Stage (stratigraphy)

In chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in an single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by convention have the same name, and the same boundaries.

Rock series are divided into stages, just as geological epochs are divided into ages. Stages can be divided into smaller stratigraphic units called chronozones. (See chart at right for full terminology hierarchy.)

The term faunal stage is sometimes used, referring to the fact that the same fauna (animals) are found throughout the layer (by definition).

Defining

Stages are primarily defined by a consistent set of fossils (biostratigraphy) or a consistent magnetic polarity (see paleomagnetism) in the rock. Usually one or more index fossils that are common, found worldwide, easily recognized, and limited to a single, or at most a few, stages are used to define the stage's bottom.

Thus, for example, in the (still used) local North American subdivision paleontologist finding fragments of the trilobite "Olenellus" would identify the beds as being from the Waucoban Stage whereas fragments of a later trilobite such as "Elrathia" would identify the stage as Albertan.

Stages were very important in the 19th and early 20th century as they were the major tool available for dating rock beds until the development of seismology and radioactive dating in the second half of the 20th Century. Microscopic analysis of the rock (petrology) is also sometimes useful in confirming that a given segment of rock is from a particular age.

Originally, faunal stages were only defined regionally; however as additional stratigraphic tools, and especially geochonological ones, were developed, stages were defined over broader and broader areas. More recently, the adjective "faunal" has been dropped as regional and global correlations of rock sequences have become relatively certain and there is less need for faunal labels to define the age of formations. A tendency developed to use European and, to a lesser extent, Asian, stage names for the same time period world wide, even though the faunas in other regions often had little in common with the stage as originally defined.

International standardization

Boundaries and names are established by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) of the International Union of Geological Sciences. As of 2008, the ICS is nearly finished a task begun in 1974, subdividing the Phanerozoic eonothem into internationally accepted stages using two types of benchmark. For younger stages, a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), a physical outcrop clearly demonstrates the boundary. For for older stages, a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) is an absolute date. The benchmarks will give a much greater certainty that results can be compared with confidence in the date determinations, and such results will have farther scope than any evaluation based solely on local knowledge and conditions.

In many regions around the world local subdivisions and classification criteria are still used along with the newer internationally coordinated uniform system, but once the research establishes a more complete international system, it is expected that local systems will be abandoned.

tages and lithostratigraphy

Stages can include many lithostratigraphic units (for example formations, beds, members, etc.) of differing rock types that were being laid down in different environments at the same time. In the same way, a lithostratigraphic unit can include a number of stages or parts of them.

ee also

*Body form
*European Mammal Neogene
*Geologic record
*Geologic time scale
*North American Land Mammal Age
*Fauna (animals)
*Type locality (geology)
*List of GSSAs
*List of GSSPs

Notes and references

References

*Cite journal
last = Gehling
first = James
last2 = Jensen
first2 = Sören
last3 = Droser
first3 = Mary
last4 = Myrow
first4 = Paul
last5 = Narbonne
first5 = Guy
title = Burrowing below the basal Cambrian GSSP, Fortune Head, Newfoundland
journal = Geological Magazine
volume = 138
issue = 2
pages = 213–218
date = March 2001
year = 2001
url = http://www.journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=74669
doi = 10.1017/S001675680100509X
id = 1
* Hedberg, H.D., (editor), "International stratigraphic guide: A guide to stratigraphic classification, terminology, and procedure", New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1976
* [http://www.stratigraphy.org/cheu.pdf International Stratigraphic Chart] from the International Commission on Stratigraphy
* [http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/gtime/gtime1.html USA National Park Service]
* [http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/earth/html/md08.html Washington State University]
* [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.html Web Geological Time Machine]
* [http://www.pballew.net/arithm16.html#aeon Eon or Aeon] , [http://www.pballew.net/etyindex.html Math Words - An alphabetical index]

External links

* [http://www.stratigraphy.org/over.htm The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP)] : overview
* [http://www.stratigraphy.org/gssp.htm Chart of The Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSP)] : chart

*plainlinks| http://www.rocksandminerals.com/geotime/geotime.htm Geotime chart displaying geologic time periods compared to the fossil record. - Deals with chronology and classifications for laymen (not GSSPs)