Question

The ________ is the idea or concept that ancient life forms succeeded each other in a definite, evolutionary pattern and that the contained assemblage of fossils can determine geologic ages of strata?
a. principle of superposition
b. law of horizontality
c. law of cross-cutting relationships
d. principle of faunal succession

Answer 1

The answer is D.  In a geological era, when the plants and animals in the then environment die, they get buried in sediments. These sediments are covered by other sediments of another geological time within which are the remains of dead species of the then geological era. These sediments from different geological times have different properties hence form visible strata that can be studied to identify the kind of environment in the then geological time.   Their fossils can also be studied to identify the kind of species that roamed the earth during the time.