What does lithostratigraphy do for us?

Peter Gutteridge’s recent Soap Box article (Geoscientist 18 v.3) prompted lively debate in the Letters page about the usefulness of lithostratigraphy. My view is that geoscientists should make full use of all varieties of stratigraphy (lithostratigraphy ; sequence stratigraphy; biostratigraphy; chronostratigraphy; seismic stratigraphy; magnetostratigraphy; isotope stratigraphy etc.); they all have their place, dependent often on scale, and the availability of data. For practical geologists these tools all relate back to the rock record that is most readily defined by a lithostratigraphical framework. It is the powerful combination of these branches of stratigraphy that advances our science and allows us to communicate our ideas and research. In this brief article I highlight the some of the work of the British Geological Survey (BGS) in the field of lithostratigraphy, and the important collaborative links with the GSL Stratigraphy Commission.