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Important principles of
geology
There are a number of
important principles in
geology. Many of these
involve the ability to provide
the relative ages of strata or
the manner in which they
were formed.
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 The principle of intrusive relationships

concerns crosscutting intrusions. In
geology, when an igneous intrusion cuts
across a formation of sedimentary rock, it
can be determined that the igneous
intrusion is younger than the sedimentary
rock.
There are a number of different types of
intrusions, including stocks, laccoliths,
batholiths, sills and dikes.
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The principle of cross-cutting
relationships pertains to the formation of
faults and the age of the sequences
through which they cut. Faults are
younger than the rocks they cut;
accordingly, if a fault is found that
penetrates some formations but not those
on top of it, then the formations that were
cut are older than the fault, and the ones
that are not cut must be younger than the
fault. Finding the key bed in these
situations may help determine whether
the fault is a normal fault or a thrust
fault.
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The principle of inclusions and

components states that, with
sedimentary rocks, if inclusions (or
clasts) are found in a formation, then
the inclusions must be older than the
formation that contains them.
For example, in sedimentary rocks, it
is common for gravel from an older
formation to be ripped up and
included in a newer layer.

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 A similar situation with igneous rocks

occurs when xenoliths are found. These
foreign bodies are picked up as magma or
flows, and are incorporated lava, later to
cool in the matrix. As a result, xenoliths
are older than the rock which contains
them.

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The principle of uniformitarianism states

that the geologic processes observed in
operation that modify the Earth's crust at
present have worked in much the same
way over geologic time. A fundamental
principle of geology advanced by the 18th
century Scottish physician and geologist
James Hutton

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 is that "the present is the key to the past."

In Hutton's words: "the past history of our
globe must be explained by what can be
seen to be happening now."

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The principle of original horizontality

states that the deposition of sediments occurs
as essentially horizontal beds.

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 Observation of modern marine and nonmarine sediments in a wide variety of

environments supports this generalization
(although cross-bedding is inclined, the
overall orientation of cross-bedded units is
horizontal).

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The principle of superposition states that

a sedimentary rock layer in a tectonically
undisturbed sequence is younger than the
one beneath it and older than the one above
it. Logically a younger layer cannot slip
beneath a layer previously deposited.

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 This principle allows sedimentary

layers to be viewed as a form of
vertical time line, a partial or complete
record of the time elapsed from
deposition of the lowest layer to
deposition of the highest bed.

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The principle of faunal succession is based

on the appearance of fossils in sedimentary
rocks. As organisms exist at the same time
period throughout the world, their
presence or (sometimes) absence may be
used to provide a relative age of the
formations in which they are found

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 .
Based on principles laid out by
William Smith almost a hundred years
before the publication of Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution, the principles of
succession were developed independently
of evolutionary thought.

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 The principle becomes quite

complex, however, given the
uncertainties of fossilization, the
localization of fossil types due to
lateral changes in habitat (facies
change in sedimentary strata),
and that not all fossils may be
found globally at the same time.

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