Cross-cutting relationship — Science definition
The principle that a fault or rock intrusion cutting across existing rock layers must be younger than the layers it cuts through.
Where it is taught
- Fossils & Relative Dating — Earth’s History, Earth & Space Science, Grade 9
In use
A third rule, the cross-cutting relationship, handles anything that slices across the layers — a crack, a fault, or a wall of magma that squeezed in and hardened.
Fossils & Relative Dating