Griesbachian

History

In the 1960s, English paleontologist Edward T. Tozer (sometimes collaborating with American geologist Norman J. Silberling) crafted Triassic timescales based on North American ammonoid zones (further refining it in the following decades), based on the works of Frank McLearn in British Columbia and Siemon Muller in Nevada who pieced together the ammonoid fossil record of the North American Cordillera. Tozer's nomenclature was largely derived from Mojsisovics's work, but he redefined them using North American sites. He recommended the Lower Triassic series be divided into the: Griesbachian, Dienerian, Smithian, and Spathian. The former two roughly correspond with the Induan. Tozer's timescale became popular in the Americas. He named the Griesbachian after Griesbach Creek on Axel Heiberg Island, Canada, and further split it into the Gangetian and Ellesmarian substages; the former he defined by the ammonite zones of O. concavum and O. boreale, and the latter by Ophiceras commune and Proptychites striatus. He named the Dienerian after Diener Creek on Ellesmere Island, Canada, and defined it by the ammonite zones P. candus and Vavilovites sverdrupi.