Knowra Stratigraphic correlation Stratigraphic correlation Stratigraphic correlation matches rock layers or geological events across different locations. It establishes which strata are equivalent in age, sequence, or origin.
Lithostratigraphy : The classification of rock bodies by their observable lithologic characteristics and stratigraphic relationships. Similar rock types can suggest continuity, but lithologic similarity alone does not prove contemporaneity.
Stratum : A layer of rock or sediment formed by deposition or other geological processes. Correlation begins by comparing individual layers and their relationships within rock successions.
Geological timescale : A system dividing Earth's history into chronologically ordered units based on geology and life. Correlating sections lets local rock records be placed within a shared global chronology.
Lithostratigraphic unit : A body of rock defined and named by its lithologic properties and stratigraphic boundaries. A unit's boundaries may cross time surfaces, so lithologic identity does not guarantee age equivalence.
Biostratigraphy : The subdivision and correlation of rock strata using their fossil content. Fossil assemblages, especially short-lived index fossils, link strata across distant basins.
Stratigraphy : The study of layered rocks, their sequence, distribution, and relationships through geological time. Correlation is one method within stratigraphy for relating separate successions.
Sequence stratigraphy : The analysis of sedimentary successions as packages bounded by surfaces linked to changes in accommodation and sediment supply. Correlations reveal basin-wide depositional patterns and the surfaces that divide sequences.
Geochronology : The science of determining the numerical ages of rocks, fossils, and geological events. Numerical dating can test correlations, but correlation itself does not necessarily yield an absolute age.
Chronostratigraphy : The branch of stratigraphy that organizes rock bodies by their age and time relationships. It distinguishes matching rocks by time equivalence from matching them by appearance.
Superposition principle : The principle that, in an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rocks, lower layers are older than higher ones. Relative ordering within each succession helps test proposed matches between sections.
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