Upper Aptian ammonites from Roussillon, southern France

Abstract

The present contribution describes a new rich ammonite material from the Aptian-type area, Vaucluse, France, made accessible by the expansion of the wine cellar of Domaine de Château-Blanc at Roussillon, located at ca. 8 km northwest of Apt. This temporary outcrop exposed a few meters of sandstones and sandy, glauconitic marls, characterising the fifth unit of the Aptian-type series. The ammonite specimens are preserved as crushed, internal moulds with phosphatised shells, and are assigned to the Acanthohoplitidae Egoianiceras angulatum, Egoianiceras lautum, ?Egoianiceras exiquecostatum, and Acanthohoplites sp., together with poorly-preserved Parahoplitidae (Parahoplites sp.). This assemblage is coeval to the Fallot black shale episodes occurring in the nearby Vocontian Basin, and correlates to the uppermost Epicheloniceras martini Zone of Dutour (2005), or the lower Colombiceras tobleri Zone of Dauphin (2002), an age which challenges the younger ammonite-age calibration previously established for the fifth unit.