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by relative dating or radiometric dating

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Q: How do you tell how old a fossil is by the rock layer?
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What layer is an old fossil found?

fossils are formed in Sedimentary rock


How can scientists understand what the relevant age of a fossil is?

There are layers of earth that are deposited over time and based on where a fossil is in the layers a scientist can understand what the age of the fossil is relevant to another fossil in a different layer of earth. The law of superposition says that new sediment is deposited on top of old sediment so, the sediment in the bottom layer is the oldest and the sediment at the top is the youngest. Because of this the fossils in the bottom layer are the oldest and the fossils near the top are the youngest. Say you have 10 layers of rock, and the top layer is number 1 (the youngest) and the bottom layer is number 10 (the oldest). Even if a scientist can't tell exactly how old a fossil is if they know it is in a layer deeper than another fossil they know it is older than that fossil so, a fossil from layer 9 is older than a fossil from layer 5 which is also older than a fossil from layer 3. This is relative age. If we take it a step further... If a scientist knows that the fossil in layer 4 is 65 million years old than we not only know the fossils in layer 5-10 are older than the one in layer 4, but that they are all older than 65 million years old. So, the fossils in layer 1-3 would be less than 65 million years old. Scientists can know how old a specific fossil is sometimes based on whether or not it is an index fossil (a fossil that only occurred during a very small, specific interval of time), or if it is possible to carbon date it or something in the same layer.


What is the methods that tells you which layer of rock is oldest but does not tell you exactly how old?

Relative dating


How can index fossils be used to date rock?

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.


What is rock layers?

rock layering is where you have one layer of old rock them a newer layer then an other newer layer.


How old is the rock around a phacops fossil?

The rock around a Phacops fossil is probably 405 and 365 million years old.


How can you prove the age of a fossil?

I can answer part of this question. If they can scientists use carbon dating to find the closest age of the fossil. If carbon dating is not possible they use a different technique such as this: If they look at the layers of the rocks, the rocks before and after the layer of rock the fossil was found in, can show an estimate of how old the fossil can be if they know the age of the rock layers before and after its layer.


Superposition can best be explained new layer on old layer?

Superposition is the theory that the rock layer that is on top is the youngest and the layer of rock on the bottom is the oldest.


How old must a rock be to contain a fossil?

1000 years


Is a fossil in a 2 million year old rock 2 million years old?

no


How do you identify a index fossil?

By using relative age. Over a long period of time, sediment will, layer by layer, coat and cover the fossil, making it difficult for paleontologists and scientists to figure out how old the fossil really is.


Where is old eroded rock surface is in contact with a new rock layer?

This is called an unconformity...