Lithos is Greek for stone and -logy comes from the Greek word for doctrine or science.

blood vessels of dinosaurs, from which proteins have been isolated and evidence for DNA fragments have been discovered

Mosquito preserved in amber

Zircon is resistant to weathering which makes it useful for dating geological events in ancient rocks. During metamorphic events, zircon crystals may form multiple crystal layers, with each layer recording the isotopic age of an event, thus tracing the progress of the several metamorphic events

lectron capture is when a proton in the nucleus captures an electron from one of the electron shells and becomes a neutron.

he discovery of radioactivity in the late 1800s provided scientists with a new scientific tool called radioisotopic dating.

The Phanerozoic strata in most of the Grand Canyon are horizontal.

The predominant white layer just below the canyon rim is the Coconino Sandstone.

Principle of Fossil Succession: Evolution has produced a succession of unique fossils that correlate to the units of the geologic time scale. Assemblages of fossils contained in strata are unique to the time they lived and can be used to correlate rocks of the same age across a wide geographic distribution. Assemblages of fossils refer to groups of several unique fossils occurring together.

Principle of Superposition: In an otherwise undisturbed sequence of sedimentary strata, or rock layers, the layers on the bottom are the oldest and layers above them are younger.

The XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) stripped Pluto of planetary status in 2006 because scientists discovered an object more massive than Pluto, which they named Eris.

Jupiter’s gravity accelerated the movement of nearby materials, generating destructive collisions rather than constructively gluing material together

four planets becoming gas giants.

The nebular hypothesis is the idea that a spinning cloud of dust made of mostly light elements, called a nebula, flattened into a protoplanetary disk, and became a solar system consisting of a star with orbiting planets [12]. The spinning nebula collected the vast majority of material in its center, which is why the sun Accounts for over 99% of the mass in our solar system.

A black hole and its shadow have been captured in an image for the first time in 2019,

In a supernova, the collapse of the core suddenly halts, creating a massive outward-propagating shock wave. A supernova is the most energetic explosion in the universe short of the big bang. The energy release is so significant the ensuing fusion can make every element up through uranium

If the star has enough mass and reaches a point at which the primary fusion element, such as helium, is exhausted, fusion continues using new, heavier elements. This occurs over and over in very large stars, forming progressively heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. Eventually, fusion reaches its limit as it forms iron and nickel.

Applying this process to light from distant stars, scientists can calculate the abundance of elements in a specific star and visible universe as a whole. Also, this spectroscopic information can be used as an interstellar speedometer.

Spectroscopy confirms that hydrogen makes up about 74% of all matter in the universe.

Every light on this image that does not have diffraction spikes is believed to be an entire galaxy, with hundreds of billions of stars, demonstrating the immense size and scope of the universe.

Hutton’s idea is called the principle of uniformitarianism and states that natural processes operate the same now as in the past, i.e. the laws of nature are uniform across space and time. Geologists often state that “the present is the key to the past,” meaning they can understand ancient rocks by studying modern geologic processes.