This book, written by 33 stratigraphic experts, presents various
processes available which will enable the location in time of all
rock types: sedimentary, metamorphic, plutonic, and eruptive,
whether they are in outcrop or at subsurface. The terminology
and the appropriate practices for each method are presented
in separate chapters and illustrated with concrete examples.
The order of the chapters is modeled on the progression of the
stratigraphic process, from the descriptive to the interpretative, from
the methods of the geometric stratigraphy (lithostratigraphy and
genetic stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy)
to the chronological stratigraphy (biostratigraphy), followed by
the chronometric stratigraphy (isotopic geochronology). The
fi nal two chapters are dedicated to chronostratigraphic units and
correlations which combine the contributions of various methods
and to the presentation of the 2007 version of the Geological
Time Scale. The defi nitions of stratigraphic terms can be found in
a glossary at the end of the work.