Biostratigraphy

Geologists have long relied on microfossils to date and match rock layers, a practice that began in the discipline's early days and later became central to oil exploration and drilling in the deep ocean. This survey traces that journey and examines the many unexpected places where biostratigraphic methods are put to use.

Microfossils have traditionally let researchers link strata across regions and around the globe, giving sedimentologists the evidence they need, especially in the petroleum industry. More recently, the precision of these studies has grown considerably by combining fossil evidence with radiometric dating, records of magnetic reversals and cyclostratigraphy. The result has broadened the field and deepened knowledge of where microfossils lived and how they evolved.

The book offers a current, wide-ranging overview of biostratigraphy as a science. It is aimed at advanced students and researchers in biostratigraphy, basin analysis, sequence stratigraphy, palaeoceanography, palaeobiology and neighboring disciplines.