114 



THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



Europe 

 Upper Ypresian 



Lower Ypresian 



Sparnacian 



North America 

 Lower Bridger 

 Huerfano (Upper) 



Wind River, Coryphodon Zone 

 Upper Wasatch " 

 Huerfano (Lower) " " 



Lower Wasatch, Coryphodon Zone 



7~T — 



LOWER 



eoce'ni 



Sparnacian Life, Coryphodon Zone 



Sparnacian formations. — The Sparnacian Stage is broadly parallel with 

 the Lower Wasatch of America; it receives its name from Epernay (Latin, 



Sparnacum). As shown in 

 localities 6-16 of the accom- 

 panying map (Fig. 26), the 

 chief formations representing 

 this stage are along the old 

 Suessonian coastline of northern 

 France and southeastern Eng- 

 land, formerly near the shore- 

 line of the ancient North Sea, 

 which is known geologically as 

 the Suessonian Sea. The open 

 Thanetian sea of the preceding 

 phase is now succeeded by 

 lagoons and estuaries, favor- 

 able to the formation of plastic 

 clays and lignites. The typical 

 deposits, argiles plastiques et 

 lignites de Soissons ^ of lacus- 

 trine origin (6), are paralleled 

 by the fluviatile Conglomerat de Meudon (12), near Paris, by the Sables 

 et argiles ligniteuses, near Cernay (described above on p. 100), and by the 

 Travertin de Sezanne (14) and the Woolwich and Reading Beds. The last 

 two (15) apparently both yield a rich representation of the flora of the 

 period. De Lapparent describes the Sparnacian as a period of fluvio- 

 marine deposition, the region of Paris being occupied by a lagoon, while 

 farther south were lakes. 



The lacustrine Travertin de Sezanne (a calcareous tuff), near the present 

 site of Paris, includes the sassafras and other large trees of the laurel family, 

 lindens and magnolias.^ Similarly in the Woolwich Beds of southeastern 



Fig. 32. — France in Lower Eocene, or Ypresian 

 times. After de Lapparent, 1906. White = land. 

 Ruled lines = sea. The modern river courses, as 

 indicated, differ totally from those of Eocene times. 



1 The town, Soissons, is in Dept. Aisne, northeast of Paris. 

 "De Lapparent, Traite de Geologic, 1906, p. 1495. 



