Question

Imagine you are excavating fossils from a field site. You find a trilobite fossil, and several inches underneath that you find an unidentified fossil. Based on the law of superposition, what does its position tell you about the age of the unidentified fossil?

a) The unidentified fossil is older than the trilobite fossil.
b) The unidentified fossil is younger than the trilobite fossil.
c) The age of the fossils cannot be determined.
d) The fossils have the same age.

Answer 1

According to the law of superposition, the unidentified fossil found beneath the trilobite fossil is older than the trilobite fossil itself.

Step-by-step explanation:

Based on the law of superposition, if you find a trilobite fossil and then discover an unidentified fossil several inches underneath, you can determine the relative ages of these fossils. The law of superposition suggests that in undisturbed sedimentary rock layers, the deeper layers are older than the layers above them. Therefore, the unidentified fossil found beneath the trilobite fossil would be older than the trilobite fossil. The correct answer to the question is (a) The unidentified fossil is older than the trilobite fossil.