is a way to use geometric relationships between rock bodies to determine the sequence of geologic events in an area.
Relative dating is different from absolute dating in which specific dates are assigned to geologic events (we will discuss absolute dating techniques later).
The realization that sediments turn into rock was counter to the view that all rocks on Earth formed in a single creation event.
Once Steno recognized that the fossils he was contemplating (sharks teeth and sea shells) were formed in the sediments of oceans he was able to work out the basic rules of stratigraphy.
Absolute dating places events or rocks at a specific time.
Steno's idea that fossils are older than the rock in which they are found hints at this principle, but Hutton is most often given credit for this principle.states that fossil organisms succeed one another in a definite, irreversible, and determinable order.Stratigraphy is a branch of geology that studies rock strata with an emphasis on distribution, deposition, age and evidence of past life.Nicolas Steno, William Smith, Georges Cuvier, Alexandre Brongniart, and James Hutton developed the basic rules for the science of stratigraphy.This aspect of Werner's model was useful for explaining the origin of tilted sedimentary rocks.(dark brown) Flat lying sedimentary rocks were eventually precipitated.