________ 10. This is a layered structure formed by the
deposition of
 ASSESSMENT

1. The boundaries between various periods on the geologic time

scale are based primarily on ________.
A. fault planes
B. radiometric dating
C. nonconformities and disconformities
D. emergence or extinction of organisms preserved in the fossil
record

2. Radiometric age is often referred to as __________ age.

E. absolute C. geologic
F. historic D. total
3. A geologist examines a layer of sedimentary rock strata that contains
pebbles of granite. From this, the geologist could infer that _______
the sedimentary rock.
A. an older layer of granite is below
B. a younger layer of granite is below
C. an older layer of granite is above
D. a younger layer of granite is above

4. As a tool, the law of superposition enables a geologist to _______.

E. determine the absolute age of a rock layer
F. establish relative age of a sedimentary layer
G. measure the flow of lava from a volcanic vent
H. always identify the bottom layer of sediment as being deposited first
are the oldest and thus the top layer as the youngest
5. Gaps in rock sequences are called .
A. superposition C. index fossils
B. uniformitarianism D. unconformities

6. ____________is the release of nuclear particles and energy from

unstable atomic nuclei.
C. Indexing C. Superposition
D. Radioactive decay D. Radiometric dating

7. A stratigraphic sequence is a vertical set of strata _________.

E. that is unique to a specific area
F. used as a chronological record of the geologic history of a region
G. bounded above and below by igneous and/or metamorphic rocks
H. that represents a repeating set of events such as recurring floods,
debris flows, etc
8. A disconformity is a/an ___________.
A. rock unit that does not contain fossils
B. erosional surface between different rock types
C. erosional surface between horizontal sedimentary rocks
D. erosional surface between igneous and metamorphic
rocks

9. The study of faunal succession allows ___________.

E. absolute dating of fossil-bearing strata
F. the study of habits of extinct mammals
G. recognition of the kings of the beasts in past times
H. matching of similarly-aged rocks from different
10. An undeformed sedimentary layer is __________ than the layer above
and _______ than the layer below.
A. younger; younger C. older; younger
B. younger ;older D. older; older

11. Isotopes have ___________.

C. a different number protons C. a different number of
neutrons
D. the same number of neutrons D. a different number of electrons

12. The relative age of a rock ________.

E. is measured in years
F. is the age, in years of rock and other rock layers
G. is its age in comparison to the age of other layers of rocks
H. cannot be determined because the rock layers are always disturbed
13. The principle that Earth processes occurring today are similar to
those that occurred in the past ________.
A. catastrophism C. superposition
B. Unconformity D. uniformitarianism

14. When an organism dies, decays, leaves its shape in rock, then the
rock is filled in with minerals and hardens, a remains.
C. cast B. imprint C. mold D. trace
fossil

15. Calculating the absolute age of a rock by measuring the amounts of

parent and daughter materials in a rock and knowing the half-life of
the parent material is called _____________.
D. half-life C. radioactive decay
E. radiometric dating D. uniformitarianism