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Palaeontology of the Purbeck-type (Tithonian, Late Jurassic) bonebeds of Chassiron (Oléron Island, western France)

Romain VULLO, Dominique ABIT, Michel BALLÈVRE, Jean-Paul BILLON-BRUYAT, Renaud BOURGEAIS, Eric BUFFETAUT, Véronique DAVIERO-GOMEZ, Géraldine GARCIA, Bernard GOMEZ, Jean-Michel MAZIN, Séverin MOREL, Didier NÉRAUDEAU, Joane POUECH, Jean-Claude RAGE, Johann SCHNYDER & Haiyan TONG

en Comptes Rendus Palevol 13 (5) - Pages 421-441

Published on 31 August 2014

This article is a part of the thematic issue French Lagerstätten and exquisitely preserved fossils

The paralic flora and fauna from the Late Jurassic of Chassiron (Oléron Island, western France) are described. The Tithonian-aged bonebeds of Purbeck facies of this locality have yielded a rich and diverse vertebrate assemblage including fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, alongside numerous plant and invertebrate remains. The Chassiron locality thus appears as a peculiar Konzentrat-Lagerstätte in which most of the palaeoecosystem's biological components (both aquatic and terrestrial) have been preserved. The depositional environment was probably subject to salinity fluctuations, as indicated by the co-occurrence of freshwater and euryhaline organisms. This is one of the richest localities and the first mammal-bearing site known from the Jurassic of France.


Keywords:

Bonebeds, Vertebrates, Tithonian, Jurassic, France

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