A stratigraphic column records the succession of rock units at a place, each unit positioned in geologic time by an explicit age model. Columns are the oldest part of Macrostrat and the basis of most of its scientific results.
Stratigraphic columns
The column model: units, sections, boundaries, and how columns are organized.
Age model
How units are placed in geologic time, and how ages flow to everything linked to them.
Accessing column data
Getting column footprints, units and measurements through the API.
Column ingestion quickstart
Step-by-step guide to building a column spreadsheet.
Column ingestion FAQ
Common questions about preparing and uploading a column spreadsheet.
Column ingestion format
The full spreadsheet format for preparing new columns.
Glossary
Age model: The account of how a column's units are placed in geologic time: ages at the surfaces between units, anchored at tie points and interpolated between them. See Age model.
Column: A record of the succession of rock units at a place, compiled at regional or local scale. Also used generally for both column types (column and section). See Stratigraphic columns.
Column group: A set of related columns, for example those of one basin.
Footprint: The area a record covers: a column's footprint is the region it represents; a map's footprint is where it is defined.
Package: An unconformity-bounded group of units within a column, inside which time is represented continuously. Stored as a section in the database.
Project: A dataset of columns developed as a unit within Macrostrat, such as the core North American compilation or a set of ocean-drilling cores.
Section: (1) A column type recording one physical succession, such as a measured section or core, positioned by height. (2) An unconformity-bounded package of units within a column.
Tie point: A surface in a column whose age is constrained directly (absolute, relative, spike or imposed), as opposed to interpolated by the age model.
Unit: A body of rock or sediment within a column, bounded in space and time and described by its name, lithologies, environments, thickness and age.
