(from the name of the town Vise in Belgium), the stage second from the bottom in the Carboniferous system. It was identified in 1882 by the Belgian scientist C. Dupont. In the stratotype it is composed below by lime-stones with brachiopods (Gigantoproductus giganteus), and above by black shales with goniatites. In the USSR, the Visean stage limestones are widely found in the Eastern European (Russian) platform, the Donets Basin, the Urals, Middle Asia, and Siberia (the Altai, Kuznetsk Basin, and elsewhere). It also occurs in a number of foreign countries, including England, France, and People’s Republic of China.