326 International Stratigraphic Guide
under the non-bibliographic designation Lelhaia Semi-
nar, pending similar arrangements for international
projects and organizations, IPA information, etc.
(2) In taking advantage of an early comment on the
present article, the editor joins forces with the author
in calling for the development of a more coherent
biostratigraphical philosophy and a cleaning-up of the
terminology of biozones. To a synecologist or eco-
stratigrapher, it is evident that there is a base for a
hierarchy of three-dimensional units corresponding to
the well-developed hierarchies of two-dimensional units
that exist in particularly Recent phytosociology (whose
impact on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palaeoecology
seems to have been nil). It is difficult, however, to
find a scientific basis for linking a biostratigraphical
hierarchy with the biosystematic hierarchy. Classical
examples in this direction have a limited palaeobio-
geographical value rather than a truly ecological value
International Stratigraphic Guide
This volume of 200 pages was published in January,
1976, by John Wiley & Sons, New York, London,
Sydney and Toronto (ISBN 0471-36743-5; price US.$
9.50). It contains the results of the first 25 years’
work in the (International) Subcommission on Strati-
graphic Classification (ISSC) of the IUGS Commis-
sion on Stratigraphy. It is the most important standard
document ever published in stratigraphy.
The Subcommission consists of 5 1 individual members
from 27 countries, 35 individual members ex officio
from 17 countries and 39 organizational members from
33 countries and 4 multinational regions. The subject
matter of the Guide has not only been discussed at
meetings and in the 51 very substantial ISSC Circulars
issued hitherto, but has also been repeatedly made
available for public debate, most extensively in con-
nection with the 24th Session of the International
Geological Congress in Montreal in 1972. For that
occasion Lerhaia (Vol. 5, pp. 283-323) and Boreas
published and distributed to all participants the full
draft texts of the Introduction and Summary giving
a complete overview of the contents and philosophy
of the Guide, and the IGC published the full draft
texts of the four remaining special chapters. As sub-
sequently amended, the Guide has now been approved
for publication by 85 voting members of the Sub-
commission, whilst three members have raised objec-
tions of a philosophical or formal nature. It is
hardly possible to find an international standard with
a broader base.
The Guide (which is not a code) gives accounts of
the three main approaches to stratigraphy (the Guide
says ‘categories of stratigraphic classification’, not
‘three kinds of stratigraphy’ as the drafts have often
been mis-read), namely lithoslrarigraphy, biosrrarigraphy
and chronostrarigraphy. These classical approaches are
already being supplemented by others, of which
magnetostratigraphy seems at present the most mature
to form a comparable ‘category’. Stratigraphic units
and boundaries are based on standards in nature in
the form of srratorypes. Authors and readers of
Lerhaia are familiar with these concepts whose
applicability has already been widely tested.
LETHAIA 9 (1976)
(Olenellid and Paradoxidid Provinces, etc.). The ‘supra-
specific (usually gcneric) communities’ and the ‘one-
phylum communities’ (particularly brachiopods) that
abound in recent literature will soon experience the
same limitations and be found to conceal biosocio-
logical reality.
The editor regards ecostratigraphy as a development
within biostratigraphy rather than as a basis for a new
terminological category besides biostratigraphy. The
basic approach to the problem is the same, however.
It is synthetic, in the former case by ‘integrating’ bio-
and lithostratigraphy and bringing about an approxima-
tion to chronostratigraphy (which would certainly
please the dissenting camps in ISSC work), and in the
latter case by ‘linking’ bio- and lithostratigraphy to
the same scientific effect but with more split-up ter-
minological tools.
Anders Marrinsson 1976 03 12
The publication of this Guide by no means indicates
an end to ISSC activities or the beginning of a period
when stratigraphers can be left more in peace just
to apply a ready-made standard and methodology pre-
sented to them. The first edition of the International
Stratigraphic Guide should constitute a firmer plat-
form for continued work than we have had hitherto.
The possibilities of development are obvious, not thc
least to biostratigraphers and synthetic stratigraphers.
This does not in any way weaken the position of the
Guide as a standard document.
The Guide makes it possible to require authors in
Lethaia to adhere more strictly to international
stratigraphic standards. For the sake of development,
however, deviations from the standards will be re-
spected when expressly based on critical deliberations
- but deviations based on unreflected negligence of the
Guide will not be excused.
Even though the main contcnts have been known
and discussed before, the Guide still gives the im-
pression of an entirely new book. What greatly
contributes to this impression and to the lasting value
of the book is the unique bibliography of stratigraphic
classification and terminology, comprising 80 pages
and including 3 pages listing national and regional
codes (indeed, with a few exceptions the documents
are called codes).
The Guide also marks the end of Professor Hollis
D. Hedberg’s 24 years as the first Chairman of the
ISSC. When it is referred to as the ‘Hedberg Guide’,
it is both false and true. On the one hand, the work
was carried out with the most elaborate consultation
of all possible authorities on stratigraphy. The dis-
cussion in the ISSC Circulars has been lively, many
good suggestions readily adopted and dissenting opin-
ions duly accounted for. On the other hand, within
the democratic framework of ISSC, steering has been
firmer than in any other IUGS body, from the
beginning of activities in 1952 under the auspices of
the IGC to the editing and publication of the Guide.
A personal imprint will last on this truly official
document, together with the gratitude of the scientific
community.