A MATHEMATICAL STUDY OF THE SEVEN GRAPTOLITE BIOZONES OF THE LOWER SILURIAN LONGMAXIAN STAGE IN CHINA

With the aid of matrix theory and computer a series of data can be obtained such as the total number of localities in which r species of graptolites appears, the common number of localities in which both i and j species of graptolites appear, the total number of species of graptolites in one locality, the common number of species of graptolites found in both i and j localities, the total number of zones in which r species of graptolites appears, the common number of zones in which both i and j species appear, the total number of species of graptolites found in one zone, the common number of species of graptolites found in both i and j zones. Based on these data a common problem in biostratigraphy may be solved, that is, in the absence of the zonal graptolite which species of graptolites can be chosen to replace the zonal graptolite, or how to detect the zonal graptolite of a graptolite biozone. The result of matrix treatment not only detects the graptolite biozone but is useful to infer the paleo-biogeo