BIOSTRATIGRAPH

Y
Biostratigraphy is the branch of
stratigraphy which focuses on
correlating and assigning relative
ages of rock strata by using the fossil
assemblages contained within them

BIOSTRATIGRAPH
Y
The use of fossils for correlation
Can help to determine

paleoenvironments (e.g., a clam

living near the beach versus a coral
living offshore)
Can also be used for age dating
INDEX FOSSIL

HISTORY
William Smith (1769-1839) introduce

the principle of fossil successions

Smiths message is Similar fossils
occurred in similar rocks
But facies changes!

HISTORY
George Cuvier (1769-1832) stressed

the importance of fossils and

revolutions of life on earth.
Cuviers message is Fossils
delineate time horizons
(catastrophes)
Modern rule Strata containing
similar fossils are synchronous
(solution of facies changes)

MASS EXTINCTION

MASS EXTINCTION
Catastrophic
gradual extinction
stepwise extinction.

EVOLUTION
All living things share a common

history
Genetic Variation and
Inheritance
Changing Environmental

Conditions

INDEX FOSSIL
To be useful in stratigraphic
correlation index fossils should be:
Independent of their environment
Geographically widespread
Rapidly evolving
Abundant (easy to find in the rock
record)
Short span of time

MARINE
ENVIRONMENT

Littoral
Sublittoral
Bathyal
Abyssal
Hadal

BIOZONES
A zone includes strata charactarised
by the overlapping range of fossils.
They represent the time between the
appearance of species chosen at the
base of the zone and the appearance
of other species chosen at the base of
the next succeeding zone.

Taxon range
biozone
Taxon range biozone

represent the known

stratigraphic and geographic
range of occurrence of a
single taxon.

Concurrent range
biozone
Concurrent range biozone

include the concurrent,

coincident, or overlapping part of
the range of two specified taxa.

Interval biozone
Interval biozone include the

stata between two specific

biostratigraphic surfaces. It
can be based on lowest or
highest occurrences.

Lineage biozone
Lineage biozone are strata

containing species
representing a specific
segment of an evolutionary
lineage.

Assemblage
biozones
Assemblage biozones are

strata that contain a unique

association of three or more
taxa.

Abundance
biozone
Abundance biozone are

strata in which the abundance

of a particular taxon or group
of taxa is significantly greater
than in the adjacent part of
the section.