Page 40 - The Restless Earth Fossils
P. 40
so Many Fossils, so little time 3
Above is an example of angular unconformity at the Olympic Coast
in the state of Washington, with sharply dipping vertical rock layers
deposited during the Miocene Era underneath horizontally bedded
gravel deposited during the Pleistocene Era.
unconForMities: gliMpses oF deep tiMe
The figure above shows a gash that exposes the rocks under the
ground at the Olympic Coast in Washington State. The lowest
set of layered rocks lie vertical to the ones above them. When the
lower rocks were formed in some ancient sea, they must have
lain horizontally—for as long as it takes to deposit sediments that
thick. (Remember Steno’s principle of original horizontality.)
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