ABSTRACT

Reconstruction of paleogeographies essential to oil finding is dependent on the working out of time-space relationships between bodies of sedimentary rock. Therefore, widespread but vertically discriminable depositional rock units rather than more local bodies of uniform lithology must necessarily constitute the basic nomenclatural element in stratigraphy. Although defined on physical criteria, these depositional units, or "formats", may be identified and correlated by their contained faunas. The biostratigraphic application of paleontology is therefore an essential element of the stratigraphic science, which must be worked as a whole science, and not compartmentalized into "lithostratigraphy", "biostratigraphy" and "timestratigraphy".

Recommendations toward making paleontology more readily available as a stratigraphic tool include: 1) the preparation of regional biostratigraphic reports monographing total faunas by systems and regions; 2) within the region, preparation of biostratigraphic handbooks of significant zonal index fossils; 3) restraint on the part of paleontologists in splitting and proliferating species and genera names, and a wider use of subgeneric and subspecific designations for trivial distinctions; 4) a "statute of limitations" (75 years) on name changes based on long-overlooked priorities or original spelling; 5) recognition that paleontological data must be presented for independent evaluation and not held indefinitely as a persistent threat against the current efforts of operational stratigraphers.