Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell Wiley
Résumé : The Late Early-to-Early Middle Eocene Zegdoumyidae are the oldest representatives of the order Rodentia to be known in Africa thus far. Despite the fragmentary nature of their fossil record, these early African rodents have been central in discussions surrounding the early evolutionary history of the Anomaluroidea clade (the living forms of which are the ‘scaly-tailed squirrels’, i.e. Anomaluridae). Here, we describe new dental remains attributable to Zegdoumys sbeitlai, a zegdoumyid from Tunisia (Djebel Chambi, CBI-1) dated at ca 50–45 Ma. The original material referred to this taxon was limited to four teeth documenting few dental loci. The new gathered material comprises practically all dental loci (except P4), thereby allowing a better description and characterization of this taxon. This Tunisian species is clearly distinct from its roughly coeval Algerian counterpart (Z. lavocati) or from the younger species recorded from Namibia (Z. namibiensis). We investigated the phylogenetic positions of Z. sbeitlai and the Zegdoumyidae in a high-level rodent phylogeny with a cladistic assessment of the dental evidence. Our results show that zegdoumyids represent the earliest offshoots (pectinately arranged) of a large clade that also encompasses the more advanced Eocene anomaluroids (here named Nementchamyidae), the Miocene Nonanomaluridae, and the stem and crown Anomaluridae. In this phylogenetic context, the species of Zegdoumys are the basalmost members of this large Anomaluroidea clade. Zegdoumyid taxa are therefore the oldest stem anomaluroid candidates, a statement which strengthens support for the hypothesis of the great antiquity of the Anomaluroidea clade in Africa. From a historical biogeography perspective, this assumption suggests that anomaluroids invaded Asia from Afro-Arabia sometime during the Middle Eocene, a dispersal event which was likely concomitant but opposite to the dispersals envisaged for the hystricognathous rodents and anthropoid primates from Asia to Afro-Arabia.
ISSN: 0300-3256

hal-01172007
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01172007
DOI : 10.1111/zsc.12095

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The emergent domain known as “Kasserine Island” in central Tunisia, to the West of the North–South Axis, was emerging during the Turonian. This area has undergone several changes during the Cretaceous–Eocene period. In the present study, the compilation of surface and sub-surface data provided new information about the boundaries variations of the emerged domain. The analysis of paleogeographic maps allowed the identification of three distinct stages of evolution. The first stage extents from the Middle Turonian to the Lower Maastrichtian where the emergent domain covers the area extending from Jebels Selloum-Sidi Aich in the West to Jebel Bouhedma in the East. The boundaries of this area coincide with the E–W Kasserine fault to the North, the N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault in the East and the N 120 el Mech-Souinia flexure at the South. This emersion contemporaneous with a high eustatic level is most likely related to tectonic activity. The extensional tectonic regime that is characterized by a NE–SW minimal horizontal stress, has reactivated border faults with a normal component. The interference of the tilting of these border faults was at the origin of the emergence of this domain. The ascent of the Triassic salt may also have contributed in this uplift.In the second stage, the emerged domain has reached its maximum expansion to the North, the West and the South during the Middle Maastrichtian–Paleocene period. Its northern limit is irregular, while the southern limit coincides with the N120 Gafsa fault and the E–W fault of Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma. The N–S Lessouda-Boudinar fault forms the eastern limit. This expansion is mostly related to the global eustatic fall that is well characterized during this period, and partly to the compressive tectonic activity.The Lower Eocene is characterized by a marine transgression that has interested the northern edge of the Island, where the Ypresian deposits are discordant on older series. This edge was irregular and marked by the Gulf of Sbiba. The eastern, the southern, and the western boundaries kept the same shape as that of the previous stage. The compressive tectonic regime, characterized by a NW–SE maximum horizontal stress, is accentuated. This constraint state has generated NE–SW folds and NW–SE grabens. Some of these structures allowed the accumulation of a thick phosphate deposits at their edges, and continental deposits in the emerged area.During the Middle to Upper Eocene, the emergent area narrowed further at the North. The deposits are transgressive and discordant on older series. The Other limits always coincide with the Gafsa fault, the Jebels Orbata-Bouhedma and Jebels Lessouda-Boudinar faults. This period is characterized by the filling of the Gafsa basin by evaporate deposits before its emergence in the Oligocene. As a result, the southern-central Tunisia emerged as one area.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01243490
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243490
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.07.027

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Carbon and Oxygen isotope profiles from a well-dated carbonate section spanning the Sinemurian time on the Caussenard High (southeast France) are compared to sedimentological data and the results from sequence stratigraphy analysis, in order to discuss the origin of isotopic variations in a shallow-marine carbonate succession. The sedimentological study has enabled the identification of four types of depositional environments (peritidal, lagoonal, sand shoal, outer-shelf) that formed meter-scale cycles. The latter are arranged in two third-order cycles whose boundaries correspond to distinct δ13C and δ18O negative peaks (at the end of the Hettangian time and during Middle Sinemurian). The origin of the isotopic signals is discussed and several hypothesis are envisaged: sea water ageing, early meteoric diagenesis. Isotopic curves observed here seems to be related to early meteoric diagenesis linked to variations of third-order sea-level cycles rather than environmental factors (temperature, salinity).
Swiss Journal of Geosciences

hal-00406603
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406603
DOI : 10.1007/s00015-007-1206-4

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Vuibert
Résumé : La stratigraphie séquentielle vise à étudier, dans un cadre chronologique, la nature et la géométrie des sédiments fossiles en relation avec les variations du niveau marin. Elle permet de reconstituer l'histoire du remplissage des bassins sédimentaires, d'étudier les causes qui agissent sur la sédimentation, ou encore de prédire la disposition de roches qui ont pu piéger du pétrole. C'est une science jeune qui, en une trentaine d'années, a littéralement révolutionné la géologie sédimentaire. Dans la communauté scientifique - où elle a suscité de nombreux débats - elle passe encore pour hermétique ! Dans ce livre bref et très illustré, l'auteur entend démystifier la stratigraphie séquentielle. En suivant un fil historique, il en présente les faits d'observation et les notions de base, mais aussi les plus récentes évolutions. En offrant une lecture à plusieurs niveaux couplée à des exercices, ce manuel concerne en priorité les étudiants qui préparent les concours de l'Éducation nationale (CAPES et agrégation) et ceux qui fréquentent les filières spécialisées des sciences de la Terre. Il intéressera par ailleurs les enseignants-chercheurs des universités, les professeurs de l'enseignement secondaire et ceux des classes préparatoires.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445898

hal-00445898
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445898

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Sea cows (manatees, dugongs) are the only living marine mammals to feed solely on aquatic plants. Unlike whales or dolphins (Cetacea), the earliest evolutionary history of sirenians is poorly documented, and limited to a few fossils including skulls and skeletons of two genera composing the stem family of Prorastomidae (Prorastomus and Pezosiren). Surprisingly, these fossils come from the Eocene of Jamaica, while stem Hyracoidea and Proboscidea - the putative sister-groups to Sirenia - are recorded in Africa as early as the Late Paleocene. So far, the historical biogeography of early Sirenia has remained obscure given this paradox between phylogeny and fossil record. Here we use X-ray microtomography to investigate a newly discovered sirenian petrosal from the Eocene of Tunisia. This fossil represents the oldest occurrence of sirenians in Africa. The morphology of this petrosal is more primitive than the Jamaican prorastomids' one, which emphasizes the basal position of this new African taxon within the Sirenia clade. This discovery testifies to the great antiquity of Sirenia in Africa, and therefore supports their African origin. While isotopic analyses previously suggested sirenians had adapted directly to the marine environment, new paleoenvironmental evidence suggests that basal-most sea cows were likely restricted to fresh waters.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-00807308
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00807308
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0054307

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Blackwell Publishing
Résumé : International audience
In the Causses platform (south-east France), Late Hettangian to Sinemurian deposits were interpreted previously as shallow-water carbonate ramp deposits. A new look at these deposits has shown a fault-controlled mosaic carbonate platform that is different from the carbonate ramp models. Within the platform mosaic, 15 lithofacies have been recognized, which are organized in four facies associations, including peritidal, restricted shallow sub-tidal, sand dunes and sub-tidal shelf facies associations. The rapid lateral and vertical facies changes, and the lack of consistent landward or seaward direction indicated by the pattern of facies changes, question the existence of a shoreline suggested by the traditional models for this region. Instead, the facies organization and cycle stacking pattern suggest deposition in a mosaic of intertidal islands between which sub-tidal restricted or open conditions could coexist in very close proximity. Such a platform mosaic would have been defined by tectonic activities along normal faults which segmented the shallow-water Causses platform. The facies and facies associations are arranged into metre-scale, peritidal and sub-tidal cycles that are also variable. Certain cycles show the same stacking pattern in all the sections and seem to be traceable over tens of kilometres. On the contrary, other cycles cannot be correlated; they are present only in specific sections and have a maximum lateral extension of 1 or 2 km. These metre-scale cycles stack to form four medium-scale cycles bounded by surfaces that display sub-aerial exposure features. Medium-scale cycles stack into two larger-scale cycles (tens of metres thick) and are bounded by well-defined karstic surfaces. Based on their lateral continuity and their stacking pattern, the metre-scale cycles are controlled probably by high frequency eustatic variations overprinting the topographic irregularities formed by differential subsidence of fault-bounded blocks. Episodic fault activities may reorganize the topography so that, even if eustatic changes may still be the major control of cycles, the expression and number of cycles could be different. Cycles of medium and large-scale are interpreted as being allogenic, controlled by changes in eustasy and/or subsidence rates as evidenced by their lateral continuity and the correlations of the large-scale cycles with third-order depositional sequences.
ISSN: 1469-3496

hal-00411940
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411940
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2007.00896.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Dental and postcranial remains (an atlas, carpus and metacarpus elements, and a part of the pelvic girdle) of an embrithopod mammal are described from Bir Om Ali, Tunisia, a new late Eocene locality. The enamel microstructure of a tooth fragment found in association shows 'arsinoitheriid radial enamel', an enamel condition which is characteristic of Arsinoitherium (Arsinoitheriidae, Embrithopoda). Although the postcranial elements slightly differ in size and morphology from those of Arsinoitherium zitteli (late Eocene to early Oligocene), we tentatively refer this new Eocene Tunisian material to that genus. These fossils represent the first known embrithopod from the Eocene of Tunisia.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-00903435
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903435
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.07.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Molecular clock estimates of crown strepsirhine origins generally advocate an ancient antiquity for Malagasy lemuriforms and Afro-Asian lorisiforms, near the onset of the Tertiary but most often extending back to the Late Cretaceous. Despite their inferred early origin, the subsequent evolutionary histories of both groups (except for the Malagasy aye-aye lineage) exhibit a vacuum of lineage diversification during most part of the Eocene, followed by a relative acceleration in diversification from the late Middle Eocene. This early evolutionary stasis was tentatively explained by the possibility of unrecorded lineage extinctions during the early Tertiary. However, this prevailing molecular view regarding the ancient origin and early diversification of crown strepsirhines must be viewed with skepticism due to the new but still scarce paleontological evidence gathered in recent years.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-00940986
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00940986
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0080778

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Elsevier Masson
Résumé : New field and micropalaeontological investigations have been conducted in four of the Pliocene rias of the internal zone of the Rif in Morocco, on the southern margin of the Alboran Sea. We found that marine sediments outcropping in these rias were deposited mainly during the Early Zanclean, between 5.04 and 3.8 Ma. After a transgressive episode that led to the deposition of terrestrial to marine conglomerates, dark clays deposited first at shallow palaeo-depths and then at bathyal palaeo-depths. The rias were then infilled with a shallowing upward succession comprising marine clays and sandstone and, locally, terrestrial sediments that indicate their final emersion. No Gilbert-deltas were observed in these rias. The presence of transgressive deposits at the bottom of the rias, also identified in other basins of the external zone of the Rif, and the absence of Gilbert deltas question a catastrophic reflooding after the Messinian Salinity Crisis in this area.
ISSN: 1631-0713

hal-01115243
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01115243
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2014.03.002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris
Résumé : This study focuses on new fossil faunas of bats discovered in North Africa following several field campaigns. The fossiliferous localities include those from the Early to Middle Eocene of Tunisia (Chambi) and Algeria (Glib Zegdou). Systematic and cladistic analyses carried out on the fossil material, primarily including isolated teeth, allow us to highlight the modalities of the radiation of the first modern microbats. These new faunas include eight well-identified new taxa belonging to five modern families: one Necromantidae (?Necromantis fragmentum Ravel, n. sp.), two Hipposideridae Miller, 1907 (?Palaeophyllophora tunisiensis Ravel, n. sp. and Hipposideros [Pseudorhinolophus] africanum Ravel, n. sp.), three Emballonuridae Gervais in de Castelnau, 1855 (Vespertiliavus kasserinensis Ravel, n. sp., ?Vespertiliavus aenigma Ravel, n. sp., and Pseudovespertiliavus parva Ravel n. gen., n. sp.), one Nycteridae (Khoufechia gunnelli Ravel n. gen., n. sp.) and an undetermined Vespertilionidae. Two other taxa are identified (Chambinycteris pusilli Ravel n. gen., n. sp. and Drakonycteris glibzegdouensis Ravel n. gen., n. sp.), but they show an original dental pattern which precludes a family attribution. Two cladistic analyses allow to clarify the phylogenetic position of the best documented taxa. The results highlight for Hipposideridae and Emballonuridae chiropterans a major dispersal axis from North Africa towards South Europe during the Middle Eocene.
ISSN: 1280-9659

hal-01467508
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467508
DOI : 10.5252/g2016n3a3

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Manuel de géologie consacrée à l’étude de la sédimentologie par la reconstitution des paysages fossiles, cet ouvrage a une double vocation : théorique par son cours concis complété par des exercices d’application et des sujets de concours corrigés et théorique par son atlas couleurs inédit.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01585481

ISBN : 978-28073-1327-9
hal-01585481
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01585481

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Although advanced anthropoid primates (i.e., Simiiformes) are recorded at the end of the Eocene in North Africa (Proteopithecidae, Parapithecidae, and Oligopithecidae), the origin and emergence of this group has so far remained undocumented. The question as to whether these primates are the result of a monophyletic radiation of endemic anthropoids in Africa, or several Asian clades colonizing Africa, is a current focus of paleoprimatology. In this article, we report the discovery of a new anthropoid from Djebel el Kébar in central Tunisia, dating from the late middle Eocene (Bartonian). This taxon, Amamria tunisiensis, new genus and species, currently known by only one isolated upper molar, is among the most ancient anthropoids to be recorded in Africa thus far. Amamria displays a suite of dental features that are primarily observed in Eosimiiformes (stem Anthropoidea). However, it is not allocated to any known family of that group (i.e., Asian Eosimiidae and Afro-Asian Afrotarsiidae) inasmuch as it develops some dental traits that are unknown among eosimiiforms, but can be found in African simiiform anthropoids such as proteopithecids and oligopithecids. With such a mosaic of dental traits, Amamria appears to be a structural intermediate, and as such it could occupy a key position, close to the root of the African simiiforms. Given its antiquity and its apparent pivotal position, the possibility exists that Amamria could have evolved in Africa from Asian eosimiiform or Asian "proto"-simiiform ancestors, which would have entered Africa sometime during the middle Eocene. Amamria could then represent one of the earliest offshoots of the African simiiform radiation. This view would then be rather in favor of the hypothesis of a monophyletic radiation of endemic simiiform anthropoids in Africa. Finally, these new data suggest that there must have been at least two Asian anthropoid colonizers of Africa: the afrotarsiids and the ancestor of Amamria.
ISSN: 0002-9483

hal-01053704
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053704
DOI : 10.1002/ajpa.22523

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
New investigations in the Neogene Boudinar basin (Morocco) provide new information about the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) and Zanclean reflooding in the southern part of the Alboran realm (westernmost Mediterranean). Based on a new field, sedimentological and palaeontological analyses, the age and the geometry of both the Messinian erosional surface (MES) and the overlying deposits have been determined. The MES is of late Messinian age and was emplaced in subaerial settings. In the Boudinar basin, a maximum of 200 m of Miocene sediments was eroded, including late Messinian gypsum blocks. The original geometry of the MES is preserved only when it is overlain by late Messinian continental deposits, conglomeratic alluvial fans or lacustrine marly sediments. These sediments are interpreted as indicators of the sea-level fall during the MSC. Elsewhere in the basin, the contact between late Messinian and early Pliocene deposits is a low-angle dipping, smooth surface that corresponds to the early Pliocene transgression surface that subsequently re-shaped the regressive MES. The early Pliocene deposits are characterized by: (i) their onlap onto either the basement of the Rif chain or the late Miocene deposits; (ii) lagoonal deposits at the base to offshore marls and sands at the top (earliest Pliocene; 5.33–5.04 Ma interval; foraminifer zone PL1); (iii) marine recovery occurring in the 5.32–5.26 Ma interval; and (iv) the change from lagoonal to offshore environments occurring within deposits tens of metres thick. This information indicates that at least the end of the reflooding period was progressive, not catastrophic as previously thought.
ISSN: 0037-0738

hal-01306672
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306672
DOI : 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.014