Exercise 5 : Interpreting Earth History

Imagine being able to cut out a block of the Earth so that you can see what features lie beneath the surface. We will refer to the surface as the map view and the sides as the cross sections.

With a cross section view we can begin to apply the geological principles that have been presented -- superposition, original horizontality, cross-cutting relationships, ... -- and begin to work out the sequence of events that produced the materials beneath the surface. Look at the cross section given above and, when you are ready, take a short quiz to see how well you can decipher Earth history.

When you return to this page consider the diagram given above. Look at "events":

1. Fault A
2. Fault B
3. Dike A
4. Dike B

Arrange these 4 events from oldest to youngest. Submit with your short paragraph.

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Copyright by John C. Butler, July 29, 1995