1 INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON STRATIGRAPHY CHAIR Prof. Felix M. GRADSTEIN, Museum of Natural History, Univ. Oslo, P.O.Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 OSLO, NORWAY TEL +47-22-851663 office; +47-67-540966 home; FAX +47-22-851832; E-mail: [email protected] VICE-CHAIR Prof. Stanley FINNEY, Dept. Geological Sciences, California State University at Long Beach, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA TEL +1-562-985-8637 office; FAX +1-562-985-8638; E-mail: [email protected] SECRETARY-GENERAL Prof. James OGG, Dept. Earth & Atmos. Sci., 550 Stadium Mall Dr., Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2051, USA TEL +1-765-494-8681 office; +1-765-743-0400 home; FAX +1-765-496-1210; E-mail: [email protected] ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 21 December 2007 International Union of Geological Sciences International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2007 Compiled by Felix M. Gradstein, chair, and James G. Ogg, secretary-general of ICS Oslo (Norway) and West Lafayette (USA) OVERVIEW The past year has seen several major accomplishments of ICS. Many are presented in the attached series of reports, and we highlight only a selected suite: (1) International Divisions of Geologic Time Precambrian: The much-requested Hadean Eon – a fascinating interval of lunar formation, origin and near-extinction of Earth’s life, heavy bombardment, and evolution of early atmosphere prior to the earliest preserved sediments – will be proposed as a standard for Earth, which will allow direct comparison to Mars and other bodies. Cambrian – The suite of newly ratified international stages has resolved nomenclature problems among regions. These, plus the carbon-isotope correlation horizons, indicate that the “Cambrian Explosion” of faunal diversity is not as nearly sudden as generally presented in popular textbooks. 2 Ordovician – A milestone has been achieved with the establishment of the full suite of inter- regional Ordovician stages. There is finally a universal language for understanding the tectonic revolutions and the surge in life’s diversity punctuated by an ice house. Quaternary – The Cenozoic currently has two GSSP-defined periods ratified by IUGS (Neogene and Paleogene). A consistent definition for the base of the “Quaternary” interval among late Cenozoic workers that is consistent with the onset of major cooling and field mapping of the oldest major continental glacial-derived sediments (e.g., oldest till in USA and related “typical Quaternary” deposits in Eurasia) was unanimously approved by both the different national bodies of the INQUA council and the full membership at the INQUA Congress. The Quaternary begins at ~2.6 Ma; and INQUA-ICS has agreed that the Pleistocene will begin at this same level, thereby allowing the standard Quaternary to become an international Period/System. The Pliocene returns to its pre-1996 status of having two stages; with that added Gelasian stage transferred to become the earliest stage of the Pleistocene. This solves an incompatibility with the INQUA-defined Quaternary that has lingered since 1985, and is consistent with the 1948 IGC-resolution that required the Pleistocene to include the Villefranchian continental stage of Europe (which is quasi-coeval with that Gelasian Stage). This INQUA-ICS historic agreement to establish the Quaternary still awaits IUGS ratification. This Quaternary is now shown in the ICS charts, publications, and website. Inter-Planetary nomenclature and correlation charts – In conjunction with planetary geologists at NASA and other institutions, the ICS will be publishing the first inter-planetary correlation charts for the histories of Earth, Moon, Mars, Mercury and Venus. (2) School and Public Outreach A major mandate of ICS is the promotion of education in stratigraphic methods, and the dissemination of knowledge about the history of our planet. In addition to our widely used suite of information on the ICS website (www.stratigraphy.org) and the individual subcommission websites; we are active in drafting, printing and distributing information about Earth history: School posters – During 2007, in conjunction with the International Year of Planet Earth, the ICS distributed 2500 school-audience posters in Australia (funded by Australian National University and GeoScience Australia) and 3000 posters in USA (funded by Purdue University and with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers). We worked with Smithsonian Institution and USGS for the imagery on this vivid chart. Pocket cards – A convenient and laminated pocket-card of Earth history was printed in different batches in different countries (usually 2000 each), with each printing for different agencies (Exxon/Mobil, Neftex/200 Year Anniv Geol. Soc, Chevron Arabia, Bahrain Geol. Soc.). A3 chart – In collaboration with the World Geological Map Office in Paris a chart of the international divisions of geologic time will be distributed to all IGC participants in Oslo, with printing likely provided by industry. A more elaborate A3 chart is being compiled showing Russian-international stage correlations. The outstanding geoscience journal Geoarabia closely follows ICS sponsored chronostratigraphy and regularly publishes our updated charts. TimeScale Creator – With the aid of numerous experts and a brilliant programmer, we have expanded the databases and capabilities of this free Earth-history visualization JAVA package at the ICS website. 3 Time Tree of Life – Oxford Universty Press is publishing a major text book on the paleontology and biology of all major living and fossil animal families. ICS wrote the time scale chapter, using GTS2004. The latter is used to align all groups in cladograms and phylogenetic trees. Geologic Time Scale booklet for 2008 – All ICS chairs have contributed to a booklet (~100 pages, full-color charts) of the status of the GSSPs, inter-regional correlations, and extensive diagrams of major zonations and geochemical trends. ENI Norway funds the insert of the laminated GTS pocket card. World Geological Map – ICS maintains close ties with the Bureau of the World Geological Map (CCGM) in Paris. The Bureau advises ICS on the stratigraphic colour patterns in the GTS, and is printing and selling GTS mouse pads and GTS charts provided by ICS. In 2008, an updated English edition of the textbook Stratigraphie, terminologie française, edited by Jacques Rey will be sponsored by ICS and CCGM. Gradstein, Ogg and Ogg wrote the Chapter 9, dealing with the latest advances in the geologic time scale, and current chronostratigraphic proposals and trends. (3) Geologic Time Scale (numerical ages) The first steps in establishing an international task group to synthesize the advances from astronomical tuning, radiometric dating and advanced quantitative stratigraphy are underway. This group is charged with compiling a vastly improved numerical-age scale by mid-2009, leading to a new version of the GTS2004 book. The book will be major update of the Geologic Time Scale, targeted for publication in 2010 in collaboration with Cambridge University Press. It will be a full colour version. The book will be online with a sophisticated search and browsing front menu. Newly planned chapters include the Planetary scale, the Cryogenian-Ediacaran Periods scale, a Prehistoric scale, a sequence stratigraphic scale, and extensive emphasis on stable isotope chemostratigrapy. Use will be made of the most modern insights in error analysis of radiogenic isotope analysis for age dating. Orbital tuning will be extended from Neogene downward into Paleogene and Cretaceous. Significant linear scale update itself may come both from new age dates in Ediacaran, Cambrian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, and from substantial progress in ICS with the formal definition of the lower boundaries of stages and periods in the Phanerozoic. ANNUAL REPORT This ICS Consolidated Annual Report for 2007 has several portions: • The executive summary, with two main parts: • Items 1 - 8 summarize the current goals and scientific activities of the Commission and its component Subcommissions. • Items 9 - 13 detail the plans for 2008 and associated budget, and a multi-year overview of achievements and future goals. • An updated list of officers of all ICS subcommissions • The detailed reports of each individual Subcommission. • An Appendix of ICS-sponsored Symposia and other activities for the 33rd IGC. A separate attachment to this annual report is the latest version of the International Stratigraphic Chart. 4 Several longer-range issues have been active topics of discussion in 2007. These include: • A distinct role of a ’Bureau of Standards’ to preserve and communicate our GSSPs and other stratotypes, and to start to more actively focus on intra-stage standardization. • Councilors for regional contacts, and improved coordination with INQUA and IODP, and with the radiogenic isotope (EarthTime) community. • Special projects section of ICS to collaborate with national Geologic Surveys, Industry, BRGM and Geology Sections in Academies of Sciences and the ‘INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PLANET EARTH’. In particular, for the International Year of Planet Earth, ICS is compiling a popular-level booklet on the modern geologic time scale is actively distributing a school-level poster on Earth’s history. • Favored status for three journals: Episodes and Newsletters on Stratigraphy for news, forum, GSSPs, etc., and the appropriately