What is relative age dating in geology

Methods for relative dating were developed when geology first emerged as a natural science in the 18th century.

Geologists still use the following principles today as a means to provide information about geologic history and the timing of geologic events.

Relative dating by biostratigraphy is the preferred method in paleontology and is, in some respects, more accurate.

While digging the Somerset Coal Canal in southwest England, he found that fossils were always in the same order in the rock layers.

These strata make up much of the famous prominent rock formations in widely spaced protected areas such as Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

From top to bottom: Rounded tan domes of the Navajo Sandstone, layered red Kayenta Formation, cliff-forming, vertically jointed, red Wingate Sandstone, slope-forming, purplish Chinle Formation, layered, lighter-red Moenkopi Formation, and white, layered Cutler Formation sandstone.

In geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts across a formation of sedimentary rock, it can be determined that the igneous intrusion is younger than the sedimentary rock.

There are a number of different types of intrusions, including stocks, laccoliths, batholiths, sills and dikes.