rock layers
Earth's historical pages
Rock layers are the horizontal strata of stone visible in cliffs, canyon walls, and road cuts, each representing a distinct period of geological deposition.
Geologists read these layers like pages in a book, with older formations below and younger above: The rock layers in the Grand Canyon span nearly two billion years.
Also called strata.
- faultsImperfections or shortcomings
- formationsArranged structures or patterns
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- sedimentationParticles settling in liquid
- erosionGradual wearing away
cross-bedding · sedimentary layers · fossil record · cementation · geochronology · geological survey · earth science · geologic time scale · unconformities · laminations · beds · fossil hunting · deposition · slate · crust · sandstone · quarry · core sample
- layered thingslasagna, cake, onion, plywood, sandwich
- earth scienceatmosphere, earthquake, geology, volcano, crust
- geologyfault lines, faults, basalt, metamorphic rocks, mineral
- geologic historyCambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous
- geology termsfossils, schist, core sample, gneiss, strata
- Earth's crustgranite, basalt, continental crust, oceanic crust, lithosphere
geological domain
rock layersatmosphere
Gaseous layer around planets
hydrosphere · ocean · water column · water table · air column