Deciphering Earth's History The Practice of Stratigraphy

About this book

Stratigraphy allows us to establish and communicate the timings for the course of Earth history and provides the means to determine the duration and rates of Earth processes.

Deciphering Earth's History: the Practice of Stratigraphy focuses on how to apply the wide spectrum of stratigraphical techniques. It also explains how these techniques can be integrated and details their individual strengths and limitations. Chapters are laid out in a step-by-step style, guiding the reader through a recommended approach and explaining the factors to be considered. The methods are illustrated with flow charts, marginal top tips, checklists, worked examples and over 200 figures. Authors from academia, research centres and industry have contributed to ensure a wide range of perspectives are included. In addition to chapters on each of the stratigraphical techniques, there is also material on accounting for stratigraphical incompleteness, constructing geological timescales, handling and archiving stratigraphical data and the application of stratigraphy to space exploration and other disciplines.

This book is designed for a wide audience ranging from advanced-level undergraduates to professional practitioners wishing to use other stratigraphical techniques or understand the advantages and weaknesses of particular techniques.

Contents

List of worked examples
Author biographies
Introduction to Deciphering Earth's History: the Practice of Stratigraphy
Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Lithostratigraphy: subdividing rock strata based on lithology (Colin N. Waters)
Chapter 2. Defining and classifying nonstratiform units: a morphogenetic approach (Martin R. Gillespie and A. Graham Leslie)
Chapter 3. Geophysical logs: their use in understanding and correlating subsurface geology (Michael J. Oates and Mark A. Woods)
Chapter 4. Biostratigraphy: using fossils to date and correlate rocks (Paul R. Bown, John C. W. Cope, Kirsty M. Edgar, David A. T. Harper, John Marshall, Matthew I. Wakefield, Paul Pearson and Jan Zalasiewicz)
Chapter 5. Palaeomagnetism: using the geomagnetic field for correlation and dating (Mark W. Houndslow, Chuang Xuan and Andreas Nilsson)
Chapter 6. Chemostratigraphy: using elements and isotopes to identify, interpret and correlate events in strata (Graham A. Shields, Kirsty M, Edgar, Ken T. Ratcliffe and Tais W. Dahl)
Chapter 7. Seismic stratigraphy: using subsurface images to characterize stratigraphical evolution (Karen A. Heyburn, Andrew Davies and Owen E. Sutcliffe)
Chapter 8. Sequence stratigraphy: using changes in relative sea-level and sediment supply to divide, correlate and understand the stratigraphical record (Angela L. Coe and David C. Ray)
Chapter 9. Cyclostratigraphy: regular cycles detected and counted to measure time (Graham P. Weedon)
Chapter 10. Climate stratigraphy: use of climate changes for stratigraphical correlation (Philip L. Gibbard, Philip D. Hughes and Colin N. Waters)
Chapter 11. Morphostratigraphy and pedostratigraphy: using landforms and soils to subdivide strata (Philip L. Gibbard, Philip D. Hughes and Colin N. Waters)
Chapter 12. Incompleteness: dealing with an imperfect stratigraphical record (David B. Kemp and Peter M. Sadler)
Chapter 13. Chronostratigraphy: understanding rocks and time (David A. T. Harper. Paul R. Bown and Angela L. Coe)
Chapter 14. Geochronology: radio-isotope dating applied to the stratigraphical record (Tiffany L. Barry and Daniel J. Condon)
Chapter 15. Building geological timescales and assigning chronometric time to rocks (Mark W. Hounslow, Graham P. Weedon and David A. T. Harper)
Chapter 16. Best practices for preserving and reporting stratigraphical data: cyber infrastructure for stratigraphical data and information (Jeremy R. Young)
Chapter 17. Examples of correlating, integrating and applying stratigraphy and stratigraphical methods (Matthew I. Wakefield, Mark W. Hounslow, Matthew Edgeworth, John E. A. Marshall, Rory N. Mortimore, Andrew J. Newell, Alastair Ruffell and Mark A. Woods)
Chapter 18. Determining morphostratigraphy of planetary surfaces with examples from Mars (Joel M. Davis, Peter Fawdon, Frances E. G. Butcher and Steven G. Banham)

Index

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