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EOSC 210 Questions with Detailed
Verified Answers
Question: epistomology
Ans: the philosophy of knowledge
Question: hypothesis
Ans: an explanation that accounts for a set of observations and can be
tested by further investigation
Question: catastrophism
Ans: points to disasters to explain features of the earth's surface, such as
mountains and valleys
Question: uniformitarianism
Ans: suggests that the geological processes now operating to modify the
Earth's surface must have acted in much the same manner and with
essentially the same intensity throughout geologic time, and that the past
geologic events can be explained by forces observable today
Question: Principle of Original Horizontality
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Ans: sedimentary rocks are deposited as horizontal layers due to gravity
Question: after
Ans: folding or faulting of sedimentary rocks occur ___________ deposition
Question: Principle of Superposition
Ans: explains how in a sequence of bedded rock, the rock layer above is
younger than the ones below it
Question: Cross-cutting relationship
Ans: explains how igneous intrusions and faults are younger than the ones
they break
Question: Principle of lateral continuity
Ans: proves how rock units with similar characteristics can be correlated
across different exposures over large distances
Question: Unconformities
Ans: breaks in geological records, erosional surfaces, missing rocks in the
expected sequence
Question: Principle of biotic succession
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Ans: states that organisms have evolved and gone extinct through time.
As such, specific groups of fossils succeed one another in the rock record in
a definite order
Question: relative dating
Ans: dating based on fossil assemblages
Question: absolute dating
Ans: dating based on radioactivity
Question: relative time
Ans: age of units relative to one another
Question: absolute time
Ans: specific age of a unit in years
Question: parent isotope
Ans: an unstable radioactive isotope
Question: daughter isotope
Ans: stable isotope resulting from decay of parent
Question: half-life
EOSC 210 Questions with Detailed
Verified Answers
Question: epistomology
Ans: the philosophy of knowledge
Question: hypothesis
Ans: an explanation that accounts for a set of observations and can be
tested by further investigation
Question: catastrophism
Ans: points to disasters to explain features of the earth's surface, such as
mountains and valleys
Question: uniformitarianism
Ans: suggests that the geological processes now operating to modify the
Earth's surface must have acted in much the same manner and with
essentially the same intensity throughout geologic time, and that the past
geologic events can be explained by forces observable today
Question: Principle of Original Horizontality
, Page | 2
Ans: sedimentary rocks are deposited as horizontal layers due to gravity
Question: after
Ans: folding or faulting of sedimentary rocks occur ___________ deposition
Question: Principle of Superposition
Ans: explains how in a sequence of bedded rock, the rock layer above is
younger than the ones below it
Question: Cross-cutting relationship
Ans: explains how igneous intrusions and faults are younger than the ones
they break
Question: Principle of lateral continuity
Ans: proves how rock units with similar characteristics can be correlated
across different exposures over large distances
Question: Unconformities
Ans: breaks in geological records, erosional surfaces, missing rocks in the
expected sequence
Question: Principle of biotic succession
, Page | 3
Ans: states that organisms have evolved and gone extinct through time.
As such, specific groups of fossils succeed one another in the rock record in
a definite order
Question: relative dating
Ans: dating based on fossil assemblages
Question: absolute dating
Ans: dating based on radioactivity
Question: relative time
Ans: age of units relative to one another
Question: absolute time
Ans: specific age of a unit in years
Question: parent isotope
Ans: an unstable radioactive isotope
Question: daughter isotope
Ans: stable isotope resulting from decay of parent
Question: half-life
