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Digital geochronological index

Publisher
British Geological Survey (BGS)
Updated
13 August 2026
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

A digital geochronological index to act as a domain constraint for geochronology columns in corporate data tables. It decodes geochronology codes, models pseudo parent-child relationships between intervals (for example, find the epochs within a given period), allows range searches (for example, find the epochs between lower limiting and upper limiting epochs) and provides radiometric ages with ranges of uncertainty. Follows the recommendations of the BGS Stratigraphy Committee. Phanerozoic after Gradstein and Ogg (1996), with the Ordovician scheme of Fortey et al. (1995); Proterozoic after Cowie and Bassett (1989); Archaean after an unpublished decision of the Precambrian Subcommission of the IUGS. Covers the whole of geological time. Geochronological resolution usually to age level. Lower resolution in the Archaean, Proterozoic, Cambrian. Greater resolution in the Caradoc Epoch.

Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
Geological timechart 13/8/2026
Contact BGS Enquiries 13/8/2026

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
13 August 2026
Harvest GUID
9df8df51-6401-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98
Dataset reference date (creation)
2002-01-25
Frequency of update
notPlanned
Access constraints
The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.
Responsible party
British Geological Survey (distributor, originator, pointOfContact, custodian)
ISO 19139 resource type
nonGeographicDataset
Metadata language
eng