More than 20 characteristic conodont faunas have been recognized in North American Mississippian rocks. Although best known in the Mississippi Valley and southwestern Missouri, they are widespread on the continent. Six zones and four subzones in the Kinderhookian Series are based on lineages of Siphonodella and Gnathodus. A succession of primitive gnathodids in the lowermost part of the series— Protognathodus meischneri, P. kockeli and P. kuehni —matches that in the lower part of the Gattendorfia-Stufe in Germany. The occurrence of Gnathodus punctatus in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas identifies the youngest Kinderhookian and protably correlates with the lower part of the German Pericyclus- Stufe, and with the middle part of the Zaphrentis Zone of the British Avonian. Significant differences are found in the ranges of siphonodellid and gnathodid species in western Europe and America. Several species found together abroad are stratigraphically separate in the central United States. Bactrognathus, Pseudopolygnathus, Gnathodus, Taphrognathus, Polygnathus and Doliognathus subdivide the lower Valmeyeran (Osagian) Series where Bactrognathus distortus marks an especially widespread zone. The occurrence of Pseudopolygnathus triangulus pinnatus in the Doliognathus latus fauna, accompanied in some places by Scaliognathus anchoralis , correlates with part of the S. anchoralis Zone in the German Sauerland. The upper Valmeyeran (Meramecian) zones are characterized by Apatognathus, Taphrognathus and Cavusgnathus, but are more generalized than underlying zones. The base of the Chesterian Series is not easily distinguished by conodonts, but the upper limits of Gnathodus bilineatus and G. girtyi in the Mississippi Valley mark the top of the Glen Dean Limestone and may approximate the lowermost Namurian, the base of the European Upper Carboniferous. Streptognathodus unicornis occurs at the top of the type Chesterian and in Nevada ranges to the top of the Gnathodus girtyi simplex Zone, which apparently contains youngest Mississippian rocks.

Extensive new collections from the Dinantian rocks of the British Isles confirm previously published opinions concerning the relationships between conodont distribution and facies. Conodonts from time-equivalent rocks, representative of numerous environments from the supratidal through the shelf into the open basin, indicate that Cavusgnathus and related genera are typical of near-shore environments whereas Siphonodella and Gnathodus characterise deeper water environments. This relationship is also demonstrated within vertical rock sequences through the Dinantian Subsystem, although the change is commonly accentuated by unconformable contacts. A limited number of Dinantian biofacies are recognised. Comparisons are made between conodont associations from the south and north of Britain through the Courceyan-Brigantian interval of time. Conodonts from South Wales and the Mendip region are documented including a new discovery of Scaliognathus anchoralis . The absence, or near-absence, of conodonts from a significant portion of the Chadian to Asbian sequence is attributed to extreme water shallowness over very broad areas of the Dinantian shelf. It is suggested that lack of competition in unfavourable shallow-water environments resulted in the success of long-ranging species. Correlations based on these species are only of local relevance. Only conodont zones based on evolutionary lineages are likely to be of international application. The boundary stratotypes for the six stages of the Dinantian Subsystem recognised in the British Isles have been selected at outcrops in different parts of the region. The rocks at the stratotype sections represent different lithofacies. Where present in the stratotypes, the conodonts are a reflection of the local lithofacies. They provide only limited information concerning the evolutionary sequence of Dinantian conodonts.

Abstract Carboniferous conodont biostratigraphy comprises regional zonations that reflect the palaeogeographical distribution of taxa and distinct shallow-water and deep-water conodont biofacies. Some species have a global distribution and can effect high quality correlations. These taxa are incorporated into definitions of global Carboniferous chronostratigraphic units. A standard global Carboniferous zonation has not been developed. The lowermost Mississippian is zoned by Siphonodella species, excepet in shallow-water facies, where other polygnathids are used. Gnathodus species radiated during the Tournaisian and are used to define many Mississippian zones. A late Tournaisian maximum in diversity, characterized by short-lived genera, was followed by lower diversity faunas of Gnathodus species and carminate genera through the Visean and Serpukhovian. By the late Visean and Serpukhovian, Lochriea provides better biostratigraphic resolution. Shallow-water zonations based on Cavusgnathus and Mestognathus are difficult to correlate. An extinction event near the base of the Pennsylvanian was followed by the appearance of new gnathodid genera: Rhachistognathus , Declinognathodus , Neognathodus , Idiognathoides and Idiognathodus . By the middle of the Moscovian, few genera remained: Idiognathodus , Neognathodus and Swadelina. During the middle Kasimovian and Gzhelian, only Idiognathodus and Streptognathodus species were common. Near the end of the Gzhelian, a rediversification of Streptognathodus species extended into the Cisuralian.

Abstract Carboniferous rocks within this region occur in a series of inliers, many occurring in the cores of periclines and anticlines. The Tournaisian and Visean strata comprise ramp carbonate successions (Avon and Pembroke Limestone groups), which show similarities with equivalent strata to the west in South Wales (Chapter 5). The main outcrops, broadly from south to north, are the Cannington Park inlier and Mendips, Weston-super-Mare, Broadfield Down, Bristol and Avon, Cromhall and Chepstow to Monmouth (Fig. 19). Namurian strata are present only in the south of the region, in the Bristol and Somerset coalfields. Little information is available on the nature of these strata, though they show some similarities to the fluvial and deltaic successions of the Marros Group of South Wales (Chapter 5). Westphalian strata are present in all the coalfields, broadly from south to north, the Somerset, Bristol, Severn, Forest of Dean and Newent coalfields (Fig. 19). Fluvio-lacustrine deposits (South Wales Coal Measures Group) are present only in the Somerset, Bristol and the south-eastern part of the Nailsea coalfields. These coalfields are laterally contiguous beneath Mesozoic strata. Deposition was also probably laterally contiguous with the concealed Berkshire Coalfield (Chapter 7). It has not been possible to demonstrate lateral continuity with the South Wales Coalfield (Chapter 5). Strata of this facies are absent from the Newent, Forest of Dean and Severn coalfields and the Cannington Park inlier along the axis of the syn-Westphalian Usk Anticline.

Abstract To the south of the Mississippian platform carbonate successions of South Wales (Chapter 5) and Bristol, Mendips and Somerset (Chapter 6), Carboniferous rocks predominantly occur within the strongly deformed Culm crop of SW England. The Culm Basin has a broad graben architecture, with an inner graben (Central Devon Sub-basin) fianked by half-grabens (Bideford and Launceston sub-basins) (Fig. 14; Leveridge & Hartley 2006; Waters et al. 2009). The Bideford Sub-basin is bounded to the north by the Brushford Fault, the Central Devon Sub-basin by the Greencliff Fault and the Launceston Sub-basin by the Rusey Fault. To the north of the Brush-ford Fault is the northern margin of the Culm Basin. The Tavy Basin has limited development of Famennian-Tournaisian strata. The Laneast High separating the Tavy Basin and Launceston Sub-basin includes a Tournaisian to ?Visean succession (Yeolmbridge and Laneast Quartzite formations). Remnants of Carboniferous strata also occur in the South Devon Basin. In many areas there is no clear lithological break between the Tournaisian and the underlying Upper Devonian rocks, both of which are dominated by shallow-marine and deeper-water mudstones. The succession, commonly referred to as the Transition Series or Group (Dearman & Butcher 1959; Freshney et al. 1972), are assigned to the Exmoor Group in north Devon, the Hyner Mudstone and Trusham Mudstone formations of the eastern part of the Central Devon Sub-basin and the Tamar Group in south Devon.

Abstract Carboniferous rocks in this region occur in a broadly east-west trending syncline, the core of which includes the South Wales and Pembrokeshire coalfields (Fig. 16). Tournaisian and Visean strata (Avon and Pembroke Limestone groups) represent deposition on a southward prograding carbonate ramp evolving into a carbonate shelf (Wright 1987), in a succession which shows similarities to that of the Bristol and Mendips areas (Chapter 6). The main outcrops, in south Pembrokeshire, Gower and the Vale of Glamorgan, occur along the southern periphery of the coalfields and are commonly affected by Variscan thrusting and folding. Thinner successions occur along what are termed the East Crop and North Crop of the South Wales Coalfield, where much of the Visean succession is absent due to sub-Namurian and intra-Visean unconformities. Namurian fluvio-deltaic deposits (Marros Group) flank the South Wales and Pembrokeshire coalflelds. Much of the lower and middle Namurian succession is absent across the region, except in the west of the South Wales Coalfleld where only small parts are absent beneath an intra-Namurian unconformity. Westphalian fluvio-lacustrine deposits (South Wales Coal Measures Group) form the South Wales and Pembrokeshire coalfields, located to the east and west of Carmarthen Bay, respectively. Westphalian to Stephanian Pennant alluvial facies (Warwickshire Group) occur in the core of the South Wales Coalfield syncline.

Abstract Carboniferous rocks within this area occupy the region to the south of, and contiguous with, the Southern Pennines (see Chapter 11). The oldest Tournaisian and Visean strata occur at outcrop within the Peak District, represented by ramp-to-shelf carbonates (Peak Limestone Group) deposited on the Derbyshire High, a promontory of the East Midlands Shelf, and the laterally extensive Staffordshire and Hathern shelves. The platform carbonates of the East Midlands Shelf extend in the subsurface below Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, where the nature of the succession is based largely upon well records and geophysical information (Strank 1987). A 23 m thick succession of platform carbonates is recorded in the base of the Saltfleet by No. 3 Borehole [TF 4246 9135] (Hodge 2003) and at least 100 m is present in the Welton Oil-field (Fig. 31). The Derbyshire High platform carbonate rocks pass into more basinal successions in the Edale Basin to the north, the Widmerpool Gulf to the south and the Staffordshire Basin to the west, dominated by hemi-pelagic mudstone and carbonate turbidites (Craven Group). The lithostratigraphical nomenclature for the Tournaisian and Visean strata is that of Waters et al. (2009), adapted from Aitkenhead & Chisholm (1982).

Abstract The Carboniferous rocks of the Dublin Basin extend from the east coast of north Co. Dublin westwards to the River Shannon at Athlone and northwards to the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Longford-Down Massif (see Strogen et al. 1996, fig. 5; Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2009, fig. 10.13 & Fig. 57). They occur in counties Longford, Westmeath, Meath, north Co. Dublin, north Co. Offaly, north Co. Kildare and south Co. Dublin. Most of the rocks in the region belong to the Mississippian Subsystem, with Pennsylvanian strata preserved only in boreholes at Kingscourt (Fig. 58, Col. 1). The marine Tournaisian strata present above a basal continental siliciclastic facies are represented by three contrasting lithological successions referred to as the North Midlands, Kildare and Limerick provinces (see Philcox 1984; Strogen & Somerville 1984; Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2009). During the Tournaisian there was a gradual northward advance across Ireland of the marine transgression with associated deepening. In the Dublin Basin the arrival of marine sedimentation did not take place until the late Tournaisian (Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus conodont Biozone and PC miospore Biozone; Jones et al. 1988; Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2009). Diachroneity of lithological units can be recognized when traced from south to north across the basin (see Sevastopulo & Wyse Jackson 2009). In the northern part of the Dublin Basin, above the basal red-bed facies, the marine Tournaisian succession forming the North Midlands Province (Philcox 1984) has been divided into two groups, the Navan and Cruicetown groups (Strogen et al. 1990).