Читать книгу The Handy Dinosaur Answer Book - Patricia Barnes-Svarney - Страница 34

Relative time is a way to establish the relative age of rocks and fossils. It is based on the location of a rock layer in comparison to the location of other rock layers; that is, it is only relative, not absolute, time. In many cases, rock layers are laid down in order, the older layers being below the younger layers. For example, a fossil found in a higher rock layer is usually younger than a fossil found in a rock layer below it. During the nineteenth century, scientists used this method to date rock layers relative to each other and to establish and construct the first geologic time scale.