Biostratigraphy

¾ Fossils have proved to be useful as indicators of depositional environment and

essential to stratigraphy.
¾ Biostratigraphy provides a high- resolution technique in stratigraphic analysis.
¾ Correlation between biostratigraphic units and the geological time-scale provides
the temporal framework for the analysis of sedimentary successions.

1. Strata and fossils

¾ Naturalists observed that different rock units contained either similar fossil
remains or assemblages of different fossils.
¾ Units contained the same fossils could sometimes be traced laterally and form part
of the same layer. Those with different fossils could be shown to be either younger or
older.
¾ With the study of fossils, the science of palaeontology, certain types of organism
were found to be dominant in particular groups of strata, which were initially
grouped into deposits formed in three eras of geological time: ‘ancient life’, the
Palaeozoic; ‘middle life’, the Mesozoic; and ‘recent life’, the Cenozoic.

1.1 Evolutionary trends

¾ There is a general trend of increasing complexity and sophistication of life forms.
¾ Looking at a particular group of fossils, we see that many of them display trends in form
through the stratigraphic record.
¾ The morphology changes are attributed to the evolutionary development. It is one of the
fundamental precepts of evolutionary theory that these changes are a one-way process: This
provides a means of correlating rocks and determining their relative ages by their fossils
content.
1.2 Biological classification
All living organisms are now classified according to the Linnaean system, a scheme of
nomenclature which is based on the idea that organisms can be related to each other in a
hierarchical manner Table 1.

Table 19.1 The Linnaean hierarchical system for the taxonomy of organisms.
¾ A species encompass organisms which share genetic characteristics which may allow
individuals to interbreed with each other and produce fertile offspring.
¾ Palaeontologists have to work on similarities or differences of form to define
morphospecies.
¾ There is always an element of doubt about whether a similarity of skeletal form is a
sufficient basis.
¾ Subspecies and races are distinct sets and is applied to palaeontology in cases where a
high-resolution biostratigraphy is developed.
¾ When an organism is named it is given a genus (plural genera) as well as a species — for
example, Homo sapiens is the name of human.
¾ In palaeontology species-level identification is required for biostratigraphic purposes,
however it is common to identify and classify a fossil only to generic level. ForExample, if
fossil oysters is found in limestone it is called Ostraea.
¾ The major phyla (Mollusca, Arthropoda, etc.: Fig. 1) have existed throughout the
Phanerozoic, and it is possible to compare fossils to modem representatives of these subsets
of the main kingdoms (animal and plant)
¾ The ammonites, formed a very large and diverse order from Ordovician to Cretaceous
times, but there are no modem equivalents. The graptolites, commonly found in Palaeozoic
rocks, has no modem representatives.
¾ As the similarities to modem organisms become fewer, the problems of classification
become greater as the significance of morphological differences is less apparent.

Fig. 19.1 Major groups of organisms preserved as macrofossils in the stratigraphic record and their age ranges.
2. Fossils in stratigraphy
The ideal fossil for stratigraphic purposes would be of an organism which lived in all
depositional environments all over the world and was abundant; have easily preserved hard
parts and would be part of an evolutionary lineage which frequently developed new,
distinct species. Not surprisingly, no such fossil taxon has ever existed.

2.1 Depositional environments

¾ The conditions vary so much between different depositional environments that no single
species, genus or family can be expected to live in all of them.
¾ The nature of the environment strongly influence the distribution of fossil groups as
well. The adaptations required to live in a desert compared to a swamp, or a sandy coastline
compared to a deep ocean. Also Some environments favors body preservation of fossils
¾ There is a fundamental problem with correlation between continental and marine
environments because very few animals or plants are found in both settings.
¾ Planktonic (free floating) Versus benthonic or benthic creatures.
2.2 Geographical distribution
™ Two environments may be almost identical in terms of physical conditions but if they
are on opposite sides of the world they may be inhabited by quite different sets of animals
and plants. The contrasts are greatest in continental environments. E.g. The mammal fauna
of Australia versus Europe or Asia.
™ This geographical isolation of groups of organisms is called provincialism. This faunal
provincialism makes it necessary to develop different biostratigraphic schemes in different
parts of the world.

2.3 Abundance and size

™ To be useful in biostratigraphy a species must be sufficiently abundant to be found
readily in sedimentary rocks.
™ In general, smaller organisms are more numerous so the fossils of small organisms tend
to be the most abundant.
™ Schemes based on microfossils have been developed in parallel to macrofossil schemes.
Microfossils are the only viable material for use in biostratigraphy where drilling does not
recover core but only brings up cuttings.
2.4 Preservation potential
The fossil record represents a very small fraction of the biological history of the planet for a
variety of reasons.
The l preservation potential severely restricts the material available for biostratigraphic
purposes to those taxa which had hard parts and existed in appropriate depositional
environments.
2.5 Rate of speciation
The frequency with which new species evolve and replace former species in the same
lineage determines the precision which can be applied in biostratigraphy. E.g. The
brachiopod Lingula (palaeozoic-today) …….phanerozoic
E.g. New species of ammonites appear to have evolved every million years or so during the
Jurassic and Cretaceous. A high-resolution biostratigraphy with subdivisions of a few
hundred thousand years has been achieved in Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine strata in some
areas using planktonic marine microfossils such as foraminifera.
19.2.6 Mobility of organisms
If a new species evolves in one geographical location its use as a stratigraphic marker in a
regional or world-wide sense will depend on how quickly it migrates to occupy ecological
niches elsewhere. planktonic and nektonic organisms tend to be most useful Organisms
which do not move much (a sessile lifestyle) generally make poor fossils for biostratigraphic
purposes.

3 Taxa used in biostratigraphy

A number of different groups of taxa have been used for
defining biozones through the stratigraphic record, such
graptolites in the Ordovician and Silurian, are used for
world-wide correlation; Some examples of taxonomic groups
used in biostratigraphy are listed below.
3.1 Marine macrofossils
The hard parts of invertebrates are common in sediments
throughout the Phanerozoic and forms the basis for the
divisions of the stratigraphic column into Systems, Series and
Stages. Expert palaeontologists of marine macrofossils
provides a division of the rocks into Stages based on fossils.
TRILOBITES
Form the main group used zonation of Cambrian. Most
trilobites are thought to have been benthic forms living on
and in the sediment of shallow marine waters. They are
rarely abundant as fossils.

GRAPTOLITES
These exotic and somewhat enigmatic organisms are
interpreted as being colonial groups of individuals
connected by a skeletal structure. They appear to be
widespread in Ordovician and Silurian mudrocks as thin
film of flattened organic material on the bedding planes.
Lineages indicate rapid evolution and have allowed a
high-resolution biostratigraphy for the Ordovician and
Silurian systems.

BRACHIOPODS
Shelly, sessile organisms like brachiopods generally make
poor zone fossils but in shallow marine, high-energy
environments where graptolites were not preserved. They
are used for regional correlation purposes in Silurian
rocks and occasionally in later Palaeozoic strata.

AMMONOIDS
This taxonomic group of cephalopods (phylum Mollusca)
includes goniatites from Palaeozoic (Devonian and
Carboniferous) rocks as well as the more familiar
ammonites of the Mesozoic. The large size and nektonic
habit of these cephalopods made them an excellent group
for biostratigraphic purposes. Ammonoids became extinct
at the end of the Cretaceous.
ECHINODERMS
This phylum includes crinoids (sea lilies) and echinoids
(sea urchins). Most crinoids probably lived attached to
substrate, and echinoids are benthic, living on or in soft
sediment. They are only used for regional and worldwide
correlation in parts of the Cretaceous.

CORALS
The extensive outcrops of Devonian and Lower
Carboniferous (Mississippian) shallow marine limestones
in some parts of the world contain abundant corals. In
fact they are not really suitable for biostratigraphy
because of the very restricted depositional environments.

GASTROPODS
Marine ‘snails’ are abundant as fossils in Cenozoic rocks.
They are very common in almost all shallow marine
environments.

3.2 Marine microfossils

Microfossils are fossil remains which are too small to be seen clearly with the naked eye or
hand lens. They are normally examined using an optical microscope or scanning electron
microscope. Three main groups are used in biostratigraphy;

FORAMINIFERA (commonly abbreviated as Forams)

They are marine protozoans (single-celled organisms)
which have been found as fossils in strata as old as the
Ordovician. The fossils of Mesozoic and Cenozoic
planktonic forams are calcareous and are around a
millimetre or less across although some larger benthic
forms also occur. Planktonic forams are widespread in
marine strata and evolved rapidly. Schemes using forams
for correlation in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic are widely
used in the hydrocarbon industry.

RADIOLARIA
These protozoans have silica skeletons. They are roughly
spherical, often spiny organisms a fraction of a
millimetre across. They are important in the dating of
deep marine deposits because the siliceous skeletons
survive in siliceous oozes deposited at depths below the
CCD (4000 m) where calcareous fossils dissolve.
Racliolaria cherts are found in deep marine strata
throughout the Phanerozoic.

NANNOFOSSILS
Best examined using a scanning electron microscope.
Ex. coccoliths, spherical calcareous cysts of marine algae.
4 Correlating different environments
™ If the rocks being studied do not contain representatives of the taxa used in the world-
wide a local or regional zonation scheme may be set up using the taxa which are
represented in the depositional facies of the strata. Then the local scheme must be
correlated with the global scheme by a succession containing both the locally used and
globally used taxa. Such a process leads to errors and uncertainties but these often cannot
be avoided.
™ Correlation using an intermediary stratigraphic method e.g. magnetic signature, may
also be used. For example, a continental succession and a marine succession.
5 Biostratigraphic nomenclature
A biostratigraphic unit is a body of rock defined by its fossil content.
The fundamental unit of biostratigraphy is the biozone, units of stratigraphy which are
defined by the fossil taxa (usually species or subspecies).

5.1 Zonation schemes

There are different ways to designate biozones in terms of fossils that they contain (Fig. 3)
‰ Total range biozone:
It is the stratigraphic interval between the first appearance of a single taxon and the
disappearance of that taxon. The lineage of the taxon is not considered.
‰ Consecutive range biozone:
where a taxon can be recognized as having followed another and preceding a third as part
of a phyletic lineage.

‰ Partial range biozone:

It is characterized by a single taxon, but he
base of the biozone is marked by the
extinction of a second taxon and the top by
the appearance of a third.
‰ Assemblage biozone:
It is defined by a number of different taxa
which may or may not be related. The
presence and absence of these taxa are used
to define a stratigraphic interval.
‰ Acme biozone:
the abundance of a particular taxon may
vary through time. The interval containing a
Fig. 3 Zonation schemes ( North American Commission
certain statistically high proportion of this on Stratigraphic Nomenclature 1983; AAPG ©1983)
taxon define acme biozone.
5.2 Biozones and depositional environments
¾ If the depositional environment has remained the same, the appearance of a taxon may
be due to a speciation event, this will therefore have stratigraphic significance, or
migration.
¾ The interpretation of the appearance and disappearance of fossil taxa in successions
which contain evidence of changes in environment (water depth, rate of sedimentation,
proportion of mud, and so on) is more complicated.
¾ Organisms which are tolerant of different conditions have the the most value as zone
fossils. Taxa which are very sensitive to environmental conditions, such as corals, are
5.3 Graphical correlation schemes
The thickness of a biostratigraphic unit is
determined by the rate of sediment
accumulation. A succession with a
continuous, steady sedimentation is chosen
as a reference section and the biozone
markers (appearance and disappearance of
taxa) are noted on it. Other succession
containing the same biozone can then be
compared with this reference section. Tie-
points are established using the
biostratigraphic information and
intermediate levels can be correlated
graphically (Fig. 4). This approach is
particularly effective at identifying changes
in rates of sedimentation and hiatuses
(periods of erosion or non-deposition) in a Fig. 4 Graphical correlation methods are used to
succession. identify changes in rates of sedimentation or a hiatus
in deposition. (Adapted from Shaw 1964.)

6 Biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy

if a speciation event takes place rapidly enough to be considered ‘instant’ in
geological time and the new taxon is very quickly dispersed then the base of a
biozone can be regarded as an isochronous horizon.

¾ If the concept of ‘punctuated equilibria’ is applied to nektonic or planktonic

organisms then the bases of biostratigraphically defined units are effectively
chronostratigraphic surfaces within the resolution available.
¾ It may also be the case that certain taxa become extinct in a geologically short
period of time, so upper boundaries defined by these events can also be considered
to approximate to isochronous surfaces. In other cases it must be assumed that
biozone boundaries are to some extent diachronous.