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Chronostratigraphy

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

In earth science, chronostratigraphy defines rock strata by their temporal relations, reconciling stratigraphy with relative and chronometric dating in the historical discipline of geology. Relative dating by stratigraphic correlations, employing bio-, magneto-, or isotope-stratigraphy, provides a relative time scale between specific events in the geologic record. Thus, chronostratigraphic unit definitions are based on age relations, which are referred to on a relative linear time scale and preferably fixed in time by chronometric (often wrongly termed absolute) dating. With some differences in scale and evidence, chronostratigraphy is also applied to cultural material left by humans.

Chronostratigraphy

In the original geological definition, the temporal sequence of rock strata in more than one lithostratigraphyprovides the framework for the interpretation of geological history, together with relative or chronometric age determinations. Lithostratigraphy refers to...

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Correspondence to Daniel Richter .

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Richter, D. (2017). Chronostratigraphy. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_5

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