Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy of the Visean–Serpukhovian (Mississippian) Boundary Interval At Slope and Platform Sections In Southern Guizhou (South China)

Abstract The Visean–Serpukhovian boundary is not yet defined by a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) but it is recognizable operationally by the appearance of the conodont Lochriea ziegleri in the L. nodosa–L. ziegleri chronocline. Foraminiferal successions across this boundary in the type area of the Serpukhovian Stage (Moscow Basin, Russia), elsewhere in Russia and in the central United States suggest that the appearances of Asteroarchaediscus postrugosus, Janischewskina delicata, Eolasiodiscus donbassicus, and specimens controversially referred to “Millerella tortula” are reliable, auxiliary indices to the base of the Serpukhovian. In southern Guizhou Province, China, Visean–Serpukhovian rock sequences from slope and platform settings have yielded rich associations of conodonts and foraminifers, respectively. The Nashui section is a leading candidate for the Serpukhovian GSSP because its slope deposits contain an uninterrupted record of conodont occurrences including the L. nodosa–L. ziegleri t...