Biochronology attempts to organize the fossil record in linear time, using the notion that fossil events and fossil zones are organized according to the irreversible process of evolution.
The key to biochronology and its building blocks is fossil events. A fossil or paleontological event is the presence of a fossil taxon in its time context, derived from its position in a rock sequence. Most commonly used are first appearance and last appearance datums (FAD and LAD). Since the first or last appearance datum may be difficult to recognize or distinguish where specimen numbers dwindle or get obscured by “noise” (like reworking of fossil tests very common with the tiny nannofossils), it can be advantageous to substitute with first and last consistent (or common) appearances. A first or last appearance datum is called consistent when such stratigraphic range end points are part of an observed continuous stratigraphic range.
If the fossil record encountered in stratigraphic sections that we...
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Bibliography
Anthonissen, D. E., and Ogg, J. G., 2012. Cenozoic and cretaceous biochronology of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils. In Gradstein, F. M. (ed.), The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 1083–1128.
Davydov, et al., 2012. for reference see The Geologic Time Scale.
Gradstein, F. M., et al., 2012. The Geologic Time Scale. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
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Gradstein, F.M. (2016). Biochronology, Biostratigraphy. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6238-1_41
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