The Geologic Time Scale 2012

Felix Gradstein is Professor Emeritus at Oslo University, Norway and visiting Research Fellow, University of Portsmouth, UK. From 2000 to 2008, he was chair of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Under his leadership major progress was made with the formal definition of chronostratigraphic units from Precambrian through Quaternary. For his fundamental work concerning the Geologic Time Scale, geochronology in general, quantitative stratigraphy and micropaleontology, the European Geosciences Union awarded him in 2010 the Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal. He is Chair of the Geologic Time Scale Foundation and teaches courses in quantitative stratigraphy and the geologic time scale. JAMES OGG (Professor at Purdue University, Indiana, USA) was Secretary General of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (2000-2008), and is currently serving as coordinator of that ICS stratigraphy information service. His Mesozoic Stratigraphy Lab group works on aspects of climate cycles, magnetic polarity correlations and integration of stratigraphic information. Their TimeScale Creator array of visualization tools for extensive databases in global and regional Earth history was used to generate many of the diagrams in this book. MARK SCHMITZ is Professor of Geochemistry at Boise State University, Idaho, USA, and has extensive research interests in the development and application of radiogenic isotope geochemistry and high-precision U-Pb geochronology to problems of Earth systems evolution. He has been an active member of the Earth Time community and was co-editor and author for the Geologic Time Scale 2012. He seeks to enrich the radioisotopic calibration of the time scale through targeted dating of stratigraphically important volcanic event beds and the construction of robust chronostratigraphic models through geologic time. His extensive database with over 300 standardized radiogenic isotope ages (mainly U/Pb and Ar/Ar) is vital to this book. GABI OGG applied micropaleontology to Jurassic-Cretaceous correlations before concentrating on public outreach in geosciences. She coordinated the extensive array of graphics in this book, and is the webmaster for the Geologic TimeScale Foundation (https://timescalefoundation.org) and for the TimeScale Creator visualization and database suites (https://timescalecreator.org). In addition to co-authoring the Concise Geologic TimeScale (GTS2016) and The Geologic Time Scale (GTS2012) books, she has produced numerous posters and time scale cards for public audiences.

• Volume 1PART I INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction, F. M. Gradstein2. Chronostratigraphy: linking time and rock, F. M. Gradstein and j. G. Ogg PART II CONCEPTS AND METHODS 3. Biochronology, F.M.Gradstein4. Cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology, L. A.hinnov and f.j.hilgen 5. The geomagnetic polarity time scale, J. G. Ogg 6. Radiogenic isotopes geochronology, M.Schmitz And M. Villeneuve7. Strontium isotope stratigraphy, J. M. Mcarthur, R. J. Howarth and G.Shields8. Osmium isotope stratigraphy, B. Peucker-Ehrenbrink and G. Ravizza9. Sulfur isotope stratigraphy, A. Paytan10. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy, E. Grossman11. Carbon isotope stratigraphy, M. Saltzman and E. Thomas12. A Brief History of Plants on Earth S.R. Gradstein and H. Kerp13. Sequence chronostratigraphy, M. Simmons14. Statistical procedures, F. P. Agterberg, O. Hammer and F.M. GradsteinPART III15. The Planetary time scale, K.TANAKA AND B.HARTMANN16. The Precambrian: the Archean and Proterozoic Eons, M.van Kranendonk and co-authors17. The Cryogenian Period, G. A. Shields, A.C. Hill and B. A. MacGabhann18. The Ediacaran Period, G. Narbonne, S. Xiao and G.A. ShieldsBibliographyVolume 2PART IV GEOLOGIC PERIODS PHANEROZOIC19. The Cambrian Period, S. Peng, L. Babcock and R. A. Cooper20. The Ordovician Period, R. A. Cooper and P. M. Sadler21. The Silurian Period, M. J. Melchin, R. A. Cooper and P. M. Sadler22. The Devonian Period, T. Becker, F. M. Gradstein and O. Hammer23. The Carboniferous Period, V. Davydov, D. Korn and M. Schmitz24. The Permian Period, CH. Henderson, V. Davydov and B. Wardlaw25. The Triassic Period, J. G. Ogg 26. The Jurassic Period, J. G. Ogg27. The Cretaceous Period, J. G. Ogg and L. Hinnov28. The Paleogene Period, N. Vandenberghe, R. Speijer and F.J. Hilgen29. The Neogene Period, F.J. Hilgen, L. Lourens, and J. van Dam30. The Quaternary Period, B. Pillans and P. Gibbard 31. The Prehistoric Human Time Scale, J.A. Catt and M.A. Maslin32. The Anthropocene, J.Z Alasiewicz, P. Crutzen and W. SteffenAppendix 1- Recommended color coding of stages Appendix 2 - Radiometric ages used in GTS2012, M.D. SchmitzAppendix 3 - Biochronology of Paleogene and Neogene Microfossils, E. Anthonissen, J.G. Ogg.

"…one of the main distinctions of the new version is the more detailed subdivision of the preceding Precambrian interval. As before, the earlier chapters of the book summarize the approaches used; they review the main methods of obtaining chronometric dates and calibrating them with geomagnetic polarity and orbital fluctuations, as well as the use of various stable isotopes in chronological and paleoenvironmental analysis…Required for specialist libraries and a valuable acquisition for other libraries lacking the 2004 edition." --CHOICE, April 2013