the upper stage of the Permian system (seePERMIAN SYSTEM [PERIOD]). The name was proposed by the Russian geologist S. N. Nikitin in 1887. The Tatarian stage has been identified on the Eastern European Platform, where its deposits are widespread and are represented by continental red beds and deposits of diversified coloration, with the remains of terrestrial plants, freshwater fauna, and terrestrial vertebrates. The continental, frequently coal-bearing deposits of the Tatarian stage are widely developed on the Siberian Platform and the Taimyr Peninsula and in the Altai-Saian Region; marine analogues are found in the southern USSR, in the Caucasus and the Pamir, where they are represented primarily by limestones and abundant remains of fusulinids, corals, and brachiopods.