Book excerpt: This book gives a new global perspective on the Phanerozoic timescale, by bringing together extensive Australian and overseas research on biostratigraphy, geochronology, and magnetostratigraphy. For the first time, correlations are established between Australian and European biozonal schemes for the entire Phanerozoic, by integrating local and international biozones, isotopic ages, and magnetic polarity intervals. Tie points are based on tightly constrained isotopic and biostrastigraphic ages, and this is the first compilation for the whole of the Phanerozoic to apply results from the latest isotopic dating techniques, including the high resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) and variants of the (superscript 40)Ar/(superscript 39)Ar method. These have radically rescaled some parts of the geological column. An Australian Phanerozoic Timescale gives the essential framework for resource exploration, geologic modelling, and reconstruction of past environments and land-sea configurations during the last 545 million years of earth history.