Paleontology vocabulary – Flashcards
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Absolute dating
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Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in years
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Geologic period
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A unit of geological time
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Fossil
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A trace or remains of organisms that lived long ago
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Geology
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The study of the origin, history, and structure of the earth
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Index fossil
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A fossil that is found in rock layers from only one geologic age and is used to establish the age of the rock
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Mold
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A mark or cavity made in sedimentary rock by a shell or other body parts
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Paleontologist
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A person who studies fossils
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Relative dating
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Any method of determining whether an event or object older or younger than another
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Trace fossil
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A fossilized mark that shows activity or movement of an animal
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Uniformitarianism
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A principle that states that the geologic processes that occurred in the past are the same geologic processes that occur today
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Superposition
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The principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks if the layers have not been disturbed
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Cast
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A type of fossil that forms when sediments fill in the cavity left by decomposed organisms
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Tar pits
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A way in which organisms have been fossilized by being trapped in preserved in sticky thick pools
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Supercontinent
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Pangea
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Petrification
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Process in which minerals replaced an organism's tissues
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Amber
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Way in which organisms are fossilized and preserved in sticky tree sap
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Extinction
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The death of every member of a species
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Cenozoic
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The current era "age of mammals"
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Catastrophic
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An event that happens suddenly
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Original horizontally
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Principle that states that sediments will be deposited in horizontal layers
