RE: New Geologic Epoch

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of David Marjanovic
>
> > > Other proposals to the ICS include mucking about with the 
> > > Carboniferous (again...)
> 
> How? Reversing the silly "subera" designation for the 
> Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian that means the 
> Carboniferous now has 5 epochs consisting of 1 stage each 
> (some of them very long!) and 1 epoch consisting of a 
> whopping 2 stages?

Try...

A Lower C (Tournaisian & Visean), Middle C (Serpukhovian, Bashkirian,
Moscovian), and Upper C (Kaslmovian, Gzhelian) Epoch BUT a Mississippian
(Tournaisian-Serpukhovian) and Pennsylvanian (Bashkirian-Gzhelian)
Subperiods!!

> > > and the Cambrian (again...)
> 
> Well, in the Cambrian there isn't a lot to muck about with... 
> 2/3 of the stages and half of the epochs don't even have 
> accepted names yet...

Even though a lot of them once did have perfectly good names... The new
organization has an Early Cambrian Epoch that contains both the Terreneuvian
Series and Series 2, a Middle Cambrian with Series 3, and a Late Cambrian
with the Furongian Series. (So that Epochs are no longer the geochronologic
expression of chronostratigraphic Series).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Earth, Life & Time Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/
Fax: 301-405-0796

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA