Taphrogenic process is defined as the process by which the continents move apart, forming a rift, that eventually leads to the formation of an ocean basin. It is often associated with faulting and subsidence of rocks. It was first introduced by a German geologist named Henning Illies, who studied on the formation of rifts.
This process occurs in a divergent plate boundary, where the two plates move in the opposite direction, where the main driving force of this plate motion is the convection current that forms in the mantle.
Thus, the plate divergence can be considered as a taphrogenic process.
Certain fossils, called index fossils, help geologists match rock layers. To be useful as an index fossil, a fossil must be widely distributed and represent a type of organism that existed for a brief time period.
