---
title: "SES4: Rock Records and Fossils (Georgia Science standard)"
code: SES4
cite_as: Georgia Standards of Excellence, Science, SES4
subject: science
grades:
  - high-school
language: en
canonical_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/code/SES4
md_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/code/SES4.md
alternate_language_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/es/standards/code/SES4.md
source_url: https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p1/CFDocuments/27a08dc6-416e-11e7-ba71-02bd89fdd987
source_last_changed: 2025-05-29
data_built: 2026-09-18
publisher: Georgia Homeroom, a free public-interest project of Georgia Civic Data. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Georgia Department of Education or any school district.
up: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/science/high-school.md
index: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/index.md
---

# SES4: Rock Records and Fossils

Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to understand how rock relationships and fossils are used to reconstruct the Earth's past.

- Subject: Science
- Appears in: High School, https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/science/high-school.md

## Expectations

- **SES4.a**: Use mathematics and computational thinking to calculate the absolute age of rocks using a variety of methods (e.g., radiometric dating, rates of erosion, rates of deposition, and varve count).
- **SES4.b**: Construct an argument applying principles of relative age (superposition, original horizontality, cross-cutting relations, and original lateral continuity) to interpret a geologic cross-section and describe how unconformities form.
- **SES4.c**: Analyze and interpret data from rock and fossil succession in a rock sequence to interpret major events in Earth's history such as mass extinction, major climatic change, and tectonic events.
- **SES4.d**: Construct an explanation applying the principle of uniformitarianism to show the relationship between sedimentary rocks and their fossils to the environments in which they were formed.
- **SES4.e**: Construct an argument using spatial representations of Earth data that interprets major transitions in Earth's history from the fossil and rock record of geologically defined areas.

## Georgia Milestones coverage

No Georgia Milestones blueprint cites this standard.

Source: Georgia Standards of Excellence, published by the Georgia Department of Education at case.georgiastandards.org.