Bathonian Stage

▪ geology

      third of the four divisions of the Middle Jurassic Series, representing all rocks formed worldwide during the Bathonian Age, which occurred between 167.7 million and 164.7 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. (Some researchers have proposed a longer time span for this stage that extends into more recent time intervals.) The Bathonian Stage overlies the Bajocian Stage and underlies the Callovian Stage.

      The stage's name is derived from the city of Bath in the historic county of Somerset, England. The rock units that make up this stage include about 130 metres (430 feet) of strata, including parts of the Great Oolite and the Cornbrash Beds.

      The Bathonian Age is divided into Early, Middle, and Late Bathonian, which are subdivided into various ammonite (ammonoid) biozones (biozone). Many Bathonian ammonites have only a regional occurrence, so that different zonation schemes came to be established for various parts of the world. For example, unlike the Aalenian (Aalenian Stage) and Bajocian stages, two different ammonite sequences are used for the sub-Mediterranean region and northwestern Europe. Several distinct zonations have been developed for separate regions of the circum-Pacific belt. Some of these can be well correlated to the standard European ammonite biozones; however, many stratigraphic sequences in Asia and North America are difficult to correlate globally.

Carol Marie Tang

 

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