Biostratigraphy : microfossils and geological time /

Biostratigraphy is usually considered the dating and correlation of rock layers using the included fossils--especially when enough exist so that they can be plotted at many levels through time. This is most valuable in marine deposits using invertebrates, and especially microscopic organisms, which are found in huge quantities. McGowran (an independent scholar) prefers a broader concept: "the study of the temporal and spatial distribution of fossil organisms." He tries to keep this wider focus, including theoretical perspectives and detailed examples, mostly using the microfossils that are so important to applied stratigraphy as it is practiced by petroleum geologists, among others. Thus, on the one hand, this work represents the platform on which the geological time scale is built; see A Geologic Time Scale, ed. by F. Gradstein, J. G. Ogg, and A. G. Smith (CH, Nov'05, 43-1578). But it also discusses problems of phylogeny, species, and evolution that underlie biostratigraphy (after all, a fossil species has a limited time range because it evolved once and persisted only until extinction), but that are often set aside in favor of more operational activities. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Geologically oriented collections supporting upper-level undergraduates and graduate students; also faculty, for use with courses. E. Delson CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College