Abstract <p>Modern techniques, approaches, and methods of chemostratigraphy (s. lato) are reviewed. Using clay rocks from Upper Riphean and Vendian (Neoproterozoic) sedimentary sequences of the Southern and Middle Urals (Karatau, Asha, Serebryanka, and Sylvitsa groups) as examples, the characteristics of changes in their bulk chemical composition and the possible relationship of these changes with subglobal events in the inner and outer shells of our planet are analyzed. The presented materials suggest that modern chemostrati-graphy (s. lato) represents a broader geological discipline than simply a section of stratigraphy that uses chemical element contents or stable isotope ratios and other elements in sedimentary rocks to subdivide and correlate sediments. Chemostratigraphy (s. lato) is a large-scale and multifaceted analysis of the chemical composition of sediments/sedimentary rocks, allowing the researcher to use numerical data to assess the main (paleogeodynamic, paleoclimatic, paleogeographic) patterns of their formation, as well as the contribution of various provenances to these processes.</p>