According to the law of superposition, younger layers of rock are generally found above older layers of rock. however, there are locations where older layers are found above younger layers. which of the following can cause this to happen?

Being able to find large amounts of old rock atop newer rock isn’t a scientific anomaly-for it to be even considered, there must be a large deposit of this old rock rather than just a few stones.

For something like this, you’d need a significantly altering event to disrupt the ecosystem in such a fashion. Depending on how old the samples are, a volcanic eruption could’ve set old layers above new ones during the height of the eruption. More commonly, however, it is a meteor impacting the surface of the earth that dislodges large amounts of earth and causes the older layers to be moved to the top.

Plate tectonics can also play a role, as shifting components can “crawl” underneath other plates, thus changing the chronological order of the rocks underneath; typically, the asteroids are the most common cause of layer shifting though.