the.com/strata
earth's diary, written in rock, where every page is a buried million years
means The plural of stratum: the distinct layers in which rock, sediment, or other material is arranged, each stacked atop the last.
from Straight from Latin stratum, 'something spread or laid down,' the neuter past participle of sternere, 'to spread out.' The same root quietly underlies 'street' (a paved, laid-down road) and 'strew.' Geologists borrowed the word in the 18th century to name the layered sheets of rock, and it kept its Latin plural — one stratum, many strata.
- reading order
- oldest layers sit at the bottom
- deep time
- one inch can equal centuries
- fossil filing
- each layer traps its own dead
- folded pages
- tectonics can flip the order upside down
- name origin
- Latin for things spread out flat
giza pyramid internal strata — limestone blocks arranged in 201 horizontal layers, each precisely cut and aligned
grand canyon rock strata — 1.8 billion years of geological layers exposed, from vishnu basement rocks to kaibab limestone at top
antarctic ice strata — vostok ice core contains 160,000 years of annual snow layers, each recording atmospheric conditions