List of index fossils

Examples of index fossils^[1]

Part of a series on
Paleontology
Fossils Fossilization Trace fossil Microfossil Fossil preparation Index fossil List of fossils List of fossil sites Lagerstätte fossil beds List of transitional fossils List of human evolution fossils
Natural history Biogeography Extinction event Geochronology Geologic time scale Geologic record History of life Origin of life Timeline of evolution Transitional fossil
Organs and processes Avian flight Cells Multicells Eyes Flagella Hair Mammalian auditory ossicles Mosaic evolution Nervous systems Sex
Evolution of various taxa Birds Butterflies Cephalopods Cetaceans Dinosaurs Fishes Fungi Humans Insects Mammals Molluscs Plants Reptiles Sea cows Spiders Tetrapods
Evolution Introduction to evolution Common descent Phylogeny Cladistics Biological classification
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
v t

Index fossils (also known as guide fossils or indicator fossils) are fossils used to define and identify geologic periods (or faunal stages). Index fossils must have a short vertical range, wide geographic distribution and rapid evolutionary trends. Another term, Zone fossil is used when the fossil have all the characters stated above except wide geographical distribution, they are limited to a zone and can't be used for correlations of strata.

Fossil	Scientific Name	Geological time interval	Million Years Ago
Calico scallop	Argopecten gibbus	Quaternary	1.8 million years ago
	Neptunea tabulata	Quaternary	1.8 million years ago
	Viviparus glacialis	Tiglian (Early Pleistocene)	0.5 million years ago
		Tertiary
	Venericardia planicosta	Eocene
Scaphites	Scaphites hippocrepis	Cretaceous	145 to 66 million years ago
Inoceramus		Cretaceous
Perisphinctes		Jurassic	201.3 to 145 million years ago
	Nerinea trinodosa	Jurassic
		Triassic
		Triassic
		Permian
Parafusulina		Permian
		Pennsylvanian
		Pennsylvanian
		Mississippian
		Mississippian
Mucrospirifer	Mucrospirifer mucronatus	Devonian	416 to 359 million years ago
	Palmatolepis unicornis	Devonian
	Tetragraptus fructicosus	Ordovician
	Paradoxides	Cambrian	509 to 500 million years ago
		Cambrian
	Archaocyathids	Cambrian	529 to 509 million years ago

See also[]

• Biostratigraphy#Index fossils

References[]