Serpukhovian

The Serpukhovian is in the ICS geologic timescale the uppermost stage or youngest age of the Mississippian, the lower subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Serpukhovian age lasted from 330.3 Ma to 323.4 Ma. It is preceded by the Visean and is followed by the Bashkirian. The Serpukhovian correlates with the lower part of the Namurian Stage of European stratigraphy and the middle and upper parts of the Chesterian Stage of North American stratigraphy.

The Serpukhovian Stage was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin and was introduced in the official stratigraphy of European Russia in 1974. It was named after the city of Serpukhov, near Moscow. The ICS later used the upper Russian subdivisions of the Carboniferous in its international geologic time scale.

The base of the Serpukhovian is informally defined by the first appearance of the conodont Lochriea ziegleri, though the utility and systematic stability of this species is not yet certain. No lower GSSP has been assigned to the Serpukhovian Stage yet. Two candidate GSSPs have been proposed: the Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section in the South Urals of Russia, and the Naqing (Nashui) section in Guizhou, China.

The top of the stage (the base of the Pennsylvanian subsystem and Bashkirian stage) is at the first appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus nodiliferus in the lower Bird Spring Formation, which overlies the Battleship Formation in Nevada. It is also slightly above the first appearance of the foram Globivalvulina bulloides, genozone of the ammonoid genus Homoceras and the ammonoid biozone of Isohomoceras subglobosum.

In Europe, the Serpukhovian Stage includes three conodont biozones: the Gnathodus postbilineatus Zone (youngest), Gnathodus bollandensis Zone, and Lochriea ziegleri Zone (in part, oldest). There are three foraminifera biozones: the Monotaxinoides transitorius Zone (youngest), Eostaffellina protvae Zone, and Neoarchaediscus postrugosus Zone (oldest).

In North America, the stage encompassed four conodont biozones: the Rhachistognathus muricatus Zone (youngest), Adetognathus unicornis Zone, Cavusgnathus naviculus Zone, and Gnathodus bilineatus Zone (in part, oldest).

In the regional stratigraphy of Russia (and Eastern Europe as a whole), the Serpukhovian is subdivided into four substages, from oldest to youngest: the Tarusian, Steshevian, Protvian, and Zapaltyubian. The former three are found in the Moscow Basin and are named after places near Serpukhov (Tarusa and Protva). Strata belonging to the Zapaltyubian are not exposed in the Moscow Basin, though they are found in the Donets Basin and the Urals.

In the regional stratigraphy of the United Kingdom (and Western Europe as a whole), the Serpukhovian corresponds to the lower half of the Namurian regional stage. This portion of the Namurian includes three substages, from oldest to youngest: the Pendleian, Arnsbergian and Chokierian. Only the lowermost Chokierian falls in the Serpukhovian, the upper part of the substage corresponds to the earliest Bashkirian.