5-629: 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. 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
10-803: 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 (divided into upper (Kidwellian) and lower (Clevedonian) substages) from Kidwelly on the Welsh and Clevedon on the English sides of the Bristol Channel . Series (stratigraphy) Series are subdivisions of rock layers based on
15-1145: The Upper Cretaceous and Lower Cretaceous Series, while the Carboniferous System is divided into the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Series. As of 2008, the International Commission on Stratigraphy had not yet named all four series of the Cambrian . Currently series are limited to the Phanerozoic, but the ICS has stated its intention of subdividing the three systems of the Neoproterozoic ( Ediacaran , Cryogenian and Tonian ) into stages too. Systems can include many lithostratigraphic units (for example formations , beds , members , etc.) of differing rock types that were being laid down in different environments at
20-424: The age of the rock and formally defined by international conventions of the geological timescale . A series is therefore a sequence of strata defining a chronostratigraphic unit. Series are subdivisions of systems and are themselves divided into stages . Series is a term defining a unit of rock layers formed during a certain interval of time (a chronostratigraphic unit); it is equivalent (but not synonymous) to
25-615: The term geological epoch (see epoch criteria ) which defines the interval of time itself, although the two words are sometimes confused in informal literature. The geological timescale has all systems in the Phanerozoic eonothem subdivided into series. Some of these have their own names; in other cases a system is simply divided into a Lower, Middle and Upper series, with official series being capitalized and unofficial designations (as as "middle Cretaceous") being left uncapitalized. The Cretaceous system is, for example, divided into
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