Preface

The second edition of the International Stratigraphic Guide, edited by Amos Salvador, was prepared by the
International Subcommission on Stratigraphic Classification of the International Commission on Stratigraphy and
co-published in 1994 by the International Union of Geological Sciences and the Geological Society of America. Like
the first edition, edited by Hollis D. Hedberg and published in 1976, the second edition of the Guide has been widely
accepted and used by stratigraphers throughout the world. Copies can be obtained from the Geological Society of
America, Publication Sales, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301, Fax [phone].

Despite the wide acceptance and distribution of the second edition of the Guide, stratigraphers and students

of stratigraphy around the world have commented on difficulty in gaining access to the Guide mainly because of
remote availability of copies and of cost.The present abridged version of the second edition of the Guide is an
attempt to overcome these problems.

This abridged version is not a revision of the substance of the Guide; all essential tenets of the full second

edition concerning stratigraphic classification, terminology, and procedure have been retained. Moreover, the
abridged version has maintained the same organizational framework to the level of chapters, headings, and
subheadings, so that the user can readily refer to the full version of the Guide for supplementary detail; and where
non-essential discussions of certain sections have been eliminated, headings have still been retained so that the user
can easily find the corresponding section in the full version of the Guide. The principal victims of the abridgement
have been some explanatory text, examples of stratigraphic procedures, the Glossary of Stratigraphic Terms, the
List of National or Regional Stratigraphic Codes, and the extensive Bibliography of Stratigraphic Classification,
Terminology and Procedure.

The editors express their appreciation to the editor of Episodes for helping to meet the aims of this abridged

version of the International Stratigraphic Guide by publishing it in his journal, and for agreeing to prepare and market
covered reprints of this document at cost. These actions ensure that the basic tenets of stratigraphic classification,
terminology, and procedure can now reach stratigraphers and students of stratigraphy everywhere in the world.

As the notice accompanying this issue of Episodes states, individual covered reprints of the abridged version

of the second edition of the Guide can be obtained from Episodes, P.O. Box 823, 26 Baiwanzhuang Road, 100037
Beijing, People's Republic of China, for a few dollars plus postage charges.

International Stratigraphic Guide

http://stratigraphy.org/upload/bak/pref.htm

1 z 1

2009-10-29 19:26