[f. L. strāti- combining form of strātum: see STRATUM and -GRAPHY. Cf. F. stratigraphie.]
1. The branch of geology that is concerned with the order and relative position of the strata of the earth’s crust.
1865. Reader, 4 March, 248/2. While accepting as a basis in theoretical geology the principles of Hutton, and in stratigraphy the work of William Smith, he [etc.].
1891. Blake, in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc., XLVII. 341. Nor did he see any reason to doubt the correctness of his stratigraphy there.
2. The stratigraphical features (of a country, etc.); the order and relative position of the strata.
1882. A. Geikie, in Nature, 7 Dec., 121/2. His monograph embraces the stratigraphy, palæontology, structure, eruptive rocks, and contact-metamorphism of the district.
1892. Lapworth, in Nature, 18 Aug., 373/2. A formation, which is the unit of geological stratigraphy, is a rock sheet composed of many strata possessing common lithological characters.
transf. 1912. Man, XII. 135. Dr. Peabody said that the perfect stratigraphy in Europe is contrasted with a vague stratigraphy in America. There the paleolithic form persists in later periods and Chellean types are found on the surface.
