THE DEVONIAN-CARBONIFEROUS BOUNDARY IN MARINE STRATA OF THE UNITED STATES - A REVIEW

The Devonian-Carboniferous boundary is documented in marine strata from the Appalachian Basin, Michigan Basin, Illinois Basin in the surface and subsurface, Forest City Basin in the subsurface, Williston Basin in the subsurface, Tobosa Basin in the subsurface, southern continental margin, western platform, and several sub-basins of the Antler Foreland in the United States based on conodont, brachiopod, miospore, carbon isotope, and magnetic susceptibility data. The boundary is narrowly constrained and conformable in the Illinois Basin and Oklahoma; less well constrained in the Appalachian Basin, Antler Foreland, western platform, and the Alberta Platform, and often developed on an unconformity. The current definition of global stratotype section and point (GSSP) for the base of the Carboniferous at La Serre, France, is under review by a working group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. At the localities in the United States where the boundary is seemingly conformable the low fossil diversity is not ideal for consideration as a new GSSP.