Abstract Details
| ID: | 688 |
| Title: | New MIS 5e continental record from Northern France: the multidisciplinary study of Caours calcareous tufa (Somme basin) |
| Content: | New investigations lead in the River Somme basin has allowed the discovery of a tufa sequence overlying an alluvial formation at Caours (Scardon valley). This alluvial formation lies at + 6m above the modern valley bedrock and belongs to the low terrace within the Somme terrace system. The tufa sequence is separated from the underlying periglacial alluvial gravels by fluvial calcareous silts overlain by a marshy soil and a thin peat layer. The tufa is mainly composed by paludal (marshy) soil facies showing numerous in situ incrusted vegetal remains and travertine concretions (stromatolithes). Down slope, towards the modern valley the tufa exhibits typical fluvial facies with oncolithic sands and large scale cross beddings. The whole sequence, i.e. fluvial silts and tufa, have provided an abundant malacological fauna allowing palaeoenvironmental and climatic reconstruction. The initial phase exhibits Lateglacial characters, it is followed by early Interglacial assemblages and the subsequent full temperate faunas (up to 70% of forest snails) reveal a climatic optimum. Tufa geochemistry (?18O and ?13C) provides results consistent with this interpretation. Organic horizons from the base of the tufa sequence have also yielded several Palaeolithic layers with interglacial large mammal (Cervus elaphus, Dama, Bos primigenius) and rodent remains (Apodemus sylvaticus). Taking into account its relative position within the Somme terraces system, the U/Th ages (average ? 123±3 ka BP) and the results of the bioclimatic studies, the Caours sequence represents the first record of the Eemian interglacial in the Somme basin. In addition, the archaeological levels discovered at Caours represent a unique example of Neandertal occupation during the Last Interglacial in Northern France. REFERENCE: ANTOINE P. et al., (2006) - Le tuf de Caours (Somme, Nord de la France) : mise en évidence d'une séquence de tufs calcaires eemiens et d'un site paléolithique associé. Quaternaire, 17 (4), 281-320. |
| Session: | 69 Reconstructing environmental impacts of climate changes from MIS 5 to present, based on terrestrial and lacustrine archives |
| Authors: |
Nicole Limondin-Lozouet Pierre Antoine Patrick Auguste Julie Dabowski Jean-Luc LOCHT Bassam Ghaleb |
| Presenter: | Nicole Limondin-Lozouet |
| Type: | oral |