How do index fossils help scientists establish how old rocks and other fossils are? In your answer, include fossils in the same layer of rock, in a lower layer of rock, and in a higher layer of rock compared to an index fossil.

Certain fossils, called index fossils, help geologists match rock layers. To be useful as an index fossil, a fossil must be widely distributed and represent a type of organism that existed for a brief time period. Index fossils are useful because they tell the relative ages of the rock layers in which they occur.

the law of original horizontality explains:   why rocks appear in layers. correct answer: b the law suggests that all rock layers are originally laid down (deposited) horizontally and can later be deformed.   the principle is used by geologists to make assumptions about the relative ages of sedimentary rocks.