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Particularly useful are index fossils, geographically widespread fossils that evolved rapidly through time.

Crosscutting Relationships: Relative ages of rocks and events may also be determined using the law of crosscutting relationships, which states that geologic features such as igneous intrusions or faults are younger than the units they cut across.

Sediments less than about 50,000 years old that contain organic material can be dated based on the radioactive decay of the isotope Carbon 14.Using these methods, the scientist determines a date range for when an event took place rather than where it fits in the overall record. The techniques scientist need for absolute dating did not become available until the later half of the 20th century.Absolute dating uses clues, such as the emperor's face on a coin, to date an artifact.Inclusions: Inclusions, which are fragments of older rock within a younger igneous rock or coarse-grained sedimentary rock, also facilitate relative dating.Inclusions are useful at contacts with igneous rock bodies where magma moving upward through the crust has dislodged and engulfed pieces of the older surrounding rock.

Rates of radioactive decay are constant and measured in terms of half-life, the time it takes half of a parent isotope to decay into a stable daughter isotope.