Search results for "Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Stage boundaries, global stratigraphy, and the time scale: towards a simplification
2004
International audience; This paper examines four facets of stratigraphic terminology and usage considered faulty and proposes corrective measures. The four perfectible areas are: (1) The system of dual nomenclature requiring discrete terminologies for the superpositional and temporal aspects of rock units. (2) The premise that a GSSP establishes the base of a stage as being coincident with the top of the preceding stage rather than simply defining it as the boundary between stages. (3) The rejection of supplementary (auxiliary) sections that would broaden the knowledge of a GSSP and enlarge the area in which it is easily usable. (4) The current dual system of nomenclature for Precambrian an…
Chronostratigraphy and geochronology: A proposed realignment.
2013
We propose a realignment of the terms geochronology and chronostratigraphy that brings them broadly into line with current use, while simultaneously resolving the debate over whether the Geological Time Scale should have a “single” or “dual” hierarchy of units: Both parallel sets of units are retained, although there remains the option to adopt either a single (i.e., geochronological) or a dual hierarchy in particular studies, as considered appropriate. Thus, geochronology expresses the timing or age of events (depositional, diagenetic, biotic, climatic, tectonic, magmatic) in Earth’s history (e.g., Hirnantian glaciation, Famennian-Frasnian mass extinction). Geochronology can also qualify r…
Challenges in defining the base of Cambrian Series 2 and Stage 3
2017
Formal subdivision of the Cambrian System into four series and ten stages is in progress. The base of Cambrian Stage 3 (provisional), which is conterminous with the base of Cambrian Series 2 (provisional), is expected to be placed at a horizon close to the first appearance of trilobites, which marks the onset of the largest phase of the Cambrian explosion. Conceptually, an ideal boundary position would be marked by a significant and globally recognizable bioevent that divides the lower part of the Cambrian System into a sub-trilobitic Terreneuvian Series and a trilobite-dominated Series 2. If the level is to be identified principally through biostratigraphic means, its position also needs t…
The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Lower Jurassic), Wine Haven, Yorkshire, UK
2006
14 pages; International audience; Following votes by the Pliensbachian Working Group, the Jurassic Subcommission and the International Commission on Stratigraphy, IUGS ratified the proposed Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Lower Jurassic) at the base of bed 73b in the Wine Haven section, Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire Coast, UK. This level contains the characteristic ammonite association Bifericeras donovani Dommergues and Meister and Apoderoceras sp. Complementary data include: a) Strontium-isotope stratigraphy, based on analysis of belemnites which yield a calcite 87Sr/86Sr ratio for the boundary level of 0.707425 and data supportin…
Thuoux and Saint-Pierre d’Argençon Sections (Subalpine Basin, Southeastern France): Case Studies of Ammonite Biostratigraphy for the Potential Candid…
2014
The Thuoux and Saint-Pierre d’Argencon sections (Subalpine Basin, southeastern France) display a thick silty–clayey sedimentation with abundant and diversified ammonite faunas, free of detectable hiatuses. The Callovian–Oxfordian boundary is biostratigraphically located between the Lamberti and the Mariae zones or, more precisely, between the Lamberti Subzone (paucicostatum horizon) and the Scarburgense Subzone (thuouxensis horizon). The mixing of Boreal–Sub-Boreal Cardioceratinae and Sub-Mediterranean–Tethyan Hecticoceratinae, Peltoceratinae, and Perisphinctinae in this basin allows reliable worldwide correlations that enhance the choice of the Thuoux and Saint-Pierre d’Argencon sections a…
Proposal for the Thuoux section as a candidate for the GSSP of the base of the Oxfordian stage.
2012
20 pages; International audience; The Thuoux section, located in South-Eastern Basin of France (coordinates: 44°30'55"E; 5°42'25"N), is a section that satisfies numerous demanding criteria as reference section (GSSP) for the base of the Oxfordian stage. Sedimentation was continuous in that the abundant ammonitic fauna yields no detectable hiatuses. The stratigraphic boundary is located between the Lamberti Zone and the Mariae Zone or more precisely between the Paucicostatum horizon (MARCHAND, 1979) and the Thuouxensis horizon (FORTWENGLER & MARCHAND, 1994a). In this section, there is a perfect mixing bet-ween Boreal ammonites (Cardioceratinae) whose species are used as stratigraphic markers…
Integrated stratigraphy of the potential candidate Oxfordian GSSP at Thuoux and Saint-Pierre d'Argençon (France).
2013
5 pages; International audience; The Thuoux and Saint-Pierre d'Argençon sections (Subalpine Basin, southeastern France) are proposed as a potential GSSP candidate for the Callovian-Oxfordian boundary. Several aspects of stratigraphy that have recently been applied in the two selected sections are discussed, including ammonite and nannofossil biostratigraphy, palynology, physical stratigraphy, and cyclostratigraphy.
Astrochronology of the Valanginian stage from GSSP candidates and hypostratotype.
2013
Valanginian; Astrochronology; Gamma-ray spectrometry; Weissert event; Paraná-Etendeka; International audience; The Valanginian Stage currently displays no radiometric age, which severely hampers palaeoceanographic reconstructions for this time interval. An astrochronology of the Valanginian Stage using the stable 405-kyr eccentricity cycle was performed on biostratigraphically well-calibrated standard sections from the Vocontian Basin (southeastern France). High-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry signals were obtained from orbitally driven marl-limestone alternations from five sections in the basin, and they display the same long-term trends. The spectral analyses present the pervasive recor…
The Calabrian Stage redefined
2008
The name Calabrian was introduced in the geological literature by the French stratigrapher Maurice Gignoux in 1910, and later described in his important monograph (633 pages) "Les formations marines pliocènes et quaternaires de l'Italie du sud et de la Sicile" published in 1913. Detailed data were provided on several sections (Santa Maria di Catanzaro, Caraffa, Monasterace, Palermo) and on their fossil content. The Calabrian Stage has commonly been used for over fifty years as the oldest subdivision of the Quaternary, notably in the time scales of Berggren & van Couvering (1974) and Haq & Eysinga (1987). However, after the GSSP for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary (P/P) was approved by INQ…
An orbital floating time scale of the Hauterivian/Barremian GSSP from a magnetic susceptibility signal (Río Argos, Spain).
2012
10 pages; International audience; An orbital floating time scale of the HauterivianeBarremian transition (Early Cretaceous) is proposed using high-resolution magnetic susceptibility measurements. Orbital tuning was performed on the Río Argos section (southeast Spain), the candidate for a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the HauterivianeBarremian transition. Spectral analyses of MS variations, coupled with the frequency ratio method, allow the recognition of precession, obliquity and eccentricity frequency bands. Orbitallytuned magnetic susceptibility provides minimum durations for ammonite biozones. The durations of well-constrained ammonite zones are assessed at 0.78…