Cyclothem ["digital"] correlation and biostratigraphy across the global Moscovian-Kasimovian-Gzhelian stage boundary interval (Middle-Upper Pennsylvanian) in North America and eastern Europe

The long-standing difficulty of correlating Pennsylvanian strata among provincial faunal regions is resolved by effecting "digital" correlation of major glacial-eustatic cyclothems that represent high-stands when certain species achieved more global distribution than usual. In the late Moscovian-early Gzhelian (late Desmoinesian-early Virgilian) succession in the midcontinent United States, several major cyclothems are correlated, by both conodont species in common and cyclothem scale, with cyclothems in Russia (Moscow Basin) and Ukraine (Donets Basin), and the remaining cyclothems fit into the framework by position and scale. In this way the suggested event marker for the global Kasimovian-Gzhelian stage boundary (first appearance of Idiognathodus simulator) is supported, while possible event markers for the Moscovian-Kasimovian boundary await further evaluation.