Uppermost Cambrian carbon chemostratigraphy: the HERB and undocumented TOCE events are not synonymous

Chemostratigraphic units require consistent definitions and unambiguous names. So-called TOCE (Top of Cambrian Excursion) is used as an uppermost Cambrian delta(13)C(carb)negative excursion although it was proposed without documentation, is ambiguously defined, and variably correlated into four Laurentian trilobite zones. TOCE, a nihilartikel, is regularly substituted to the exclusion of the earlier named, precisely documented and geochronologically older HERB (Hellnmaria-Red Tops Boundary) Event. HERB allows late Cambrian global correlation; its onset is close to the lowest occurrence of the conodontEoconodontus notchpeakensisat the base of a proposed replacement (Lawsonian Stage) of Cambrian Stage 10. TOCE must be retired from use and abandoned as a synonym of the HERB Event.