Goals

By the end of this lab you will be able to:

1. Understand how fossils are used to assist in stratigraphy
2. Combine lithological information and fossil information to conduct both lithostratigraphic correlation and time-stratigraphic correlation.

Introduction

The first four labs dealt with the use of sedimentary rocks to construct stratigraphic cross-sections and hence learn about the geological past. You learned how to describe sedimentary rocks in meaningful ways (Lab 1), and how the environments in which they formed can be identified using observations of rock type, sedimentary structures and other features (Lab 2). In Lab 3 you investigated stratigraphic logs and how they can be interpreted to determine changes in facies over time, and the creation of cross-sections in Lab 4 was based on the correlation of rock units between stratigraphic logs. We then used Labs 5 to 8 to become familiar with the most important groups of marine fossils from the Paleozoic and the Mesozoic eras. This lab will combine the first half of the course with the second by continuing a cross-section that you started in Lab 4 (the Practice Interlude).