History
SCCS finds it roots in the attempts to correlate the economical important successions of the Carboniferous in Central European, especially for the coal-bearing strata. This led to the organization of the first congress in Heerlen in 1927.
The informal international networks and standardization efforts that grew from Heerlen were an important precursor to the latter, formalized structures for global chronostratigraphy. It has been underlined that already in 1935 during the second Heerlen congress the base of the Carboniferous was defined using similar principals to those which would later become the standard for the modern GSSPs. However, this decision was ahead of its time, and not respected and applied in all countries.
As for many other systems, the wide-spread use of microfossils for stratigraphic purposes starting in the 1950’s highly impacted the stratigraphic work in the Carboniferous. The 5th edition was not only the first Congress on the Carboniferous not organized in Heerlen, but also cemented this trend, and from now on microflora (palynology) and microfauna (especially conodonts and benthic foraminifers) became important biostratigraphic tools for the Carboniferous.
Almost from the beginning, the focus and scope became larger and more global with every congress. This is well seen in the counties of origin of the attendances and the thematic diversity of the presentations. The 1960s and 1970s saw the establishment and formalisation of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) as IUGS constituent and subsequently the SCCS in its modern forms inheriting the missions of defining global boundaries, stage names, and GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points).
Characteristic is also the internationalisation of the stratigraphic work, and the shift from the old Western European focus to a much broader and today global approach. This is well seen in the countries organizing the Carboniferous congress, which now has been organized also in North and South America, Asia and Australia. It seems to be just a matter of time when an African country will host it.
But it is not only a question of geography, the work of SCCS is much closer connected to the subcommissions of the neighboring systems. Again, the Carboniferous congress is a good sign. Since 1991 it includes the Permian, and 2025 saw the Devonian Subcommission for the first time formally joining it.
Interesting and fundamental questions for Carboniferous stratigraphy and SCCS work remain open for the future generations, but one of the challenges is to keep the global stratigraphic Carboniferous community active and viable. Larger numbers of experts known in past decades, are at least for the moment not in view, but this may change.