In the geologic timescale, the Kungurian is an age or stage of the Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...

. It is the latest or upper of four subdivisions of the Cisuralian epoch

Epoch (geology)

An epoch is a subdivision of the geologic timescale based on rock layering. In order, the higher subdivisions are periods, eras and eons. We are currently living in the Holocene epoch...

 or series

Series (stratigraphy)

Series are subdivisions of rock layers made based on the age of the rock and corresponding to the dating system unit called an epoch, both being formally defined international conventions of the geological timescale. A series is therefore a sequence of rock depositions defining a...

. The Kungurian lasted between 275.6 ± 0.7 and 270.6 ± 0.7 million years ago (Ma). It was preceded by the Artinskian

Artinskian

In the geologic timescale, the Artinskian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian epoch or series. The Artinskian lasted between 284.4 ± 0.7 and 275.6 ± 0.7 million years ago...

 and followed by the Roadian

Roadian

In the geologic timescale, the Roadian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is the earliest or lower of three subdivisions of the Guadalupian epoch or series. The Roadian lasted between 270.6 ± 0.7 and 268.0 ± 0.7 million years ago...

.

Stratigraphy

The Kungurian is named after the Russian city of Kungur

Kungur

Kungur is a town in the southeast of Perm Krai, Russia, located in the Ural Mountains at the inflowing of the Iren and Shakhva Rivers into the Sylva River . Kungur was founded in 1663 and granted town status in 1781. It serves as the administrative center of Kungursky District, although it is not...

 in the vicinity of Perm

Perm

Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....

. The stage was introduced into scientific literature by russian geologist Alexandr Antonovich Stukenberg (Alexander Stuckenberg) in 1890.

The base of the Kungurian stage is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where fossils of conodont

Conodont

Conodonts are extinct chordates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from tooth-like microfossils now called conodont elements, found in isolation. Knowledge about soft tissues remains relatively sparse to this day...

 species Neostreptognathodus pnevi and Neostreptognathodus exculptus first appear. As of 2009, there was no agreement yet on a global reference profile (a GSSP) for the base of the Kungurian. The top of the Kungurian (the base of the Roadian and the Guadalupian series) is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where fossils of conodont species Jinogondolella nanginkensis first appear.

The Kungurian contains three conodont biozone

Biozone

Biostratigraphic units or Biozones are intervals of geological strata that are defined on the basis of their characteristic fossil taxa....

s:

• zone of Neostreptognathodus sulcoplicatus
• zone of Neostreptognathodus prayi
• zone of Neostreptognathodus pnevi

Literature

; 2002: Progress report on the base of the Artinskian and base of the Kungurian by the Cisuralian Working Group, Permophiles 41: pp 13-16.; 2004: A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press

External links

• GeoWhen Database - Kungurian
• Upper Paleozoic stratigraphic chart at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS