Artinskian
The age of the Cisuralian interval (Permian), approximately 290.1–283.3 Ma according to the ICS June 2026 chart.
Language and route: Russian settlement name. Russian settlement name → international English. Named after Artinsk district near Arti in the middle Urals.
Literal gloss: from Arti / Artinsk
The name and its history
Alexander Karpinsky (1874) · See attributed dates and cited original / standardisation works; first-use priority qualified where noted
- What does the word literally mean?
- From arti / artinsk. Immediate scientific language-route: Russian settlement name → international English. This is a locality-based or geographical term, not a description of a universal geological event.
- What did the original author mean?
- The broad ammonoid-bearing transition succession between Carboniferous and Permian as Karpinsky understood it in 1874.
- Why was the name needed?
- Karpinsky classified abundant ammonoid-bearing transitional strata considered intermediate between Carboniferous and Permian, at a time when the Permian base was contentious.
- What evidence supported the original concept?
- Ammonoid assemblages and clastic strata gave the first evidence for an Artinskian series much more extensive than the later stage.
- How has geology changed the concept?
- The stage has been radically narrowed as Asselian and Sakmarian were distinguished and the global Permian base moved downwards.
Further historical context
*Naming and context.* Karpinsky classified abundant ammonoid-bearing transitional strata considered intermediate between Carboniferous and Permian, at a time when the Permian base was contentious.
*Evidence and later scope.* Ammonoid assemblages and clastic strata gave the first evidence for an Artinskian series much more extensive than the later stage. The stage has been radically narrowed as Asselian and Sakmarian were distinguished and the global Permian base moved downwards.
Editorial qualification
Earliest Artinsk geographic reference predates Karpinsky; 1874 relates to geological unit naming.
Related names
Permian · Cisuralian · Asselian · Sakmarian · Kungurian · Ammonoid
Sources
- ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart (June 2026) — Current formal unit, order, rank and numerical age
- Lucas & Shen (2018), Permian chronostratigraphic scale: historical review — Historical synopsis of Artinskian subdivision and regional schemes
- ICS Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy, Asselian stage — History of downward Permian boundary revision and Russian fossil succession