System Series
(NW Europe) 		Stage
(NW Europe) 		Series
(ICS) 		Stage
(ICS) 		Age
(Ma)
Permian younger
Carboniferous Silesian Stephanian Pennsylvanian Gzhelian 298.9–303.7
Kasimovian 303.7–307.0
Westphalian Moscovian 307.0–315.2
Bashkirian 315.2–323.2
Namurian
Mississippian Serpukhovian 323.2–330.9
Dinantian Visean Visean 330.9–346.7
Tournaisian Tournaisian 346.7–358.9
Devonian older
Subdivisions of the Carboniferous system in Europe compared with the official ICS-stages (as of 2018)

Dinantian is the name of a series or epoch from the Lower Carboniferous system in western Europe between 359.2 to 326.4 million years ago.[1] It can stand for a series of rocks in Europe or the time span in which they were deposited.

The Dinantian is equal to the lower part of the Mississippian series in the international geologic timescale of the ICS. The Dinantian is named for the Belgian city of Dinant where strata of this age occur. The name is still used among European geologists.

Earlier terms for the Dinantian were Bernician from the Anglo-Scottish borderland, and Avonian [2] (divided into upper (Kidwellian) and lower (Clevedonian) substages) from Kidwelly on the Welsh and Clevedon on the English sides of the Bristol Channel. [3][4]

References

  1. ^ "Dinantian". A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. Oxford Reference.
  2. ^ Vaughan, A. (1905) "The Palæntological [sic] Sequence in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol Area", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 61 (1-4), p. 181-307 doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1905.061.01-04.13
  3. ^ Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Avonian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 67.
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