Biostratigraphy

• Basis of Biostratigraphy

• Biozones

• Examples

• Problems

• Magnetostratigraphy

• Chemostratigraphy

Text: Manual, p. 31; Boggs, Ch. 17

Biostratigraphy

Biostratigraphy: divide and correlate rock packages using fossils.

* Boundaries may or may not correspond to

lithostratigraphic boundaries.
Type Units Defined? True time units?
Litho Member Rock lithology No – time
Formation transgressive
Group
Bio Zone Fossils Sort of
Stage

Chrono Eon, Era, Period, Time Yes, but how do

Epoch, Age you measure?

Sequence System Tract Transgression/Regression No – occur at

Sequence different places at
different times
Cyclo cycles Astronomical cycles Yes, but how do
you recognize?

Magneto Polarity zone Patterns of magnetic Sort of – if

polarity correlated to
isotopic dates
 Comparing Rock and Time units
Chronostrat Rock-Time (Biostrat) Example
Eon Eonothem Phanerozoic
Era Erathem Mesozoic
Period System Cretaceous
Epoch Series Late Cretaceous
Early Lower Upper Cretaceous
Middle Middle
Late Upper
Age Stage Maestrichtian
Zone (regional) Baculites rex
Basis of Biostratigraphy

Faunal Succession

Systematic progression of fossils with time.

Extinct fossils do not reappear in younger rocks.

http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/401/
Basis of Biostratigraphy

Evolution: all living things share a common history

• Genetic Variation and Inheritance

• Changing Environmental Conditions

• Natural Selection

(Stanley, 1993)
Basis of Biostratigraphy

gradual evolution

punctuated evolution

• rapid burst

• small populations

• geographic isolation

(after Gould, 1989)

Basis of Biostratigraphy

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
Basis of Biostratigraphy

Extinctions

Ordovician http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

Devonian
Permian • catastrophic events
Triassic
Cretaceous • local environmental change*
Biostratigraphy
Methods
• Determine ranges of fossils in section

• Divide into Biozones

Range: First to last occurrence of a taxon

Biozone: basic unit of biostratigraphy

index fossil: a fossil that is useful to determine biozones

In biology, a taxon is a group of one or more

populations of an organism or organisms seen
by taxonomists to form a unit. 
Basis of Biostratigraphy

Characteristics of Good Index Fossils

• abundant fossils

• widespread distribution

• lived for short period of time

• readily preserved

• clear identifcation
Basis of Biostratigraphy

Index Fossils
Basis of Biostratigraphy

conodonts

diatoms
pollen

Index Fossils

foraminifera radiolaria http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/

Biostratigraphy

• Basis of Biostratigraphy

• Biozones

• Examples

• Problems

• Magnetostratigraphy

• Chemostratigraphy

Text: Manual, p. 31; Boggs, Ch. 17

Biozones

In biostratigraphy, biostratigraphic units or biozones are
intervals of geological strata that are defined on the basis of
their characteristic fossil taxa, as opposed to
a lithostratigraphic unit which is defined by
the lithological properties of the surrounding rock

Types of Biozones

1. Interval Zones

2. Assemblage Zones

3. Abundance Zones
Biozones

Types of Biozones

First appearance datum (FAD) is a term used

by geologists and paleontologists to designate
the first appearance of a species in the
geologic record. ... A related term is last
appearance datum (LAD), the last
appearance of a species in the geologic
record.
Biozones

Types of Biozones

1. Interval Zones – based on occurrences of 1 or 2 taxa.

• Taxon Range Zone – FAD and LAD of one taxon

• Concurrent Range Zone – overlap between:

FAD Taxon 1 and LAD Taxon 2

• Partial Range Zone – gap between:

LAD Taxon 1 and FAD Taxon 2

• Lineage Zone – FAD of Taxon 1 and FAD of Taxon 2

(a descendent)

• Interzones – interval with no fossils

Biozones

Types of Interval Zones

Biozones

Types of Biozones

1. Interval Zones – based on occurrences of 1 or 2 taxa.

2. Assemblage Zones – based on association of 3 or more taxa.

Biozones

Assemblage Zones
Biozones

Types of Biozones

1. Interval Zones – based on occurrences of 1 or 2 taxa.

2. Assemblage Zones – based on association of 3 or more taxa.

3. Abundance Zones – based on peak abundance of

one or more taxa.
Biozones

Abundance Zones

Not Necessarily Time Equivalent!

Biozones

• Taxon Range Zone?

• Concurrent Range Zone?

• Assemblage Zone?
Biozones

• Partial Range Zone?

• Abundance Zone?

• Lineage Zone?
Biostratigraphy

• Basis of Biostratigraphy

• Biozones

• Examples

• Problems

• Magnetostratigraphy

• Chemostratigraphy

Text: Manual, p. 31; Boggs, Ch. 17

Examples
Correlation

• index fossils
• principles of stratigraphy
• marker horizons
• geophysical properties
• geochemical properties

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ozsvath/images/stratigraphy.jpg
 Examples

Multiple Zones
Examples

Sedimentation Rates