Abstract
Thick successions of latest Devonian and early Carboniferous siliciclastic rocks of fluviatile and shallow marine origin are well exposed in numerous coastal sections in the south of Ireland. Correlations based on palynostratigraphy demonstrate that an overall northward transgression, in detail consisting of several fluctuations of relative sea level, resulted in the replacement of fluvial coastal plain environments by shallow marine conditions. The most conspicuous lithological record of transgression occurred at or close to the base of the Carboniferous, when a regionally distributed mudstone deposited in a shallow sea, replaced the generally sandy strata that had prevailed in the latest Devonian. There is no evidence for very large glacioeustatic changes of sea level related to the coeval western Gondwanan glaciation. Of the three horizons for a new GSSP for the base of the Carboniferous currently under review, the base of the Protognathodus kuehni Zone/basal Siphonodella sulcata Zone and coastal plant extinction is the most easily applied in Ireland and can be identified using palynology and corresponds to an easily recognised, extensively developed lithological change in the south of the country.
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