Absolute dating

adaptation

Index fossil

Ice core

Cast fossil

A way of telling the exact age of

rock sample (like by radioactive
dating)

a trait or structure that improves the

chance for survival and
reproduction

fossils of widely distributed

organisms that can be used to tell
the approximate age of a layer

method for studying climate change

studying air trapped in ice caps and
glaciers that have build up over
thousands of years

a fossil in the shape of a living thing

or its remains, it forms when
minerals or rock particles fill the
space

Trace fossil

fossil

Biological evolution

Natural selection

Radioactive dating

a type of fossil that provides

evidence of the activities of ancient
organisms (nest, footprint, etc)

Skeletons, bones, shells, body

parts, leaves, seeds, or impressions
of such items that provide
recognizable evidence of organisms
that lived long ago.

the change over time of living

organisms

the process by which individuals

that are better adapted to their
environment survive and reproduce
more successfully than less well
adapted individuals do
technique which scientists use to
calculate the absolute age of rocks
and fossils by calculating the
amount of certain radioactive
isotopes in a sample

extinction

unconformity

Happens when a species is no

longer able to survive on earth

A surface that represents a break

in the rock record, caused by
erosion or lack of deposition

Law of superposition

in horizontal layers of sedimentary

rock, each layer is older than the
layer above it and younger than the
layer
below it.

Relative dating

Finding the approximate age of an

object in relation to the ages of
other objects

Mold fossil

A fossil that consists of a space in

a rock that has the shape of the
remains of a living thing that once
occupied that space.

Paleozoic

541 to 252.17 million years ago

The age of dinosaurs

Mesozoic

252.17 to 66 million years ago

The age of reptiles

66 million years ago to present day

Cenozoic

The age of mammals