BIOSTRATIGRAPHY

Manalo, Tiarra Mojel F.

2014150275
 INTRODUCTION

• What is Biostratigraphy?
- it is the characterization and correlation
of rock units on the basis of their fossil content.
- stratigraphy based on the paleontologic
characteristics of sedimentary rocks is also referred
to as Stratigraphic paleontology, the study of
fossils and their distribution in various geologic
formations.
 FOSSIL AS A BASIS FOR
STRATIGRAPHIC SUBDIVISION

William Smith discovered

the fundamental principle
of stratigraphy.
PRINCIPLE OF FAUNAL
SUCCESSION
- Rocks formed during any
particular interval of
geologic time can be
recognized and
distinguished by their fossil
content
George Cuvier, a
contemporary of Smith’s,
recognized the desirability of
using fossils to subdivide
rocks but did not attempt
this process.
Subdivision of rocks was first
carried out in the sediments
of the Tertiary age in the
Early 1830’s.
• Deshayes in France
• Bronn in Germany
• Lyell in England

CONCEPT CONCEPT
OF STAGE OF ZONE
 CONCEPT OF STAGE AND
CONCEPT OF ZONES

Concept of Stage
• Proposed by Alcide d’Orbigny, a French paleontologist.
• Major subdivision of strata, each systematically following the other and each bearing
a unique assemblage of fossils.
• Stages – are group of strata containing the same major fossil assemblages.

Concept of Zone
• Introduced by Albert Oppel
• The idea of small-scale units defined by the stratigraphic ranges of fossils species
irrespective of lithology of the fossil bearing beds.
• Allowed the subdivision of stages into two or more smaller, distinctive
biostratigraphic units that could be recognized over a long distance
• Biogeographic province – the area within which a zone can be recognized
 BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS

• Biostratigraphic unit is a body of rock strata characterized by its fossil content

that distinguishes and differentiates it from adjacent strata.
• The zone or Biozone is a fundamental biostratigraphic units. It is a general term
for any kind of biostratigraphic unit regardless of thickness or geographic extent.

Principal Categories of Zones

a) Taxon-range Biozones
b) Interval Biozone
c) Lineage Biozone
d) Assemblage Biozone
e) Abundance Biozone
 PRINCIPAL CATEGORIES OF ZONES

Taxon range biozone – a body of rocks

representing the known stratigraphic
and geographic range occurrence of a
single taxon.
Concurrent-range biozone – a body of
rock that includes the concurrent,
coincident, or overlapping part of two
ranges.
Interval Biozones – also known as
subzone, the body of strata between
two specific biostratigraphic surfaces.
 PRINCIPAL CATEGORIES OF ZONES

Lineage biozone – a body of rock containing

species representing a specific segment of an
evolutionary lineage.
Assemblage Biozone - body of rock
characterized by a unique association of three
or more taxa.
Abundance biozone – a body of rock in which
the abundance of a particular taxon or
specified group of taxa is significantly greater
than the adjacent parts of the section.
 BASIS FOR BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC ZONATION

1. Evolution
- According to Charles Darwin, Each individual
species differs from one another as a result of the
variation that arise within the organism.
- Natural Selection is the process of weeding
out the unfit and survival of the fittest.
2. Taxonomic classification and importance of
species
- Taxonomic classification is based on the
morphological and developmental similarities and
presumed genetic relationships is most pertinent to
recognizing evolution and biostratigraphic
zonation.
 BASIS FOR BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC ZONATION

3. Changes in Species through time

- First appearance (a new species increase in
numbers, they may eventually become
abundant and widespread enough to show in
the geologic record)
- Extinction (Decrease in numbers and eventually
disappears)
- Pseudoextinction ( also referred to as Phyletic
extinction, an evolutionary process whereby a
species evolves into a different species)
 INDEX FOSSILS

• Fossils are preserved remains or traces of animal, plants,

and other organisms once present from the remote past.
• Index fossils are fossils used to recognize or identify
geologic periods.
• Most fossil groups that make good biostratigraphic
indicator are:
-- independent of their environment
-- fast evolving
-- geographically widespread
-- abundant
-- readily preserved
-- easily recognizable
 INDEX FOSSILS

• Graptolites (most useful in Ordovician

and Silurian)
• Conodonts (useful throughout Paleozoic
and Triassic)
• Ammonoids (useful in Devonian through
Cretaceous)
• Planktonic forams (useful in Jurassic
through Holocene)
• Calcareous nannoplankton (useful in
Jurassic through Holocene)
• Acritarchs/dinoflagellates (useful
throughout Phanerozoic)
DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS IN TIME
AND SPACE

• Diagram illustrating the

difference in local range
and total range of a
hypothetical species.
 BIOCORRELATION

• Demonstration of similarity of fossil content and biostratigraphic position

between geologic units.

Kinds of Biocorrelation:
• Correlation by Assemblage Biozones
• Correlation by Abundance Biozones
• Chronocorrelation by Fossils
• Correlation by Taxon-Range and Interval Biozones
• Correlation by Biogeographical Abundance Biozones
CORREL ATION BY ASSEMBL AGE BIOZONES

• Assemblage zones are

based on distinctive
groupings of three or more
taxa without regard to their
range limits.
• They are defines by
different succession of
faunas and floras, and they
succeessd each other in a
stratigraphic section
without gaps or overlaps.
 CORREL ATION BY ABUNDANCE BIOZONES

• Abundance biozones are defined by

the quantitatively distinctive maxima
or relative abundance of one or more
species, genus, or other taxon rather
than by the range of the taxon.
• They represent a time or times when a
particular taxon was at the peak of its
development with respect to the
number of individuals
 CHRONOCORREL ATION BY FOSSILS

• Chronostratigraphic correlation is the matching up of stratigraphic units

on the basis of time equivalence.
Methods for establishing time-stratigraphic correlation:
a. Biological method – based mainly on use of concurrent range
zones and other interval zones.
b. Physical or chemical method

C O R R E L AT I O N B Y TA X O N - R A N G E A N D I N T E R VA L B I O Z O N E S

• Taxon-range and interval zones are biozones that constitute the strata
that fall between the highest and/or the lowest occurrence of taxa.
Divided into:
a. Taxon Range biozones
b. Interval biozones
CORREL ATION BY TAXON-RANGE AND
INTERVAL BIOZONES

Taxon range biozones

- Very useful for time correlation if the taxa
upon which they are based have very short
stratigraphic ranges.
- Correlation by taxon-range zone is often
referred to as correlation by Index fossils. Correlation between
two hypothetical
sections on the basis
of taxon range and
Interval biozones interval zones.
- Defined by the first (stratigraphically lowest)
appearance of two taxa.
- Based on evolutionary changes along phyletic
lineages, that tend to occur rapidly.
 GRAPHIC METHOD FOR CORRELATING BY
TAXON-RANGE BIOZONE
(SHAW’S METHOD)

 A.B Shaw (1964) proposed a graphical method for establishing time equivalence of strata in
two stratigraphic sections by plotting first and last appearances of all the species in one
section against the first and last appearance of the same species in another section.
 Further elaborated by Miller (1977), involves first selecting a single stratigraphic section as a
reference section to which other sections can be compared and correlated.

Criteria for reference section:

a. Should be the thickest section available
b. Should be free of faulting or other structural complications
c. Should contain a large and varied fossil content
GRAPHIC METHOD FOR CORRELATING BY
TAXON-RANGE BIOZONE
(SHAW’S METHOD)
 CORRELATION BY BIOGEOGRAPHICAL
ABUNDANCE BIOZONES

• Correlation based on the Use of

Biogeographical
maximum abundance of a
abundance zones as
taxon that results from means of time
geographical shifts of an correlation
environmentally sensitive
fossil assemblage.
• Climate-based shifts in
planktonic taxa at specific
times thus provide
biogeographical abundance
events that can be
correlated from one area to
another