Principles of Stratigraphy

ABOUT THE COURSE: Stratigraphy deals mainly with correlation of layered rocks. In this course, we will learn different principles of such correlation for marine and non-marine rocks in local to regional scales. The subject is of paramount importance in resource geoscience and has tremendous industrial applications besides everlasting relevance in academics. Through this subject, we will also learn the Earth’s evolutionary history. Several Indian examples will be provided during the presentation.INTENDED AUDIENCE: B.Sc. students in (applied) geologyM.Sc. students in (applied) geophysics. They learn different geoscience disciplines first time in their M.Sc. courseINDUSTRY SUPPORT: All oil industries will be interested. Similar mining sector will be keen to learn this course.

Syllabus

Week 1: Geological time scale, coeval global events, mineralization, tectonics, magmatism, evolution of life.
Week 2:Introductory concepts (e.g., Steno’s laws, absolute timing and relative timing of rock formation, principle of uniformitarianism, geosynclines, flysch and molasse definitions), Walther’s law, Bouma’s sequence etc. Sedimentary environment
Week 3:Lithostratigraphy- definition of units, applications in correlation
Week 4:Biostratigraphy- introduction to fossils and use in stratigraphy, classification of organisms
Week 5:Biostratigraphy – zone fossils, biozones and applications
Week 6:Sequence stratigraphy – seal level change, depositional sequence, basic units, system tracts
Week 7:Sequence stratigraphy- examples from carbonates and non-marine rocks
Week 8:Chronostratigraphy – general principles, U-Pb, Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd dating principles
Week 9:Chronostratigraphy - , K-Ar and C14 dating principles
Week 10:Magnetostratigraphy- Cause of geomagnetism, Types of magnetic materials
Week 11:Magnetostratigraphy- magnetic polarity reversal, definition of magnetozone and applications
Week 12:A. Chemostratigraphy- rationale and applications
B. Hydrostratigraphy- basic units, definitions, problem in correlation
C. Comparison amongst different stratigraphic correlation principles- Here pros and cones of lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, sequence stratigraphic, magnetostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic and hydrostratigraphic correlations will be stated and compared mutually.