Ajay Kumar at 19:52, 30 August 2023

2023-08-30T19:52:30Z

New page

{{Short description|Non-governmental geological organization}}
{{ref improve|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox organization
|name = International Commission on Stratigraphy
|image =
|image_border =
|size =
|alt =
|caption = ICS
|map =
|msize =
|malt =
|mcaption =
|abbreviation = ICS
|motto =
|formation = 1974
|extinction =
|type = [[International nongovernmental organization|INGO]]
|status =
|purpose =
|headquarters =
|location =
|region_served = Worldwide
|membership =
|language = English, French
|leader_title = President
|leader_name =
|main_organ =
|parent_organization = [[International Union of Geological Sciences]] (IUGS)
|affiliations =
|num_staff =
|num_volunteers =
|budget =
|website = [https://stratigraphy.org/ ICS Official website]
|remarks =
}}
The '''International Commission on Stratigraphy''' ('''ICS'''), sometimes unofficially referred to as the "'''International Stratigraphic Commission'''", is a daughter or major [[subcommittee]] grade scientific daughter organization that concerns itself with [[stratigraphy|stratigraphical]], [[geology|geological]], and [[chronology|geochronological]] matters on a global scale.

It is the largest subordinate body of the [[International Union of Geological Sciences]] (IUGS). The ICS is essentially a permanent [[working committee|working subcommittee]], which meets far more regularly than the quadrennial meetings scheduled by the IUGS, when it meets as a congress or [[committee|membership of the whole]].

==Aims==
{{Geology to Paleobiology|margin=0 0 1.3em 1.2em;}}
One of its main aims, a project begun in 1974, is to establish a multidisciplinary standard and global [[geologic time scale]] that will ease [[paleontology|paleontological]] and [[geobiology|geobiological]] comparisons region to region by benchmarks with stringent and rigorous strata criteria called [[Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point]]s (GSSPs) within the fossil record. (i.e. section of the [[geologic record|rock record]] as of a core sample section or accessible exposed strata, which when a core sample are usually "trayed" in long pieces, also called "sections" about a meter in length.)

==Methodology==
Additionally the ICS defines an alternative type of benchmark and criteria called [[Global Standard Stratigraphic Age]]s (GSSAs) where the characteristics and dating criteria set solely by [[physical sciences]] methods (such as magnetic alignment sequences, radiological criteria, etcetera.) as well as encouraging an international and open debate amongst [[earth sciences|Earth scientists]] in the [[paleontologists|paleontology]], [[geology]], [[geobiology]] and [[chronostratigraphy]] fields, among others.

The International Commission on Stratigraphy has spawned numerous [[subcommittee]] level organizations organized and mobilized on a local country-wide or regional basis that are the true working committees of the IUGS, and these do the field work, basis comparisons in conference or co-ordination [[research committee]] meetings of local or wide-scale scope.

==Publications==
The ICS publishes various reports and findings as well as revised references periodically, summarized in the '''International Stratigraphic Chart''', a combined ''working proposal'' and ''guideline-to-date'' released after the last ICS deliberations prior to the upcoming (next) meeting of the IUGS. Until the IUGS accepts the recommendations, they are unofficial since the IUGS parent approves or dismisses the individual deliberation reports of the ICS, which are presented as recommendations, and span dating and strata selection criteria, and related issues including nomenclatures. In ''[[de facto]]'' everyday matters, the deliberative results reported out of any meetings of the ICS are widely accepted and immediately enter everyday use, except in the rare cases where they result in a strong body of dissenting opinion, which matters are resolved before the full IUGS.

One such controversy arose in 2009 when the ICS deliberated and decided that the [[Pliocene]] [[series (geology)|Series]] of the current but unofficially named [[Quaternary]] [[period (geology)|Period]] should be shifted into the [[Neogene]] [[system (geology)|System]] and Neogene Period.<ref name="Riccardi">{{cite web|url=http://www.stratigraphy.org/upload/IUGS%20Ratification_Q%20&%20Pleistocene.pdf|title=Ratification of the definition of the base of Quaternary System/Period (and top of the Neogene System/Period), and redefinition of the base of the Pleistocene Series/Epoch (and top of the Pliocene Series/Epoch)|last=Riccardi|first=A.C.|date=30 June 2009|publisher=[[International Union of Geological Sciences]]|access-date=30 December 2011}}</ref> Despite the strong debate,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kerr |first1=Richard A. |date=25 January 2008 |title=A Time War Over the Period We Live In
|journal=Science |volume=319 |issue=5862 |pages=402–403 |doi=10.1126/science.319.5862.402 |pmid=18218875 |s2cid=20171512 }}</ref> the Quaternary saw official ratification as a geological unit from the IUGS in June 2009, placing its lower boundary to the [[Gelasian]] Stage/Age at Monte San Nicola, Sicily, Italy (until then uppermost part of the [[Pliocene]] Series/Epoch, and thus of the [[Neogene]] System/Period), 2.58 Ma [[Before Present|BP]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibbard |first1=Philip L. |last2=& al. |date=2009 |title=Formal ratification of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch with a base at 2.58 Ma |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |volume=25 |issue= 2|pages=96–102 |doi=10.1002/jqs.1338 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In addition to publishing paper and document (PDF) versions of the International Stratigraphic Chart, the ICS also provides a machine-readable version of the chart formulated using the [[Web Ontology Language|Web Ontology Language (OWL)]] and, in particular, [https://www.w3.org/TR/owl-time/ Time Ontology in OWL]. The ICS' [http://stratigraphy.org/chart chart web page] also provides an interactive version of the chart, based on the OWL data.

==Logo==
The logo of International Commission on Stratigraphy was designed after the Chinese character of "mountain", 山.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web | title=stratigraphy.org| url=https://stratigraphy.org | access-date=2020-05-30}}
* {{cite web|url=https://stratigraphy.org/chart |title=International Chronostratigraphic Chart |website=stratigraphy.org |access-date=2020-05-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530005940/http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale |archive-date=2014-05-30}}
* {{cite web | title=ICS Subcommission for Stratigraphic Information at Purdue University| url=http://stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu/ | access-date=2018-01-19}}

{{Time measurement and standards}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:International Commission on Stratigraphy geologic time scale of Earth| ]]
[[Category:Stratigraphy|.]]
[[Category:Geology organizations]]
[[Category:International scientific organizations]]
[[Category:International Union of Geological Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientific organizations established in 1974]]

International Commission on Stratigraphy - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 19:52, 30 August 2023