Search results for "Causses"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Middle Jurassic tracks of sauropod dinosaurs in a deep karst cave in France.
2019
14 pages; International audience; Although the deep galleries of natural underground cavities are difficult to access and are sometimes dangerous, they have the potential to preserve trace fossils. Here, we report on the first occurrence of sauropod dinosaur tracks inside a karstic cave. Three trackways are preserved on the roof of the Castelbouc cave 500 m under the surface of the Causse Méjean plateau, southern France. The tracks are Bathonian in age (ca. 168–166 Ma), a crucial but still poorly known time interval in sauropod evolution. The three trackways yield sauropod tracks that are up to 1.25 m long and are therefore amongst the largest known dinosaur footprints worldwide. The trackm…
New Hettangian tracks from the Causses Basin (Lozère, southern France) complement the poor fossil record of earliest Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Euro…
2017
International audience; A new vertebrate ichnological assemblage is described from the Hettangian Dolomitic Formation of the Causses Basin, at Le Serre (Lozère, southern France). We report tracks that complement the poor fossil record of lowermost Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Europe. Tetradactyl pes and pentadactyl manus imprints form a unique trackway. Traces are ascribed to Batrachopus isp. and they represent the third occurrence of this ichnogenus in European Hettangian geological formations. This is the first report of Batrachopus in Hettangian deposits of the Causses Basin. The tracks share some similarities with Batrachopus deweyi previously described from the Sinemurian of the Causses…
Fossiliferous Holocene tufa of Mende (Lozère, southern France): implication for the Atlantic vegetation of the Causses Basin
2016
International audience; Tufas bearing plant macroremains are uncommon in the Causses Basin (southern France). Here, we report anew fossiliferous tufa deposits at Mende, in Lozère. This palaeontological site is the first Quaternary tufa from thenorthern part of the Causses Basin that yields such an abundance of plant macroremains. The radiocarbon dating showsthat these Holocene deposits are related to the Atlantic period. Geomorphology and mineralogy show that theplant-bearing deposit is a calcareous tufa only composed by calcite, deposited near to an outlet of cool water, linked tothe karstic hydrological system of the Causse de Mende. The flora exposed in this article is dominated by angio…
Rediscovery of the allegedly “destroyed” holotype of Weltrichia fabrei Saporta, 1891 from the Rhaetian?/Hettangian of Lozère (Southern France)
2018
7 pages; International audience; A sandstone slab bearing plant macro-remains was rediscovered during recent investigations led in the buildings of the old Musée Ignon-Fabre (Mende) which were closed in 1995 and emptied in 2003. The study of the slab clearly allows it to be identified as the holotype of Weltrichia fabrei Saporta, 1891 which has been considered destroyed since the end of the 20th Century. Gaston de Saporta described this Bennettitalean fructification based on a cast and considered the type locality as Rhaetian in age. In the present paper, based on the holotype, W. fabrei was revised in order to describe and illustrate the specimen in detail. It consists of a cup with one wh…
Les interfaces à traces de pas de théropodes du Plateau des Causses (Sud de la France) : déterminations palichnologiques et interprétations paléoenvi…
2012
De nombreuses empreintes ont été découvertes depuis le début des années 2000 dans le Bathonien des Grands Causses, dans les vallées de la Jonte et de la Dourbie, autour de Meyrueis (48) et de Nant (12).Ces traces ont été identifiées par Sciau et al. (2006) comme étant des ichnites d’origine dinosaurienne. Les auteurs ont pu distinguer des traces tridactyles et d’autres de formes ovoïdes. Ils ont attribué la formation des premières à des théropodes et des autres à des sauropodes. Cependant, un doute subsistait quant à leur origine réelle, ainsi que leur détermination ichnologique qui restait à faire.Notre travail consiste en un relevé et des mesures des traces tridactyles et ovoïdes, supposé…
Terrestrial plants and marine algae from the Late Jurassic lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean (Lozère, southern France)
2016
International audience; A new Late Jurassic flora was discovered in the fossiliferous lithographic limestone of the Causse Méjean, Lozère (southern France). It consists of the first Kimmeridgian/Tithonian plants from this area. Fossil plants are represented by megaremains preserved as impressions. This flora shows a co-occurrence of terrestrial plants and marine algae. The land plants include vegetative remains ascribed to bennettitaleans (Zamites Brongniart, 1828), conifers (Brachyphyllum Brongniart, 1828), and pteridosperms (Cycadopteris Zigno, 1853). Marine algae were ascribed to dasyclads (Goniolina D’Orbigny, 1850). Lithological and palaeontological features suggest preservation in a f…