RESTLESS EARTH Chapter 3: Uniformitarianism ~ A principle that states that the same geologic processes shaping the Earth today have been at work throughout Earth’s history. These changes remain uniform or do not change over time. “The present is the key to the past” Catastrophism ~ A principle that states that all geologic change occurs suddenly. Mountains, canyons, and seas can be explained by rare, sudden events called catastrophes . Uniformitarianism VS. Catastrophism video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKBLp3AffRg Video about relative dating, superposition, and geologic column https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgeugxN217c Relative Dating ~ Geologists rely on rocks and fossils to determine whether an object or event is older or younger than other objects or events. Absolute Dating ~ The process of establishing the age of an object, such as a fossil or rock layer, by determining the number of years it has existed. Relative Dating VS. Absolute Dating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNA0qr8l3Q Superposition ~ The principle that younger rocks lie above older rocks in undisturbed sequences. “younger over older” Geologic Column ~ Geologists combine data from all unknown undisturbed rock sequences around the world. They create a geologic column which is an ideal sequence of rock layers that contains all the known fossils and rock formations on Earth arranged from oldest to youngest. Fault ~ A fault is a break in the Earth’s crust along which blocks of the crust slide relative to another. Intrusion ~ Molten rock from the Earth’s interior (inside) that squeezes into existing rocks and cools. Folding ~ This occurs when rock layers bend and buckle from Earth’s internal forces. Tilting ~ This occurs when internal forces in the Earth slant rock layers without folding them. Geologic Time Scale ~ A scale that divides Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history into distinct intervals of time.