relative dating
Ordering without ages
Relative dating is a method of determining the age of objects, fossils, or geological features by their position relative to other items, rather than by assigning specific dates.
In archaeology and geology, layers closer to the surface are generally younger than those beneath them.
Relative dating established that the pottery shards came from an earlier period than the bones above them.
Compare with absolute dating, which assigns numerical ages.
Sequential arrangement by attribute
Coexisting in multiple states
- strataParallel geological layers
- sedimentationParticles settling in liquid
- cross-cuttingEditing between parallel actions
- unconformityGap in rock sequence
correlation · facies · sequence · inclusions · laminations · conformable · disconformity · angular unconformity
Something that precedes
- subsequentOccurring after something else
- chronological orderArrangement by time of occurrence
- eraDistinct historical period
- epochDistinct historical period
period · age · succession · precede · follow · contemporaneous · synchronous · older
Earth's age measured epochally
- glacial depositsSediment from ice movement
- geomorphologyStudy of terrain formation
- paleomagnetismRemnant magnetism in rocks
- ice coresCylindrical glacier samples
seriation
Sequential arrangement by attribute
superposition
Coexisting in multiple states
- strataParallel geological layers
- sedimentationParticles settling in liquid
- cross-cuttingEditing between parallel actions
unconformity · correlation · facies · sequence · inclusions · laminations · conformable · disconformity · angular unconformity
antecedent
Something that precedes
- subsequentOccurring after something else
- chronological orderArrangement by time of occurrence
- eraDistinct historical period
epoch · period · age · succession · precede · follow · contemporaneous · synchronous · older · younger
geologic time
Earth's age measured epochally
- glacial depositsSediment from ice movement
- geomorphologyStudy of terrain formation
- paleomagnetismRemnant magnetism in rocks
faunal succession
Fossils occur in predictable order
- coevalSame age or period
- archaeologyexcavation, dig site, archaeologist, dig, archaeological digs
- historical dating termsBC, AD, BCE, CE, radiocarbon
- Geochronologygeologic time, geologic time scale, time scale, timescale, deep time
- geologic timeeons, eon, epochs, era, epoch
- ceramic analysispetrography, thin section, cross section
relative datingabsolute dating
Age in years
radiometric dating · radiocarbon dating · carbon dating · carbon-14 dating · dendrochronology