Graphic correlation of the Frasnian Upper Devonian Composite

Although statistical solution to the line of correlation (LOC) was advocated by Shaw (1964) when the technique of graphic correlation was introduced, most practioners, including Shaw himself shortly after publication of Time in Stratigraphy, agree that statistical methods for locating the LOC are inappropriate. As a consequence, calculation of the standard error of estimate and other statistical measures of error in order to quantify the resolution of graphic correlation is also inappropriate. Methods for locating the LOC are diverse involving geologic as well as biostratigraphic knowledge, and include positioning it with respect to magnetic reversals, volcanic ash beds, oxygen isotope data, and splitting bases and tops of species so as to cause minimum disruption in known ranges. The LOC for each section with the Composite Standard is a testable hypothesis of stratigraphic correlation. The Frasnian Composite consists of 27 sections in the Montagne Noire (southern France), Alberta Rockies, Hay River - Trout River areas of the Northwest Territories, Canada, the Midcontinent and New York sequences in the US, the Canning Basin, Western Australia, and the Central Devonian Field and Timan-Pechora Basin of the Russian Platform. Through graphic correlation, the Frasnian Stage is divided into 34 composite standard units, using rangesmore » of conodonts and to a lesser extent goniatites. The resulting subdivision is considerably more precise than that achieved by the conventional thirteen-fold zonation based on the Montagne Noire conodont sequence, many zones of which have been replicated in the cited areas outside the Montagne Noire. The Frasnian Composite successfully provides a precise intrazonal method of correlation that uses the ranges of all species from the studies sections in a single biostratigraphic framework, rather than emphasizing a few zonal indices.« less