Cross-cutting relationships

Cross-cutting relationships
Cross-cutting relations can be used to determine the relative ages of rock strata and other geological structures. Explanations: A - folded rock strata cut by a thrust fault; B - large intrusion (cutting through A); C - erosional angular unconformity (cutting off A & B) on which rock strata were deposited; D - volcanic dyke (cutting through A, B & C); E - even younger rock strata (overlying C & D); F - normal fault (cutting through A, B, C & E).

Originally developed by James Hutton in Theory of the Earth (1795) and embellished upon by Charles Lyell in Principles of Geology (1830), the principle of cross-cutting relationships states that the geologic feature which cuts another is the younger of the two features.

Contents

Types

There are several basic types of cross cutting relationships

Structural

A fault or fracture cuts through an older rock

Stratigraphic

An erosional surface (or unconformity) cuts across older rock layers, geological structures, or other geological features.

Sedimentological

Occur where currents have eroded or scoured older sediment in a local area to produce, for example, a channel filled with sand.

Paleontologic

Occur where animal activity or plant growth produces truncation. This happens, for example, where animal burrows penetrate into pre-existing sedimentary deposits.

Geomorphic

Occur where a surficial feature, such as a river, flows through a gap in a ridge of rock. In a similar example, an impact crater excavates into a subsurface layer of rock.

Cross-cutting relationships may be compound in nature. For example, if a fault were truncated by an unconformity, and that unconformity cut by a dike, we can say, based upon compound cross-cutting relationships that the fault is older than the unconformity and that the unconformity is older than the dike. Using such rationale, the sequence of geological events can be better understood.

Scale

Cross-cutting relationships may be seen cartographically, megascopically, and microscopically. In other words, these relationships have various scales. A cartographic crosscutting relationship might look like, for example, a large fault dissecting the landscape on a large map. Megascopic cross-cutting relationships are features like igneous dikes, as mentioned above, which would be seen on an outcrop or in a limited geographic area. Microscopic cross-cutting relationships are those that require study by magnification or other close scrutiny. For example, penetration of a fossil shell by the drilling action of a boring organism is an example of such a relationship.

Other use

Cross-cutting relationships can also be used in conjunction with radiometric age dating to effect an age bracket for geological materials that cannot be directly dated by radiometric techniques. For example, if a layer of sediment containing a fossil of interest is bounded on the top and bottom by unconformities, where the lower unconformity truncates dike A and the upper unconformity truncates dike B (which penetrates the layer in question), this method can be used. A radiometric age date from crystals in dike A will give the maximum age date for the layer in question and likewise, crystals from dike B will give us the minimum age date. This provides an age bracket, or range of possible ages, for the layer in question.

See also

References

  • Cross Cutting. World of Earth Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Gale Cengage, 2003.
  • Hutton, James. Theory of the Earth, 1795
  • Lyell, Charles. Principles of Geology, 1830
v · Stratigraphic Principles
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Petrologic Principles
Igneous petrology  • Sedimentary petrology  • Metamorphic petrology
Geomorphologic Processes

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