Sarmatian Stage

the lower stage of the Upper Miocene of the Neogene system. It is subdivided into three substages: Lower (Volhynian), Middle (Bessarabian), and Upper (Kherso-nian). The term “Sarmatian stage” was first used by the Austrian geologist E. Suess in 1866 on the basis of the findings of the Russian geologist N. P. Barbot de Marni; corresponding beds had been identified in 1847 in the Vienna basin by the Austrian geologist M. Hoernes and called cerite strata. The Sarmatian stage is represented by marine and continental beds: limestones (primarily shell), clays, sands, and sandstones. It is found in the southern European part of the USSR and in Central Europe. In the southern part of Western Europe the strata of the Messinian stage correspond to the Sarmatian stage.