A proposed Global Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Viséan Stage (Carboniferous): the Pengchong section, Guangxi, South China

The first appearance of Eoparastaffella simplex in the lineage Eoparastaffella ovalis -Eoparastaffella simplex (foraminifers) has been officially approved by the Voting Members of the SCCS in early 2002 as the new biostratigraphic criterion to define the base of the Viséan.The present paper summarizes eight years of research and proposes a new Global Stratotype Section and Point from Guangxi, South China.The boundary is defined at the base of bed 85 of the Pengchong section where the first E. simplex is recorded, following more primitive Eoparastaffella.The conodont Gnathodus homopunctatus, whose cryptic first appearance has been used as an empirical tool for identification of the T-V boundary in Western Europe, enters a decimetre higher in bed 86.Scaliognathus anchoralis europensis and other conodonts considered characteristic of the late Tournaisian occur below these levels.