What is relative dating?
Q: What is relative dating?
A: Relative dating is a geochronology method used to determine the relative order of past events by comparing them to other events or using environmental and circumstantial clues.
Q: What is the difference between relative dating and radiometric dating?
A: The difference between relative dating and radiometric dating is that the former can only determine the order of events, while the latter can determine the absolute age of an object or event.
Q: What can be used in geology to correlate one stratigraphic column with another?
A: Rock or superficial deposits, fossils, and lithologies can be used to correlate one stratigraphic column with another.
Q: Before the discovery of radiometric dating, what did archaeologists and geologists use to determine the ages of materials?
A: Before the discovery of radiometric dating, archaeologists and geologists used relative dating to determine the ages of materials.
Q: What is Steno's Law of Superposition?
A: Steno's Law of Superposition states that older layers will be deeper in a site than more recent layers.
Q: What is the preferred method of relative dating in paleontology and why?
A: The preferred method of relative dating in paleontology is biostratigraphy because it is considered to be more accurate than other methods.
Q: Can relative dating determine the absolute age of an object or event?
A: No, relative dating can only determine the order in which a series of events occurred, not when they occurred.
