middle of three divisions in the Upper Triassic Series, representing those rocks deposited worldwide during Norian time (216.5 million to 203.6 million years ago) in the Triassic Period. The stage was named after an ancient Roman province south of the Danube River in present-day Austria. The stratotype for the Norian is a formation known as the beds with Cyrtopleurites bicrenatus (ammonoid) (an ammonoid index fossil) at Sommeraukogel, Hallstatt, Austria. The Norian Stage is subdivided into three substages, which in ascending order are the Lacian, Alaunian, and Sevatian. Norian marine strata are correlated worldwide by six ammonoid cephalopod biozones (biozone), all of which have designated type localities in North America. These zones cannot be used for nonmarine strata, however. The Norian Stage underlies the Rhaetian Stage of the Upper Triassic Series and overlies the Carnian Stage of the Upper Triassic Series.