Biostratigraphic zonation and correlation of Mississippian rocks in Western Europe: some case studies in the late Visean/Serpukhovian

In the Mississippian in Western Europe, biostratigraphic zonation and correlation of sequences has been refined using a combination of faunal and floral groups. In deep-water basins and on shelves advances have been made in recognizing evolutionary lineages of conodonts, particularly in the early Visean to Serpukhovian, for example the Gnathodus praebilineatus - G. bilineatus bilineatus - G. bilineatus bollandensis lineage, which is closely tied to ammonoid zones in the Culm facies of Western and Central Europe, and the Lochriea saharae - L commutata - L nodosa - L ziegleri lineage. Moreover, progress has been made in recognizing the Upper Visean/Serpukhovian boundary, based on the first appearance datum (FAD) of Lochriea ziegleri. Greater precision in the dating and correlation of shallow-water platform facies has been achieved using foraminiferans. Although evolutionary developments in the Archaediscidae are still of major importance in terms of biostratigraphic dating, alternative lineages have been proposed recently for the late Asbian/Brigantian (late Visean) interval, involving the Cribrospira-Bradyina - Parajanischewskina - Janischewskina lineage. These large cribrate complexed-walled forms are widely recognized throughout Western Europe. The base of the Visean has recently been defined in South China using foraminiferans with the FAD of Eoparastaffella simplex in the lineage Eoparastaffella ovalis - E. simplex. The same criterion has been used to define the base of the Visean (base of emended Moliniacian) in Belgium. Recent studies in Britain, Ireland, France, Spain and Poland have demonstrated that in the Upper Visean many calcareous algal taxa and problematica are widespread in their distribution throughout the western Palaeotethys Realm. Moreover, five algal assemblages can be distinguished, based either on the first appearance of certain taxa or their acme developments, such as Falsocalcifolium punctatum and Calcifolium okense. In addition, there have been new discoveries in the Brigantian and Serpukhovian of algal taxa and problematica such as Archaeolithophyllum, Paraepimastopora and Claracrusta that were regarded previously as being restricted to the Pennsylvanian-Permian interval. Advances in rugose coral biostratigraphy have also been made in the upper Tournaisian and Upper Visean, particularly using dissepimented taxa which occur in shallow-water platforms. The presence of uraliniids and Keyserlingophyllum in the upper Tournaisian of Western Europe (Belgium) are also recognized in South China and Siberia. In the Upper Visean, refinements in zonation have been made using well-defined colonial and solitary species and species groups belonging to the families Lithostrotionidae and Axophyllidae and solitary taxa of the families Aulophyllidae and Cyathopsidae which are recognized throughout the western Palaeotethys. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.