A new fossil deposit has been brought to light in Hérault through the long-term work of a couple of amateurs passionate about paleontology. Their discoveries were studied by an international team including Bertrand Lefebvre, Christophe Dupichaud and Antoine Vite from LGL-TPE.
Cabrières – Cabrières – Christian McGall, extract from the publication Saleh F. et al. Nat Ecol Evol 2024 (open access CC-BY 4.0)
Artistic reconstruction of marine biodiversity from the Black Mountain to the Lower Ordovician (-485 to -477 Ma).
(Credit: Christian McGall, from Saleh et al., 2024, CC-BY 4.0)
Thanks to more than 400 fossils dating back 470 million years, the Cabrières site near Pézenas bears witness to the environment closest to the South Pole at that time ever observed. It thus ranks among the richest and most diverse deposits in the world for the Ordovician period. It is distinguished by an exceptional level of preservation which has allowed the extremely rare discovery of soft-bodied organisms. In particular, the discovery of a wide range of algae and sponges contributes to a better understanding of their pivotal role in the ecosystem of the time.
These observations challenge the previous idea of a decline in biodiversity or biological extinction between the Cambrian and Ordovician periods around 485 million years ago. On the other hand, the great biodiversity observed confirms the hypothesis of a migration of species towards the southern hemisphere, as a refuge zone, to escape the excessively high temperatures of tropical zones at that time.
This first study of the site, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on February 9, constitutes the starting point of a research program which will extend over several years, with large-scale excavations then the in-depth analysis of the fossils using innovative imaging techniques. This will involve revealing in detail their external and internal anatomy, their relationships and their way of life.
To know more
Find the CNRS press release by clicking here and that of the University of Lausanne (with an interview with Éric and Sylvie Monceret, at the origin of the discovery) by clicking here (English version here).
CNRS — The Journal devoted an article to this exceptional discovery in which Bertrand Lefebvre and Christophe Dupichaud of LGL-TPE intervene: A half-billion-year-old fossil zoo.
Article reference
SALEH, Farid; LUSTRI, Lorenzo; GUERIAU, Pierre; POTIN, Gaëtan; PÉREZ-PERIS, Francesc; LAIBL, Lukáš; JAMART, Valentin; QUICK, Antoine ; ANTCLIFFE, Jonathan ; DALEY, Allison ; NOHEJLOVA, Martina ; DUPICHAUD, Christophe ; SCHÖDER, Sebastian; BÉRARD, Émilie; LYNCH, Sinéad; DRAGE, Harriet; VAUCHER, Romain; VIDAL, Muriel; MONCERET, Eric; MONCERET, Sylvie; LEFEBVRE, Bertrand. The Cabrière Biota (France) provides insights into Ordovician polar exosystemsNature Ecology and Evolution, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02331-w (open access PDF article)
2024-02-13 08:02:21
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