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Communication of IUGS Geological Standards

Episodes 2022; 45(1): 97-99

Published online March 1, 2022

https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2021/021016

Copyright © International Union of Geological Sciences.

Ratification of subseries/subepochs as formal rank/units in international chronostratigraphy

Marie-Pierre Aubry1, Werner E. Piller2*, Philip L. Gibbard3, David A. T. Harper4, Stanley C. Finney5

1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08873, USA
2 Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, NAWI Graz Geocenter, Heinrichstrasse 26, 8010 Graz, Austria
3 Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
4 Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
5 Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, USA

Correspondence to:E-mail: werner.piller@uni-graz.at

Received: May 27, 2021; Revised: July 8, 2021; Accepted: July 8, 2021

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 IUGS Executive Committee has voted unanimously to ratify the proposal for formal adoption of the chronostratigraphical/geochronological unit divisions subseries/subepoch within the International Stratigraphic Guide as approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and forwarded to the IUGS EC on 24 March 2021**. The subseries/subepochs are now incorporated in a six-tiered chronostratigraphic hierarchy of units that are formally defined by a designated GSSP (Global Stage Stratotype and Point) at the base of designated type stages. Henceforth, subseries/subepochs of the Cenozoic are to be denominated by capitalised positional adjectives -- Lower/Early, Middle, and Upper/Late – added to the names of the relevant series/epochs.