Powell realized that the evidence for an ancient Earth is con- cealed in its rocks. Like the pages in a long and complicated his- tory book, rocks record the geological events and changing life forms of the past. The book, however, is not complete. Many pages, especially in the early chapters, are missing. Others are tat tered, torn, or smudged. Yet enough of the book remains to allow much of the story to be deciphered Interpreting Earth history is a prime goal of the science of geology. Like a modern-day sleuth, the geologist must interpr clues found preserved in the rocks. By studying rocks, especially sedimentary rocks, and the feat they contain, geologists can unravel the complexities of the past Geological events by themselves, however, have little meaning until they are put into a time perspective. Studying historv, whether it be the Civil War or the Age of Dinosaurs, calendar. Among geology's major contributions to human knowledge is the geologic time scale and the discovery that Earth history is exceedingly long.
The geologists who developed the geologic time scale revo- lutionized the way people think about time and how they per- ceive our planet. They learned that Earth is much older than anyone had previously imagined and that its surface andinterior have been changed over and over again by the same geological processes that operate today.