Biostratigraphy: Microfossils and Geological Time

Using fossils to tell geological time, biostratigraphy balances biology with geology. In modern geochronology — meaning timescale-building and making correlations between oceans, continents and hemispheres — the microfossil record of speciations and extinctions is integrated with numerical dates from radioactive decay, geomagnetic reversals through time, and the cyclical wobbles of the earth-sun-moon system. This important modern synthesis follows the development of biostratigraphy from classical origins into petroleum exploration and deep-ocean drilling. It explores the three-way relationship between species of microorganisms, their environment and their evolution through time as expressed in skeletons preserved as fossils. This book is essential reading for advanced students and researchers working in basin analysis, sequence stratigraphy, palaeoceanography, palaeobiology and related fields.