Cross cutting

Cross-cutting relationships among geological features have been recognized for many years as one of the fundamental ways of determining relative age relationships between adjacent geological features. The principle of cross-cutting relationships, explained by James Hutton (1726–1797) in Theory of the Earth (1795) and embellished upon by Charles Lyell (1797–1875) in his Principles of Geology (1830), holds that the geological feature which cuts another is the younger of the two features. For example, in the instance of an igneous dike cutting through a layer of sandstone , the dike must be younger than the sandstone.

Cross-cutting relationships are of several basic types. There are structural cross-cutting relationships wherein a fault or fracture cuts through older rock . Stratigraphic cross-cutting relationships occur where an erosional surface (or unconformity) cuts across older rock layers, geological structures, or other geological features. Sedimentologic cross-cutting relationships occur where currents have eroded or scoured older sediment in a local area to produce, for example, a channel filled with sand . Paleontologic cross-cutting relationships occur where animal activity or plant growth produce truncation. This happens, for example, where animal burrows penetrate into pre-existing sedimentary deposits. Geomorphic cross-cutting relationships 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 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 crosscutting 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.

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.

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.

The principle of cross-cutting relationships, like the principles of superposition and inclusions, is one of the most basic tools used by geologists to understand relative age relationships on Earth and on planetary and satellite surfaces in our solar system .