The Lower Carboniferous sub-system in western Europe, overlain by the Silesian and comprising the Tournaisian and Visean series. It is dated at 359.2–326.4 Ma ago (Int. Commission on Stratigraphy, 2004) and is roughly contemporaneous with the Carboniferous Limestone (Britain), Kinderhookian, Osagean, Meramecian, and lower Chesterian (N. America).