Correlation of Carboniferous strata
Mississippian subsystem
The type region for the Mississippian Subsystem lies in the central Mississippi Valley of the United States. Most of the formations representing the type sequence are found in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. The Kinderhookian Series includes the Hannibal Formation and the Chouteau Group. It is succeeded by the Osagean Series, which includes the Burlington Limestone and overlying Keokuk Limestone. The Meramecan and Chesterian series overlie previous layers. Other well-known Mississippian units in North America include: the Pocono Group and Mauch Chunk Shale of the Appalachian region; Fort Payne Chert of Tennessee and Alabama; the Caney and Goddard shales of the Arbuckle region, Oklahoma; the Stanley Shale of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; the Madison Group and Big Snowy Groups of the northern Rocky Mountains; Redwall Limestone of the Grand Canyon region; and the Lisburne Group of the Brooks Range of northern Alaska.
Mississippian units exposed at the famous Avon Gorge section at Bristol, Eng., include (in ascending order): Shirehampton beds, Lower Limestone Shale, Black Rock Limestone, Gully Oolite, Clifton Down Mudstone, Goblin Combe Oolite, Clifton Down Limestone, Hotwells Limestone, and the Upper Cromhall Sandstone. Other well-known Mississippian formations outside North America include: limestones at Waulsort and the Black Marble of Dinant, Belg.; Montagne-Noire of the French Massif; and limestones in Spain, the Ural Mountains, the Moscow Basin in Russia, and the Donets Basin of Ukraine.
Pennsylvanian subsystem
The type region for the Pennsylvanian Subsystem is located in central West Virginia. There the interval is represented by the following groups or formations (ascending order): Pocahontas, New River, Kanawha, Charleston Sandstone, Conemaugh, Monongahela, and basal Dunkard. Other well-known Pennsylvanian units in North America include: the Jackfork and Johns Valley shales of Oklahoma and Arkansas; the Atoka Formation of Arkansas and Oklahoma; the Supai Group of the Grand Canyon region; the Amsden and Tensleep formations of the northern Rocky Mountains; Fountain Arkose of the central Rocky Mountains; and the Haymond and Gaptank formations of the Marathon region, west Texas. Major coal fields in the United States include the Appalachian region (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio), Illinois Basin, midcontinent region (Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas), Arkoma Basin (Arkansas and Oklahoma), and north-central Texas.
The Pennsylvanian part of the type Carboniferous in Great Britain includes the Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures—names in use since the naming of the system. Local names are applied to specific intervals, and marine horizons, called bands, are named either for their characteristic fossil occurrence (i.e., Listeri Marine Band) or for a geographic locality (i.e., Sutton Marine Band). This process is followed in most areas outside North America. Major Pennsylvanian coal fields occur throughout Europe, especially in the central Pennines (Lancashire coal basin), Scottish border, southern Wales, Great Britain; Franco-Belgian Basin, northern France; Saar-Lorraine Basin, border of France and Germany; central French Massif (St. Etienne and Gard coal basins); Ruhr and Westphalian basins, Germany; Silesian Basin, Poland; Moscow Basin, Russia; and Donets Basin in Ukraine.
Walter L. Manger