IN THE ANGLO-PARIS BASIN 8 5 



and that the daviesi Subzone is absent at Wissant. At the base of Bed 12 (v) 

 Inoceramus concentricus is present but as one works up through the bed it passes 

 through a subsulcatus stage to achieve the form of i". sulcatus just below the cristatum 

 nodule bed 13 (cf. P. & J. -P. Destombes 1965 ; 260). Beudanticeras beudanti also 

 occurs partly crushed with its shell, and it should be borne in mind that d'Orbigny's 

 holotype of Dipoloceras bouchardianum is from Wissant and is pyritic with the shell ; 

 it almost certainly came from 12 (v). Anahoplites daviesi and its close relatives are 

 absent and in fact the fauna is that which occurs in the lower nodule bed of Bed VIII 

 at Folkestone minus the late daviesi Subzone element (p. 15) absent at Wissant. 

 Therefore, the lower part of the cristatum Subzone is represented at Wissant by these 

 clays of 12 (v) and this is the only proven section known to the writer where the basal 

 part of the Upper Albian is represented by an uncondensed sequence. Bed 12 (v) 

 certainly does not belong to the daviesi Subzone as Marie (1965 ; 279) has indicated. 



It is worth recording here that Bed 13 at Wissant contains a remanie ammonite 

 fauna which indicates that it represents Bed VIII (ii & iii) at Folkestone together 

 with the clays of Bed IX up to the level at which Hysteroceras orbignyi becomes 

 common. The Euhoplites inornatus level, which provides a useful indicator horizon 

 in the lower part of the Upper Albian, is caught up within Bed 13. This bed re- 

 presents, therefore, the bulk of the cristatum Subzone together with what has been 

 considered previously to be the lower part of the orbignyi Subzone (see also p. 126). 



The original account by Barrois (1875a) of the succession between the Wissant area 

 of the Boulonnais and the Departement of the Meuse has had very little added to it. 

 This area includes the Ardennes where Barrois demonstrated the major stratigraphic 

 break which exists between the spathi Subzone and the sediments of Upper Albian age 

 classified by him with his ' Zone of Ammonites inflatus ' which he included in the 

 Cenomanian. The sequence in the dentatus Zone is itself incomplete, reflecting the 

 proximity of the area to the Variscan massifs to the east. In the Departement of the 

 Meuse, the Middle Albian sediments begin to thicken and it is at Revigny-sur-Ornain 

 that the more detailed account of the sequence in the southern part of the Paris 

 Basin commences. 



(ii) THE OUTCROP FROM THE RIVER ORNAIN (MEUSE) 

 TO THE RIVER ARMANCE (YONNE) 



The outcrop of the Albian sediments in the southern part of the Paris Basin is 

 shown in text-fig. 33. This strip of country is the classic area for the study of the 

 French Albian ; the name Albian stems from the Roman province of Alba, now the 

 Departement of the Aube. It includes the portions of the Departements of the 

 Meuse, Marne, Haute Marne, Aube and Yonne, divided into the old regions of the 

 Argonne (part), then Perthois, and part of the Puisaye. The succession and its 

 facies changes at the outcrop can be demonstrated by brief descriptions of the follow- 

 ing seven sections (a) Revigny-sur-Ornain (Meuse) ; (b) Pargny-sur-Saulx (Marne) ; 

 (c) Les Cotes-Noires pres de Moeslain (Haute-Marne) ; (d) Courcelles pres Clerey 

 (Aube) ; (e) La Vendue Mignot (Aube) ; (f) St. Florentin area (Yonne). 



These sections demonstrate the important development of the dentatus Zone and 



