The Mississippian was proposed by Alexander Winchell in 1870 named after the extensive exposure of lower Carboniferous limestone in the upper Mississippi River valley. During the Mississippian, there was a marine connection between the Paleo-Tethys and Panthalassa through the Rheic Ocean resulting in the near worldwide distribution of marine faunas and so allowing widespread correlations using marine biostratigraphy. However, there are few Mississippian volcanic rocks, and so obtaining radiometric dates is difficult.
Because it is made from organic compounds, not minerals?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_mineral
Mississippian
The carboniferous Mississippian is defined by a strata of what is effectively of organic origin.