Standard Auxiliary Boundary Stratotype (SABS) approved to support the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP)

Martin J. Head; Marie-Pierre Aubry; Werner E. Piller; Mike Walker

doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2022/022044

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Communication of IUGS Geological Standards

Episodes 2023; 46(1): 99-100

Published online March 1, 2023

https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2022/022044

Standard Auxiliary Boundary Stratotype (SABS) approved to support the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP)

Martin J. Head^1*, Marie-Pierre Aubry², Werner E. Piller³, Mike Walker^4,5

¹Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
² Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08873, USA
³ Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, NAWI Graz Geocenter, Heinrichstrasse 26, 8010 Graz, Austria
⁴ School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, Trinity Saint David, University of Wales, Lampeter, Wales, SA48 7ED, UK
⁵ Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales, SY23 3DB, UK

Correspondence to:^*E-mail: mjhead@brocku.ca

Received: October 31, 2022; Revised: November 6, 2022; Accepted: November 6, 2022

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The Standard Auxiliary Boundary Stratotype (SABS) has been approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) as a formal replacement for the Auxiliary Stratotype Point to support a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP). The SABS provides a detailed complementary expression of the boundary interval without designating a specific point. More than one SABS may support a single GSSP and each will be subordinate to the GSSP. SABSs extend the correlative potential of a GSSP between continents, biogeographic provinces, climatic zones, depositional facies and preservational states. Requirements for SABSs broadly follow ICS guidelines for GSSPs, and will require approval by their respective ICS subcommission. Following such approval, each SABS will be listed on the ICS website as well as that of the respective subcommission, and future SABSs will be accompanied by an announcement published in the International Union of Geological Sciences journal Episodes.