Historical Geology Chapter Vocabulary
Chapter 4-Geologic Time: Concepts and Principles
based upon Historical Geology-by Wicander and Monroe


relative dating vs. absolute dating

Geologic Time Scale  (Figure 4.1)
*This will be on every test from Test 2 to the Final

geochronology
early attempts
John Joly-age of the Earth from salt in the oceans- 90 million years

Relative Dating Methods
Nicholas Steno (1638-1686)-Principles of Statigraphy (Figure 4.2)
Principle of Superposition
Principle of Original Horizontality
Principle of Lateral Continuity
correlation

James Hutton (1726-1797)
Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships  (Figure 4.3)

Neptunism  (Werner-1787) vs. Catastrophism (Cuvier)

James Hutton-
Principle of Uniformitarianism
angular unconformity
Charles Lyell-1st modern geology textbook-1830
actualism

Lord Kelvin-cooling of the Earth (20 to 400 million years old)

Absolute Dating Methods
atoms, nucleus, atomic number, atomic mass number, isotope
radioactivity, radioactive decay. radioactive half-life
alpha decay
beta decay,
electron capture decay
Figure 4.5
parent element, daughter element
Uranium-238 decay scheme  (Figure 4.6)
sources of uncertainty in radiometric dating
list of common radiometric dating techniques (Fig. 4.2 **) 
Uranium-Lead, Potassium-Argon, Rubidium-Strontium pairs
 

fission track dating
radiocarbon dating (carbon-14)
tree-ring dating