Moscovian (Carboniferous)
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The Moscovian is in the ICS
geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochr ...
a stage or age in the Pennsylvanian, the youngest
subsystem A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and expresse ...
of the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...
. The Moscovian age lasted from to Ma, is preceded by the
Bashkirian The Bashkirian is in the ICS geologic timescale the lowest stage or oldest age of the Pennsylvanian. The Bashkirian age lasted from to Ma, is preceded by the Serpukhovian and is followed by the Moscovian. The Bashkirian overlaps with the ...
and is followed by the Kasimovian. The Moscovian overlaps with the European regional Westphalian stage and the North American Atokan and Desmoinesian stages.


Name and definition

The Moscovian Stage was introduced by Sergei Nikitin (1850 - 1909) in 1890, using
brachiopods Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, wh ...
in the Moscow Basin of
European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...
. Nikitin named the stage after
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, then a major city and now the capital of
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. The base of the Moscovian is close to the first appearances of the
conodont Conodonts ( Greek ''kōnos'', " cone", + ''odont'', "tooth") are an extinct group of agnathan (jawless) vertebrates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from their tooth-like oral elements, whi ...
s ''
Declinognathodus donetzianus ''Declinognathodus'' is an extinct genus of platform conodonts. Use in stratigraphy The Bashkirian, the oldest age of the Pennsylvanian (also known as Upper Carboniferous), contains six biozones based on conodont index fossils, two of which ...
'' and '' Idiognathoides postsulcatus'' or otherwise the fusulinid ''Aljutovella aljutovica''. Because the fusulinid species are regionally different, they can not be used for worldwide correlation. A
Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. The effort to define GSSPs is conducted ...
for the Moscovian Stage has yet to be defined (2008). A proposal is to use the first appearance of the conodont '' Diplognathodus ellesmerensis'', but since the species is rare and its evolution relatively unknown, it has not been accepted yet.
a report by the taskforce to establish a Bashkirian-Moscovian boundary (Groves ''et al.'' (2008)) The top of the Moscovian (base of the Kasimovian) is at the base of the fusulinid biozone of ''Obsoletes obsoletes'' and ''Protriticites pseudomontiparus'', or with the first appearance of the
ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefis ...
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Parashumardites''.


Subdivisions

In European Russia and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
, where the stage was first recognized, the Moscovian is subdivided into four regional substages: Vereiskian, Kashirskian, Podolskian, and Myachkovskian, named after towns near Moscow ( Vereya, Kashira,
Podolsk Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River). History The first mentions of the village of Podol, ...
, and Myachkovo). The Moscovian can biostratigraphically be divided into five conodont biozones: * ''Neognathodus roundyi'' and ''Streptognathodus cancellosus'' Zone * ''Neognathodus medexultimus'' and ''Streptognathodus concinnus'' Zone * ''Streptognathodus dissectus'' Zone * ''Neognathodus uralicus'' Zone * ''Declinognathodus donetzianus'' Zone


References


External links


Carboniferous timescale
at the website of the Norwegian network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy

{{Geological history, p, p, state=collapsed Pennsylvanian geochronology Geological ages