Quantitative formulation of reliability in stratigraphic correlation.

The probability that two stratigraphic events are in a particular order in a section in which they occur in sequence is p. Because of finite sampling, statistical techniques are used to calculate the parameters p' and p(l), which express the uncertainty of our knowledge of p; p' is the measured value of the maximum likelihood estimator of p and p(l) is the lower end point of the confidence interval on which p must lie. The most reliable sequence for stratigraphic correlation is obtained by maximizing the parameter p' (1-p(l)) between pairs of events.