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The stratigraphy and palaeobotany of the Late Pleistocene in Belgium
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This abstract is not available in English. Résumé La stratigraphie des dépôts appartenant au Pleistocène supérieur de Belgique se base - tout comme c'est souvent le cas dans le nord de l'Europe - sur la présence dans le nord-ouest de la Belgique de formations fluviomarines d'âge eemien. Ces dernières sont caractérisées par la présence de Tapes senescens var. eemiensis ("Senescens Sande"). Leur passage latéral au sol de Rocourt a été observé. Ailleurs, les dépôts appelés "Tourbe et gravier" sont indiqués comme eemiens à la suite de leurs caractéristiques floristiques. Dans les dépôts appartenant à la dernière Glaciation ou Weichsel, les unités litho-stratigraphiques suivantes ont été distinguées: sable et gravier, limon et sable grossier, formations limono-tourbeuses formant le Pléniglaciaire A (conditions de sédimentation froid-humide); sables entrecroisés, sable ou limon de couverture 1 ou 2, formant le Pléniglaciaire B (conditions de sédimentation froid-sec) et finalement sable de couverture récent 1 ou 2 datant du Tardiglaciaire. Il existe plusieurs horizons périglaciaires importants: cailloutis 1 à petites fentes de gel se situant à la limite supérieure du dépôt limon et sable grossier; cailloutis 2 à fines fentes de gel à la limite supérieure des formations limono-tourbeuses et cailloutis 3 à grandes fentes de gel à la limite supérieure des sables ou limons de couverture 1. Il existe aussi des horizons pédologiques, caractéristiques: le sol de Rocourt datant de la fin de l'Eemien; le sol de Warneton datant de la période de sédimentation du limon et sable grossier; l'horizon pédologique cryoturbé (Kesselt - Zelzate -Paudorf), datant de la fin du Pléniglaciaire A; le sol de Stabroek datant du début du Tardiglaciaire. Nous sommes arrivés à la conclusion que la période du Weichsel est caractérisée par une sédimentation bicyclique: d'une part le Pléniglaciaire A caractérisé par des conditions de milieu froid-humide avec dominance de processus de solifluction et d'autre part l'ensemble Pléniglaciaire B-Tardiglaciaire caractérisé par des conditions de milieu froid-sec avec dominance de sédimentation éolienne. Les deux cycles sont en outre divisés par une période d'extrême froid (déflation) résultant respectivement dans l'établissement du cailloutis 1 à petites fentes de gel et du cailloutis 3 à grandes fentes de gel. Samenvatting De stratigrafie van de Boven-Pleistocene afzettingen in België sluit rechtstreeks aan bij deze van het Noord-Europese ruim. Deze bewering is gesteund op het voorkomen in het noordwesten van België van fluvio-marine Eem afzettingen met Tapes senescens (die de meest zuidelijk gekende uitbreiding vormen van de "Senescens Sande") en de rechtstreekse laterale correlatie van de interglaciale Rocourt bodem met deze marine formaties. Elders werden aan afzettingen, aangeduid als "Veen en grind", eveneens een Eem ouderdom toegekend op grond van palynologische bevindingen. De afzettingen behorende tot de Laatste Glaciatie periode of Weichsel worden in de volgende litho-stratigrafische eenheden onderverdeeld : zand en grind, leem en grof zand, (venige) leem afzettingen gezamenlijk het Pleniglaciaal A (koud-vochtige sedimentatie omstandigheden) opbouwend; kris-kras gelaagde zanden, dekzand en dekleem 1 of 2, gezamenlijk het Plenigla-ciaal B (koud-droge sedimentatie omstandigheden) opbouwend; laat dekzand 1 of 2 behorend tot het Laat-Glaciaal. Merkwaardige periglaciale horizonten vormen: keienvloer 1 met kleine vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de leem en grof zand afzetting; keienvloer 2 met fijne vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de (venige) leem afzettingen en keienvloer 3 met grote vorstscheuren aan de bovengrens van de dekzand of dekleem 1 afzettingen. Merkwaardige bodem-vegetatie horizonten treden op: op het einde van het Eem, de Rocourt bodem; tijdens de afzetting van het leem en grof zand, de Warneton bodem en op het einde van het Pleniglaciaal A, het cryoturbaat bodem horizont (Kesselt-Zelzate - Paudorf horizont); verder een Stabroek bodem bij de aanvang van het Laat-Glaciaal. Hieruit vloeit voort dat de Weichselperiode door een bi-cyclische sedimentatie wordt gekenmerkt: eensdeels de fase van het Pleniglaciaal A, gekenmerkt door koud-vochtige milieu omstandigheden met dominerend solifluctie processen en anderdeels de fase van het Pleniglaciaal B - Laat-Glaciaal, gekenmerkt door koud-droge milieu omstandigheden met overheersend eolische sedimentatie. Beide cycli worden verder gekenmerkt door het optreden van een extreem koude (deflatie) fase respectievelijk de keienvloer 1 met kleine vorstscheuren en de keienvloer 3 met grote vorstscheuren.
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A land micro-mammal fauna from the Early Eocene marine Egem deposits (NP12, Belgium) and the first occurrence of the peradectid marsupial Armintodelphys outside North America
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Dental remains of land mammals are sometimes discovered in shallow marine Paleogene deposits of the North Sea Basin. Such is the case for eleven specimens we describe here from the Early Eocene Egemkapel Clay Member in the middle part of the Tielt Formation, found in Ampe quarry at Egem in Northwestern Belgium. The small fauna consists of 6 taxa, including the neoplagiaulacid multituberculate Ectypodus, the erinaceomorph insectivore Macrocranion, the nyctitheriid Leptacodon, an eochiropteran bat possibly belonging to a palaeochiropterygid, an unidentified perissodactyl possibly belonging to an equoid, and a new species of the peradectid marsupial Armintodelphys. The latter represents the first European occurrence of the genus, which was previously only known from the North American late Early and early Middle Eocene of the Wind River and Green River basins in Wyoming and the Uinta Basin in Utah. Biogeographic and biostratigraphic analyses of peradectid marsupials suggest that Armintodelphys dispersed between North America and Europe around the time of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The Egemkapel Clay Member has been dated as middle NP12, early late Ypresian, whereas the Egem mammal fauna can be correlated to the fauna of Avenay from the Paris Basin, which is the international reference-level MP8+9 of the mammalian biochronological scale for the European Paleogene.
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Dental and tarsal anatomy of 'Miacis' latouri and a phylogenetic analysis of the earliest carnivoraforms (Mammalia, Carnivoramorpha)
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One of the earliest basal carnivoraforms, Miacis latouri, previously known by only two teeth from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium, is here described based on about 280 new specimens from Dormaal, allowing illustration of almost the entire deciduous and permanent dentition and thus giving information on the dentition of an early basal carnivoraform species and its variability. Based on the dental features, we refer the species to a new genus, Dormaalocyon. We identify possible sexual dimorphism in D. latouri that is less pronounced than in Uintacyon rudis. We also describe for the first time the tarsal bones (calcaneum and astragalus) of D. latouri; these indicate arboreal capabilities for this species. In order to ascertain the position of Dormaalocyon among basal carnivoraforms, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of the carnivoramorphans. Among basal carnivoraforms, three groups are recovered: the Uintacyon group, Oodectes group, and the Vulpavus group. Dormalocyon is one of the most primitive carnivoraforms and is closely related to North American Vulpavus and Miacis species. We propose that the two latter genera are North American with an ancestry that involves the European Dormaalocyon; this implies a dispersal of carnivoraforms from Europe to North America near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Finally, the topology of the phylogenetic tree supports a Paleocene radiation of the carnivoraforms, which is presently unknown.
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Tarsal diversity in the earliest Eocene mammal fauna of Dormaal, Belgium
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Mammal teeth bring important information regarding phylogeny and diet. However, postcranial elements, although poorly studied for small Paleogene mammals, can provide other significant data. The purpose of this study is to associate tarsal bones with dental specimens for a systematic identification. We thus chose the Belgian locality of Dormaal (Tienen Formation, Belgium) that has yielded the earliest Eocene mammals of Europe. This particularly rich fauna, dated between 55.5 and 55.8 Ma, occurred during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a key period in the mammal evolution. It is composed by archaic mammals (“condylarths”, arctocyonids, plesiadapiforms, “insectivorans”…) and also by earliest modern taxa (primates, rodents, carnivoraforms, artiodactyls …), representing about 14,000 dental specimens. 488 tarsal bones are studied according to three methods: morphology, relative abundance and relative size. 12 morphotypes of astragali and 18 of calcanei are discriminated and most of them are identified at the level of species (e.g. the marsupial Peratherium constans), genus or family (e.g. ischyromyid rodents). New perspectives in phylogeny and paleoecology are proposed for further studies implying tarsal bones.
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On the occurrence of the osteoglossid genus Scleropages (Teleostei, Osteoglossiformes) in the continental Paleocene of Hainin (Mons Basin, Belgium)
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Some bony remains, otoliths and squamules belonging to the osteoglossid genus Scleropages are described from the continental Paleocene of Hainin (Mons Basin, Belgium). The hypotheses to explain the occurrence of such a freshwater fish in Europe at that time are discussed.
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Actes des Journées de Spéléologie Scientifique, Han-sur-Lesse 1997 à 2000
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Through the correspondence: the little story of the “Spy bones”.
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In the summer 1886, the Neandertal fossils of Spy were unearthed in the so-called Betche aux Rotches cave. Ever since, they have been through many events and have been the stake of discords, sometimes impassioned, between the various protagonists of their discovery and their conservation. The succession of these events will be redrawn here and the positions of each cleared up in the light of the rereading of two archives collections coming from the discoverers, namely the correspondence collection of Maximin Lohest, which is Mrs Dallemagne-Ophoven’s property, and the correspondence collection of Marcel De Puydt, handed over to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), which we shall refer to as “the Vercheval collection”.
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De oostrand van het Massief van Brabant met beschrijving van de geologische verkenningsboring te Martenslinde
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Calcul des écoulements de nappes aquifères à deux dimensions en régime transitoire
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New mammals from the marine Selandian of Maret, Belgium, and their implications for the age of the Paleocene continental deposits of Walbeck, Germany
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The early to middle Selandian fossiliferous Orp Sand Member of the Heers Formation in Belgium has regularly been excavated at its type-locality Maret for its rich and diversified selachian fauna. Among the abundant vertebrate remains, extremely rare mammal specimens have been found. Three isolated teeth have been published previously, all with uncertain affinities. The purpose of this study is to present new specimens from the same deposits, including a small well-preserved dentary of an adapisoriculid attributable to “Afrodon” germanicus, a fragmentary upper molar, referred to Berrulestes sp., and a premolar of a large arctocyonid. Among the previous specimens we identified Arctocyonides cf. weigelti. The adapisoriculid dentary offers new clues that allow transferring “Afrodon” germanicus to the genus Bustylus. The five mammal taxa from Maret indicate an age intermediate between reference-levels MP1-5 of Hainin, Belgium and MP6 of Cernay, France and present the greatest correlation with the rich Walbeck fauna in Germany. The deposits from Walbeck were usually thought to be slightly older than the late Thanetian deposits of Cernay. We infer here that the age of Walbeck is likely to be Selandian. The strong differences observed between Hainin on the one hand, and Walbeck and Cernay on the other hand, document a dispersal event from North America to Europe around the Danian-Selandian boundary.
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