Albian flora from Archingeay-Les Nouillers (Charente-Maritime): comparison and synthesis of Cretaceous meso- and macro-remains from the Aquitaine Basin (southwestern France)

Abstract

Over recent decades, diverse structures ascribed to angiosperms, bennettitaleans, conifers, cycads, ginkgophytes and pteridosperms have been reported from the Cretaceous deposits of the Aquitaine Basin (southwestern France). However, Albian macrofloras remain uncommon in Aquitania as well as in France. The clay from the Archingeay-Les Nouillers quarries is one of the rare deposits of the Aquitaine Basin to yield Albian plant meso- and macro-remains. Although Albian plant-bearing beds are not accessible any more in these quarries, samples collected from excavations conducted at the end of the XXth century were deposited in the collections of the University of Rennes 1. This paper provides a synthesis of the meso- and macro-remains contained in these collections, including angiosperm leaves and leafy conifer axes, dated as Late Albian. Providing here an inventory of the Cretaceous meso- and macro-remains from the Aquitaine Basin, we compare the Albian flora from Archingeay-Les Nouillers with pre-Albian, Albian, Cenomanian, and Turono-Coniacian floras from other localities in southwestern France.