STRATIFIED ROCKS

STRATIFIED ROCKS
These are layered rocks
formed due to the deposition of
items such as sand and silt near
the river beds, forming layers on
top of each other.
STRATIFICATION
Stratification refers to the layering that
occurs in most sedimentary rocks and
igneous rocks formed at the Earth's
surface, such as lava flows and volcanic
fragmental deposits. The layers vary
greatly in thickness and shape, ranging
from several millimetres to many metres.
METHODS TO DETERMINE THE AGE OF
STRATIFIED ROCKS

Relative Dating - does not offer specific dates and just

simply allows one to determine whether a stratigraphic
layer is older than the other.
 STRATIGRAPHY
--It is a branch of geology that deals the classification of
different layers or layering of sedimentary deposits and in
sedimentary or layered volcanic rocks.
--It provides a basis for historical geology, and its principle
and methods have found applications in such fields as
petroleum geology and archaeology.
Relative dating

BIOSTRATIGRAPHY

The branch of stratigraphy that uses

fossils of dead plants or animals to
establish relative ages of rock and
correlate successions of sedimentary
rocks within and between depositional
basins. It is an extended version of the
stratigrapny
CROSS-DATING

 Any geological feature that cuts

across, or disrupts another feature
must be younger than the feature
that is disrupted, In this method,
the fossils of one layer are
compared with another layer win
known dating
TWO TYPES OF CONTACT IN
STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIP
CONFORMABLE

 Unbroken deposition, no break or hiatus (break or

interruption in the continuity of the geological
record). The surface strata resulting is called
conformity.
Two types of contact between conformable strata:
 gradational contact - directly isolated beds of
clearly differing lithology
 abrupt contact - steady change in deposition,
mixing zone
UNCONFORMABLE
 Weathering and non-deposition time period. Unconformity
describes the resulting surface strata.
FOUR TYPES OF UNCOMFORMITY
 ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY -Younger sediment lies upon a
weathered surface of folded or slanted older rocks. The older rock
steeps at a different angle from the younger.
 DISCONFORMITY -The contact between younger and older beds is
marked by visible, irregular erosional surfaces. Paleosol might
develop right above the disconformity surface because of the non-
deposition setting.
 PARACONFORMITY -the bedding planes below and above the
unconformity are parallel. A time gap is present, as shown by a
faunal break, but there is no erosion, just a period of non-
deposition. ---
 Nonconformity- Younger sediments are built up directly on top of
older igneous or metamorphic rocks.
PRINCIPLES OF STRATIGRAPHY
PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION

This principle states that the

oldest layer in a sequence of
sedimentary rock layers is at
the bottom and that the layers
are progressively younger as
they move up the sequence.
PRINCIPLE OF ORIGINAL
HORIZONTALITY

This principle states that layers

of sediment are originally
deposited horizontally under the
action of gravity. The principle is
important to the analysis of
folded and tilted strata.
PRINCIPLE OF ORIGINAL
LATERAL CONTINUITY
This principle states that sediment is
originally deposited in a continuous
horizontal sheet until it meets some
obstacle or is broken up or displaced by
later events. As a result, it states that the
layers on either side of eroded areas are
the same age as they were deposited at
the same time
PRINCIPLE OF UNIFORMITARIANISM

The principle of uniformitarianism

says that the present is the key to
the past. This explains that the same
natural laws and geologic processes
acted in the same manner with
essentially the same intensity in the
past as they do in the present.
PRINCIPLE OF BIOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

This principle states that the

assemblages of fossil plants and
animals follow or succeed each other
in time in a predictable manner, even
when found in different places. It is
because they have unique
assemblages for particular periods of
the past.
PRINCIPLE OF CROSS-CUTTING
RELATIONSHIP

Any geologic feature that crosscuts

or modifies another feature must be
younger than the rocks it cuts
through. The cross-cutting feature is
the younger feature because there
must be something previously there
to cross-cut.
PRINCIPLE OF INCLUSIONS

According to the Principle of

Inclusions, inclusions discovered in
other rocks (or formations) must be
older than the rocks they are found
in. This is basically pure logic,and
although it can be applied not only
in geology,but it is very helpful for
geologist
LAW OF CORRELATION OF FACIES

 Walther's Law of Correlation of Facies Facies that occur in

comformable vertical successions of strata also occur in
laterally adjacent environments. Thus, facies boundaries
may shift so that the deposits of an adjacent environment
may lie directly atop those of a laterally related
environment.
 Itwas the key concept within comparative lithology, and
was originally stated as follows: “The various deposits of
the same facies areas and similarly the sum of the rocks of
different facies areas are formed beside each other in
space, though in cross-section we see them lying on top of
each other. As with biotopes, it is a basic statement of far-
reaching significance that only those facies and facies
areas can be superimposed primarily which can be
observed beside each other at the present time.”
 LAW OF PALEOGRAPHY

Earth’s geography is constantly changing: continents

move as a result of plate tectonic interactions;
mountain ranges are thrust up and erode; and sea
levels rise and fall as the volume of the ocean basins
change. These geographic changes can be traced
through the study of the rock and fossil record, and
data can be used to create paleogeographic maps,
which illustrate how the continents have moved and
how the past locations of mountains, lowlands,
shallow seas, and deep ocean basins have changed
LAW OF UNCONFIRMITIES

An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-

depositional surface separating two rock masses
or strata of different ages, indicating that
sediment deposition was not continuous. In
general, the older layer was exposed to erosion
for an interval of time before deposition of the
younger layer, but the term is used to describe
any break in the sedimentary geologic record
PRINCIPLE OF CORRELATION

According to the principle of

correlation: correlation is the
matching of rock strata of the
relative same age. Similar
stratigraphic units can be
correlated to each other.
METHODS TO DETERMINE THE AGE OF
STRATIFIED ROCKS
ABSOLUTE DATING - a type of method that can be
used to determine how old a specimen is in terms of years. It does
this by measuring the physical properties of an object and using
the figure obtained to determine its age. It is also called
as numerical dating.

 RADIOCARBON DATING
It determines the age of the sample by measuring the amount of
a particular radioactive isotope present in the sample. One of the
most popular and widely used types of a radioactive isotope in this
type of technique is carbon-14
The age can be determined by the rate of decay of that isotope
depending on the type of sample. When an organism dies, it no
longer absorbs C-14. The C-14 it does contain in its tissues starts
to decay at a constant rate. This is where they measure the
amount of radioactive carbon-14 in the organic remains of living
things
 AMINO ACID DATING
The change in the protein content of a biological
sample can be used to determine the age. A
particular form of living being may have a defined
protein content in their bodies that deteriorates
with time.
This technique relates changes in amino acid
molecules or how much change has occurred in
the amino-acid structure of that species to the
time elapsed since they were formed and use it
as a baseline for its timeline.
 DENDROCHRONOLOGY
The number of annual growth rings of a dicot is
used in this technique to determine the age of the
tree. They count how many rings are in the tree
and use the variations in cross-sections of wood
to produce timelines.
By comparing the growth rings of trees that
grew in the same area, scientists can determine
the age of the rock layers in which they are found
 THERMOLUMINISCENCE

This technique determines the final

period during which the object
absorbs light, emitting electrons. The
age is determined for the emissions
and can be used to date materials
containing crystalline minerals to a
specific heating event in the past
(such as when the item was made)