Marnes de Dives

The Marnes de Dives is a geological formation in Normandy, France. It dates back to the upper part of the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic.^[1] And is partially equivalent to the Oxford Clay in England. It predominantly consists of ooidal marl, rich in pyrite and lignite, interbedded with thin limestone horizons.^[2] It is best exposed at the base of the Falaises des Vaches Noires (Cliffs of Black Cows) as well as the foreshore at low tide. It is known for its fossils, notably those of ammonites, marine crocodiles and fragmentary remains of dinosaurs, mostly theropods.

Panorama of the Falaises des Vaches Noires

Marnes de Dives
Stratigraphic range: Late Callovian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Falaises des Vaches Noires
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Marnes de Villers
Thickness	8–10 metres (30–30 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Marl
Other	Limestone
Location
Region	Normandy
Country	France
Extent	Paris Basin
Type section
Named for	Dives-sur-Mer

Vertebrate fauna

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs of the Marnes de Dives
Taxa	Species	Presence	Description	Images
Piveteausaurus[1]	P. divesensis	Vaches Noires	Braincase.[3]
Streptospondylus	S. altdorfensis	Vaches Noires[4]	Megalosaurid dinosaur. Originally a chimera of dinosaur and marine crocodile material. redefined to solely refer to the syntype dinosaur material consisting of "several vertebrae series, single vertebrae, a partial left pubis and limb elements". May be from the overlying Marnes de Villers, but the Marnes de Dives is much more productive and was better exposed when it was collected in the 18th century.
Sauropoda	Indeterminate	Vaches Noires	Remains consist of a single vertebra, destroyed in 1944, may be from the overlying Marnes de Villers[5]
Stegosauria	Indeterminate	Vaches Noires	Remains consist of 2 associated vertebra in hard limestone[6]
Theropoda[1]	Indeterminate	Vaches Noires	Multiple taxa represented, including indeterminate megalosaurid material possibly referrable to the two named taxa alongside fragmentary remains of Allosauroids,[7] Including dentary and maxilla fragments. Other theropod remains include an associated braincase and frontal.[8][9] Allosauroid material bears similarities to metriacanthosaurids. Material is of unclear stratigraphic provenance, and may belong to overlying cliff strata.[10]

Crocodyliformes

Crocodyliformes of the Marnes de Dives
Taxa	Species	Presence	Description	Images
Tyrannoneustes[11]	T. lythrodectikos	Vaches Noires	A geosaurine metriorhynchid
Metriorhynchus	M. geoffroyii	Vaches Noires	A metriorhynchine metriorhynchid
Proexochokefalos	P. heberti	Villers-sur-Mer	A teleosaurid
Thalattosuchus[12]	T. superciliosus	Villers-sur-Mer	A metriorhynchine metriorhynchid

Fish

Fish of the Marnes de Dives[13]
Taxa	Species	Presence	Description	Images
Leedsichthys[14]	L. problematicus	Vaches Noires	A giant pachycormiform fish, may be from overlying Marnes de Villiers
Trachymetopon	Indeterminate		A giant coelacanth
cf. Hypsocormus	Indeterminate		A pachycormid fish
Pycnodontiformes	Indeterminate
Lepidotidae	Indeterminate		A ginglymodian
Ichthyodectiformes	Indeterminate		A stem-group teleost

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

References

1. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 538–541. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
2. Lebrun, Patrice; Courville, Philippe (2013). "Le Jurassique des falaises des Vaches-Noires".
3. "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 73.
4. Brignon, Arnaud (April 2016). "L'abbé Bacheley et la découverte des premiers dinosaures et crocodiliens marins dans le Jurassique des Vaches Noires (Callovien/Oxfordien, Normandie)". Comptes Rendus Palevol (in French). 15 (5): 595–605. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2015.10.004.
5. A. Bigot Vertèbre de Cetiosaurus de l’Oxfordien de Dives Bull. Soc. Linn. Normandie, 9 (1895), p. XXXIII
6. Buffetaut, Eric; Tabouelle, Jérôme (July 2019). "Thyreophoran vertebrae from the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) of the Vaches Noires cliffs (Normandy, France), with remarks on the dinosaur assemblage from the Vaches Noires". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18 (7): 891–896. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2019.04.009.
7. Un metatarsien de dinosaure theropode dans le Jurassique des Falaises des Vaches Noires (Calvados, Normandie, France). Bulletin Sciences et Geologie Normandes 1:49-53
8. Evariste, Monvoisin (2019). "Diversité des dinosaures théropodes dans le Jurassique des Falaises des Vaches Noires (Calvados, Normandie) (Masters Thesis)" (PDF). Centre de Recherche Sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CR2P), MNHN, CNRS, Sorbonne Science Université.
9. E. Buffetaut, J. Enos Un nouveau fragment crânien de dinosaure théropode du Jurassique des Vaches Noires (Normandie, France) remarques sur la diversité des théropodes jurassiques européens C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. II, 314 (1992), pp. 217-222
10. Monvoisin, Evariste; Allain, Ronan; Buffetaut, Eric; Picot, Laurent (2022-03-24). "New data on the theropod diversity from the Middle to Late Jurassic of the Vaches Noires cliffs (Normandy, France)". Geodiversitas. 44 (12). doi:10.5252/geodiversi-tas2022v44a12. ISSN 1280-9659.
11. Mark T. Young; Marco Brandalise de Andrade; Stephen L. Brusatte; Manabu Sakamoto; Jeff Liston (2013). "The oldest known metriorhynchid super-predator: a new genus and species from the Middle Jurassic of England, with implications for serration and mandibular evolution in predacious clades". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 11 (4): 475–513. doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.704948.
12. Mark T. Young, FLS; Arnaud Brignon; Sven Sachs; Jahn J. Hornung; Davide Foffa; James J. N. Kitson; Michela M. Johnson; Lorna Steel (2021). "Cutting the Gordian knot: a historical and taxonomic revision of the Jurassic crocodylomorph Metriorhynchus". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (2): 510–553. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa092. ISSN 0024-4082.
13. Simon Beaufils (2022) Composition et réseau trophique de l'ichtyofaune du Jurassique moyen (Callovien) des Vaches Noires, Calvados, Normandie
14. J. J. Liston and D. Gendry. 2015. Le Python de Caen, les algues géantes d'Amblie, et austres spécimens perdus de Leedsichthys d'Alexandre Bourienne, Jules Morière, Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps et Alexandre Bigot. L'Echo des falaises 19:17-34