The Gzhelian is an age in the ICS geologic time scale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest stage of the Pennsylvanian, the youngest subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Gzhelian lasted from to Ma. It follows the Kasimovian age/stage and is followed by the Asselian age/stage, the oldest subdivision of the Permian system. The Gzhelian is more or less coeval with the Stephanian Stage of the regional stratigraphy of Europe.

Name and definition

The Gzhelian is named after the Russian village of Gzhel, nearby Ramenskoye, not far from Moscow. The name and type locality were defined by Sergei Nikitin (1851–1909) in 1890. The base of the Gzhelian is at the first appearance of the Fusulinida genera Daixina, Jigulites and Rugosofusulina, or at the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus zethus. The top of the stage (the base of the Permian system) is at the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus isolatus within the Streptognathus "wabaunsensis" chronocline. 6 m higher in the reference profile, the Fusulinida species Sphaeroschwagerina vulgaris aktjubensis appears. Currently, a golden spike for the base of the Gzhelian Stage has not been allocated. A candidate is a section along the Ussolka river (a tributary of the Belaya river) at the edge of the hamlet of Krasnoussolsky, about 120 km southeast of Ufa and 60 km northeast of Sterlitamak (in Bashkortostan).

Biozones

The Gzhelian Stage is subdivided into five biozones, based on the conodont genus Streptognathodus: