Index fossil

Index fossils (also known as guide fossils, indicator fossils or zone fossils) are Part of a series on
fossils used to define and identify geologic periods (or faunal stages). They
work on the premise that, although different sediments may look different
Paleontology
depending on the conditions under which they were laid down, they may
include the remains of the same species of fossil. If the species concerned
were short-lived (in geological terms, lasting a few hundred thousand years),
then it is certain that the sediments in question were deposited within that
narrow time period. The shorter the lifespan of a species, the more precisely
different sediments can be correlated, and so rapidly evolving types of fossils
are particularly valuable. The best index fossils are common, easy-to-identify
at species level, and have a broad distribution—otherwise the likelihood of
finding and recognizing one in the two sediments is minor.[1] Fossils

Ammonites fit these demands well, and are the best-known fossils that have Fossilization · Trace fossil · Index fossil
been widely used for this. Other important groups that provide index fossils · List of fossils · List of fossil sites ·
are the corals, graptolites, brachiopods, trilobites, and echinoids (sea urchins). Lagerstätte fossil beds ·
Conodonts may be identified by experts using light microscopy such that they List of transitional fossils ·
can be used to index a given sample with good resolution. Fossilized teeth of List of human evolution fossils
mammals have also been used. Natural history

Geologists use both large fossils (called macrofossils) and microscopic fossils Biogeography · Extinction event ·
(called microfossils) for this process, known as biostratigraphy. Macrofossils Geochronology · Geologic time scale ·
have the advantage of being easy to see in the field, but they are rarer, and Geologic record · History of life ·
microfossils are very commonly used by oil prospectors and other industries Origin of life · Timeline of evolution ·
interested in mineral resources when accurate knowledge of the age of the Transitional fossil
rocks being looked at is needed. Organs and processes
The series of deposits that spans the occurrence of a particular index fossil, is Avian flight · Cells · Multicells · Eyes ·
often referred to as that fossil's zone, enabling to relate different faunas Flagella · Hair ·
through time. An example would be to say that Mesolenellus hyperborea Mammalian auditory ossicles ·
occurs in the late Nevadella-zone. Mosaic evolution · Nervous systems ·
Sex

How index fossils are used Evolution of various taxa

Birds · Butterflies · Cephalopods ·
"Imagine an E.L. Doctorow novel in which Alfred Tennyson, William Tweed, Cetaceans · Dinosaurs · Fishes · Fungi ·
Abner Doubleday, Jim Bridger, and Martha Jane Canary sit down to a dinner Humans · Insects · Mammals · Molluscs
prepared by Rutherford B. Hayes. ... a geologist could quickly decide -- as could · Plants · Reptiles · Sea cows · Spiders ·
anyone else -- that the dinner must have occurred in the middle 1870s, Tetrapods
because Canary was 18 when the decade began, Tweed became extinct in
1878, and the biographies of the others do not argue with these limits." -- John Evolution

McPhee, Basin and Range (1981).[2] Introduction to evolution ·

Common descent · Phylogeny ·
Cladistics · Biological classification
List of common index fossils [3] History of paleontology
History of paleontology ·
Timeline of paleontology

Branches of paleontology
Biostratigraphy · Ichnology ·
Invertebrate paleontology ·
Micropaleontology ·
Molecular paleontology ·
Palaeoxylology · Paleobiology ·
Paleobotany · Paleoecology ·
Paleogenetics · Paleolimnology ·
Paleopedology · Paleotempestology ·
Paleozoology · Palynology ·
Sclerochronology · Taphonomy ·
Vertebrate paleontology

Paleontology Portal
Category

Examples of index fossils

 Fossil Scientific Name Time Period Million Years Ago

Pecten gibbus
Quaternary Period 1.8 million years ago
Argopecten gibbus

Calico Scallop
Neptunea tabulata Quaternary Period 1.8 million years ago

Viviparus glacialis Tiglian (Early Pleistocene) 0.5 million years ago

Calyptraphorus velatus Tertiary Period

Venericardia planicosta Eocene

Scaphites hippocrepis Cretaceous Period 145 to 66 million years ago

Scaphites

Inoceramus labiatus Cretaceous Period

Inoceramus
Perisphinctes Perisphinctes tiziani Jurassic Period
Nerinea trinodosa Jurassic Period
Tropites subbullatus Triassic Period
Monotis subcircularis Triassic Period

Leptodus americanus Permian Period

Leptodus
Parafusulina Parafusulina bosei Permian Period
Dictyoclostus americanus Pennsylvanian Period
Lophophyllidium proliferum Pennsylvanian Period
Cactocrinus multibrachiatus Mississippian Period
Prolecanites gurleyi Mississippian Period
Mucrospirifer mucronatus Devonian Period 416 to 359 million years ago
Mucrospirifer
Palmatolepis unicornis Devonian Period
Silurian Period
Tetragraptus fructicosus Ordovician Period

Paradoxides Cambrian Period 509 to 500 million years ago

Billingselia corrugata Cambrian Period

Archeocyathids Lower Cambrian 529 to 509 million years ago

References
1. ↑ Ghosh, v D. (2006). "Index fossils - Evidences from plant sources" (PDF). Resonance: 69–
The Wikibook
77. Retrieved 7 November 2013. Historical Geology has
2. ↑ John McPhee, Basin and Range. 1981, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-10914-1 . a page on the topic of:
Reprinted in the omnibus Annals of the Former World, ISBN 0-374-10520-0 Index fossils
3. ↑ Index Fossils, from the US Geological Survey. Updated July 31, 1997.

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