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Because if you know how old the fossil is, and you find the fossil inside a rock, you know that rock has a maxium age corresponding with the age of the fossil.

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Pedro Mitchell

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Q: How can index fossils be used to date rock?
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What is a fossil used to date surrounding rock layers called?

Index fossils.


What are index fossils and how are they used to determine the absolute age of sedimentary rock?

Index fossils can be used to help determine the relative age of rock layers. Index fossils are from species that only existed for a short time. Index fossils are found in rock layers. Trilobites and Graptolites are index fossils.


What kind of rock layers did index fossil date?

index fossils are used to date the rock layers they are found incc


What are index fossil and how are they used to determined the absolute age of sedimentary rock?

Index fossils can be used to help determine the relative age of rock layers. Index fossils are from species that only existed for a short time. Index fossils are found in rock layers. Trilobites and Graptolites are index fossils.


How can fossils be used to date rocks?

Geologists look for index fossils in the sedimentary rock to help determine its age. Index fossils are of organisms that were widespread and only existed during a specific slice of geologic time. Finding an index fossil in a rock means that the rock dates to that specific slice of time.


What are index fossils and how are they used to determine the absolute age of sedimentary rocks?

Index fossils can be used to help determine the relative age of rock layers. Index fossils are from species that only existed for a short time. Index fossils are found in rock layers. Trilobites and Graptolites are index fossils.


How can fossils be used to date the rock in the strata?

Because index fossils are useful because they tell the relative ages of the rock layers in which they occur. They also tell what year they were made.


Why are index fossils useful for figure out the age of a set of disturbed rock layers?

index fossils are useful for figuring out the age of a set of disturbed rock layers by index fossils are used to determine when rock layers were formed so if they were used to figure out the age of a set of disturbed rock layers than they can also figure out when they were formed .


Can carbon dating be used to identify the age of index fossils?

No, carbon dating is not used to date index fossils. Carbon dating is only effective on organic materials up to about 50,000 years old, while index fossils are used to identify the age of rock layers and are typically much older. Index fossils are dated using relative dating techniques based on their position in the rock layers.


What is the importance of index fossils?

Index fossils are the fossils of short-lived species which, because of their short lives, can be used by scientists to identify the age of the rock strata in which they're found. (For example, if you know a certain species only lived in the Cambrian period, and you find some fossils of this species in some rock, then you know the other fossils you find in that rock must also have come from the Cambrian period.) Some examples of species that left behind index fossils, and their related historical periods, are:Billingsella corrugagta - Cambrian period, Palaeozoic eraCactocrinus multibrachiatus - Mississippian period, Palaeozoic eraScaphites hippocrepia - Cretaceous period, Mesozoic eraNeptunea tabulata - Quarternary period, Cenozoic eraSee the links below for more examples and info.


Fossil used to compare the relative ages of fossils?

index fossils


How is a index fossil like a key bed?

Correlation by Fossils (index fossils) - Matching rock units of similar age on a large scale by using index (or guide) fossils (fossils that were widespread geographically and lived only a short time). Allows widely separated rocks of different composition to be correlated. Overlapping time ranges of several sets of index fossils are typically used.