Late Mississippian
The Late Mississippian Epoch, corresponding to the Upper Mississippian Series; The Serpukhovian stage is coterminous with the Upper Mississippian series.
Language and route: English transparent ordinal + American geographical geological name. English transparent ordinal + American geographical geological name. Name-source: late portion of the Mississippian (time term).
Literal gloss: late portion of the Mississippian (time term)
The name and its history
Conventional English ordinal rank label; not an independent historical coinage · No single first author established for this modern composite label
- What does the word literally mean?
- late portion of the Mississippian (time term). Transmission: English transparent ordinal + American geographical geological name. A descriptive English rank adjective, not a separately coined Greek or Latin word.
- What did the original author mean?
- Conventional English ordinal rank label; not an independent historical coinage. The adjective late describes relative position within the later standardised Mississippian subdivision. No evidence that this composite English phrase was minted by a single stratigrapher as an autonomous stage name.
- Why was the name needed?
- International chronology needed a consistent epoch/series hierarchy that could overlay formerly competing North American, British and Russian subdivision schemes without falsely identifying regional rock packages as globally time-equivalent.
- What evidence supported the original concept?
- Its basis is the current stage succession and boundary correlations: The Serpukhovian stage is coterminous with the Upper Mississippian series. Earlier local lithofacies names are not equivalent in extent simply because they occur in the same rough position.
- How has geology changed the concept?
- For time write Late Mississippian Epoch; for rock strata write Upper Mississippian Series. The Serpukhovian stage is coterminous with the Upper Mississippian series. The ICS reconciles these labels with formal stage subdivisions, not with a single first publication.
Further historical context
*Original historical meaning. The adjective late* describes relative position within the later standardised Mississippian subdivision. No evidence that this composite English phrase was minted by a single stratigrapher as an autonomous stage name.
*Why a new distinction was needed.* International chronology needed a consistent epoch/series hierarchy that could overlay formerly competing North American, British and Russian subdivision schemes without falsely identifying regional rock packages as globally time-equivalent.
*Evidence and historiographical transformation.* Its basis is the current stage succession and boundary correlations: The Serpukhovian stage is coterminous with the Upper Mississippian series. Earlier local lithofacies names are not equivalent in extent simply because they occur in the same rough position.
*Modern ICS interpretation. For time write Late Mississippian Epoch; for rock strata write Upper Mississippian Series*. The Serpukhovian stage is coterminous with the Upper Mississippian series. The ICS reconciles these labels with formal stage subdivisions, not with a single first publication.
Editorial qualification
Descriptive rank term; do not misattribute its introduction to the scientist who named the underlying stage or subperiod.
Related names
Sources
- ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart (2026/06) — Official global names, ranks and numerical ages
- Heckel & Clayton (2006), The Carboniferous System: use of new official names — Authoritative published explanation of the 1999–2004 international renaming
- ICS Subcommission on Carboniferous Stratigraphy: ratified GSSPs and pending boundaries — Status of internationally ratified boundaries; proposed markers are provisional
- Waters et al. (2009), BGS Carboniferous successions of southern Great Britain — British regional units, coal measures and differences from global nomenclature