New York Standard for It's All Relative

This resource supports standard 4 of the New York math, science and technology standards. Standard 4 states: students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science. The major understanding being supported is 1.2j, which states: Geologic history can be reconstructed by observing sequences of rock types and fossils to correlate bedrock at various locations. The characteristics of rocks indicate the processes by which they formed and the environments in which these processes took place. Fossils preserved in rocks provide information about past environmental conditions. Geologists have divided Earth history into time units based upon the fossil record. Age relationships among bodies of rocks can be determined using principles of original horizontality, superposition, inclusions, cross-cutting relationships, contact metamorphism, and unconformities. The presence of volcanic ash layers, index fossils, and meteoritic debris can provide additional information. The regular rate of nuclear decay (half-life time period) of radioactive isotopes allows geologists to determine the absolute age of materials found in some rocks.