Abstract
Utilizing bio- and chemostratigraphy, we propose an integrated dating of the upper part of thecontinental “Sparnacien des Corbières” and the overlying marine “lower-middle Ilerdian” succession of Albas-Le Clot (Corbières, France), in order to refine the position and age of the Le Clot mammalian locality. Ourdata show that this locality, which has yielded a mammal fauna early Ypresian in age (close to MP7, MammalPaleogene level), is located above the end of the carbon isotope excursion (CIE) the base of which defines thePaleo cene–Eocene boundary. The Le Clot mammalian locality is therefore younger than the Paleocene–EoceneThermal Maximum (PETM), and also younger than the Dormaal MP7 reference fauna in Belgium, which iscorrelated with the onset of the CIE (nannoplankton Zone NP9b). Moreover, we demonstrate that the Le Clotmammalian locality is older than the Eocene Thermal Maximum2 (ETM2) event, located in the lower partof NP11 Zone. Associated with the ages of benthic foraminifera and dinocysts observed in the succession, ourδ13Corg chemostratigraphy suggests that the Le Clot locality is correlated to the upper NP10–lower NP11 Zones.The refined location of the CIE in the Albas-Le Clot section is discussed because two carbon isotope excursionsare potentially recorded in the upper “Sparnacien des Corbières”, here recognized as mainly Thanetian in age.