The radiation of early Carboniferous foraminifers and rugose corals following the Devonian–Carboniferous crisis offers the best tool for high-resolution correlations in the Mississippian, together with the conodonts in the Tournaisian, notably in the Namur–Dinant Basin. However, some of the guides are facies-controlled and an integrated approach combining biostratigraphy, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy is critical to identify delayed entries, potential stratigraphic gaps and to avoid diachronous correlations. The main difficulty is in correlating shallow and deeper water facies at any given time. In existing zonations, the Viséan part of the scheme is always more detailed, reflecting the widespread development of shallow-water platforms in the early Viséan which created conditions more suitable for foraminifers and rugose corals over large areas. In contrast, the Tournaisian zones, less well documented, reflect unfavourable environmental conditions in the lower ramp (Dinant Sedimentation Area) and pervasive dolomitization of the inner ramp (Condroz and Namur Sedimentation Areas). Recent progress in understanding the Belgian early Carboniferous sequence stratigraphy and lithostratigraphy, and revision of the biostratigraphy of the key sections, strongly modify former biostratigraphic interpretations. Improvements mainly concern the latest Devonian, the late Tournaisian and the early Viséan. The late Devonian and the Tournaisian are equated with foraminifer zones DFZ1 to DFZ8 and MFZ1 to MFZ8 respectively. The Viséan correlates with zones MFZ9 to MFZ14. Zone MFZ15 straddles the Viséan–Namurian boundary and Zone MFZ16 is the youngest Mississippian zone. The rugose corals allow the recognition of ten zones, RC0 to RC9, covering the Strunian (late Famennian) to Serpukhovian interval. Discrepancies with former zonations are discussed. The Moliniacian Stage is emended to restore the coincidence between its base and that of the Viséan.

The relative influences of local tectonics and global eustasy in the architecture of the sedimentary units of the Namur-Dinant Basin (southern Belgium) are determined. Nine third-order sequences are recognised. During the Lower Tournaisian (Hastarian and lower Ivorian) a homoclinal ramp extended from southern Belgium through southern England (Mendips) and into southern Ireland. From the upper Ivorian to the lower Visean rapid facies changes occurred due to progradation and increasing prominence of Waulsortian mudmounds. Progradation gradually produced a situation in which inner shelf facies covered the Namur (NSA), Condroz (CSA) and southern Avesnes (ASA) sedimentation areas, whereas outer shelf facies were restricted to the Dinant sedimentation area (DSA). During the middle and late Visean a broad shelf was established from western Germany to southern Ireland. Because the shelf built up mainly by aggradation, parasequences can be followed over a large area. An early phase of Variscan shortening is perceptible during the Livian. The stratigraphic gap between the first Namurian sediments (E2 Goniatite Zone) and the underlying Visean varies from place to place, but is more important in the north.

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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 TV 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.