Paleo Temporal Coverage

Definition

For paleoclimatologic data, the first and last dates represented by the data described in the DIF.

Syntax

Group: Paleo_Temporal_Coverage
   Paleo_Start_Date: [text line]
   Paleo_Stop_Date: [text line]
   Chronostratigraphic_Unit: [Chronostratigraphic Unit Valid]
End_Group

Specifications

This field is optional
This field may be repeated
The date subfields are text lines, up to 80 characters of the printable ASCII character set may be included
Paleo Start Date and Paleo Stop Date are optional subfields within the group, but when they occur, they must occur together.
Paleo Start Date and Paleo Stop Date may not be repeated within the group.
Chronostratigraphic units must be selected from the Chronostratigraphic Unit Valids: see Appendix A .
The Chronostratigraphic Unit subfield is optional within the group and may not be repeated within the group.

Recommendations

Units of time, e.g. Ma, ka, ybp, must always be included with numeric dates. Because the field is free text, the DIF author may choose any units of time.
Paleo Start Date and Paleo Stop Date may appear without Chronostratigraphic Unit.
Chronostratigraphic Unit may appear without Paleo Start Date and Paleo Stop Date.
When keying DIFs with Chronostratigraphic Unit Valids, key with the term that is most applicable to the data set, even if a more specific or more general term exists. For example, for a Younger Dryas data set, it is more advantageous to key with Holocene than Quarternary.
The repetition of the Paleo Temporal Coverage group is intended to indicate that there are gaps in the data coverage and that the coverage is not continuous. This field is not to be used to indicate the sampling resolution of the data set (see Temporal Resolution in Data Resolution).
When gaps are unreasonably numerous, the field should not be repeated.

Examples

Group: Paleo_Temporal_Coverage
   Paleo_Start_Date:  144 million ybp
   Paleo_Stop_Date:  66 million ybp
   Chronostratigraphic_Unit: Cretaceous
End_Group

Group: Paleo_Temporal_Coverage
   Paleo_Start_Date:  66 Ma
   Paleo_Stop_Date:  66 Ma
End_Group

Group: Paleo_Temporal_Coverage
   Chronostratigraphic_Unit: Pleistocene
End_Group

Group: Paleo_Temporal_Coverage
   Paleo_Start_Date: 11,000 years bp
   Paleo_Stop_Date: 10,000 years bp
   Chronostratigraphic_Unit: Holocene
End_Group

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