Reverse stratigraphy

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about reverse stratigraphy. Do you know what a puzzle is? When you put the pieces together in order, it makes a picture, right? That's kind of like how scientists study the Earth. They study the different layers of rocks, soil, and other materials that have built up over time, and try to put them in order like a puzzle. This is called stratigraphy.

Now, most of the time when scientists study stratigraphy, they look at the top layer first and work their way down. But sometimes they want to do it the other way around. This is called reverse stratigraphy.

Let's say you and your friends were building a sandcastle at the beach. You piled up sand on top of each other to make the castle. If someone came along and kicked the castle, the sand would fall off in reverse order – the sand that was on top would fall off first, and the sand that was on the bottom would fall off last.

Reverse stratigraphy is kind of like this. Scientists might want to study the layers under the ground without disturbing the top layer too much. So they start at the bottom and work their way up, kind of like taking apart a sandcastle in reverse. This can help them understand how the Earth's layers were formed over time.

So, in a nutshell, reverse stratigraphy is when scientists study the layers under the ground by working their way up from the bottom, like taking apart a sandcastle in reverse.