by Robert B. Witrock at the Public Petroleum Data Model Association 2003 Spring Conference, Houston, TX, June 2, 2003

Robert Witrock provides an update on the status of the Biostratigraphy Work Group. Biostratigraphic data underpin the conceptual ordering of rock sequences. Its analysis helps determine the age and reconstruct the depositional history on a local, regional and global level. Key paleontologic information is obtained from a variety of sampling methods, either from outcrops or from the subsurface. After initial fossil identification, various stratigraphic zonations and paleoenvironments can be recognized. Syndepositional and post-depositional events such as unconformities, condensed sections, sequence boundaries and thermal alteration may be recorded and can be included within a paleontologic report. From the detailed sample descriptions, a paleontologic summary can ultimately be derived, containing biostratigraphic and paleoecologic information, displayed in text and graphic form. The PPDM biostratigraphic model provides a standardized repository for storing and retrieving the paleontologic data at various levels of resolution.

The PPDM Biostratigraphy Initiative - a final Model Review