Drowning events, development and demise of carbonate platforms and controlling factors: The Late Barremian–Early Aptian record of Southeast France

Sedimentary Geology 298 (2013) 28–52

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Drowning events, development and demise of carbonate platforms and controlling factors: The Late Barremian–Early Aptian record of Southeast France Jean-Pierre Masse ⁎, Mukerrem Fenerci-Masse CEREGE, Aix-Marseille University, Centre Saint Charles, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France

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Article history: Received 9 July 2013 Received in revised form 9 September 2013 Accepted 10 September 2013 Available online 20 September 2013 Editor: B. Jones Keywords: Drowning events Carbonate platforms Controlling factors Early Cretaceous SE France

a b s t r a c t In Provence and Languedoc, SE France, four drowning events were identified in platform carbonates of late Barremian–Bedoulian age; their timing, referred to ammonite zones or subzones, is as follows: (1) (2) (3) (4)

Late Barremian (D1), at the Gerhardtia sartousiana–Imerites giraudi boundary, Middle Bedoulian (D2), at the Deshayesites weissi–Deshayesites deshayesi boundary, Mid late Bedoulian (D3) in correspondence with the “Roloboceras hambrovi subzone”, and Late Bedoulian (D4) at the Deshayesites grandis–Dufrenoya furcata transition.

Notwithstanding their relatively wide regional, lateral continuity, the depositional hiatus, linkage with exposure, paleobathymetric range and offset, and geographical extent of drowning discontinuities are not uniform. The late Barremian drowning (D1) is marked either by the development of a permanent intra-shelf basin with ammonites associated with the re-organization of platform–basin relationships, or by the wide extent of Palorbitolina– Heteraster facies, which develops to the detriment of the antecedent rudist facies. The drowning event is followed by platform recovery during the early Bedoulian, but the corresponding development of shallow water carbonates is subsequently interrupted by the emergence of an uplifted bulge trending sub-parallel to the Provence–Languedoc margin. The Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2) is concurrent with the sealing of the antecedent paleotopography and the wide development of Palorbitolina facies, then bioclastic and coral facies tend to recover. The Mid late Bedoulian drowning (D3) is characterized by an overall deepening phase, with ammonite-bearing marly facies or cherty limestones, shallow bioclastics being locally present. The late Bedoulian drowning (D4) records the deposition of deep water marls. Evidence is lacking that global sea level changes or transgressive–regressive cycles had a significant impact on drowning events, and some evidence that changes in temperature and productivity of the ocean may have contributed to these phenomena in conjunction with other factors. Though distension fault activity is regarded as a major controlling factor for the origin of the late Barremian deepening event, its associated paleogeographic re-organization, ensuing emergence of the Provence–Languedoc marginal bulge and its subsequent detumescence coeval with the Middle Bedoulian drowning. Associated changes in facies types, from rudist to Palorbitolina, reflect sea-water deepening coupled with trophic modifications. As agents of differential subsidence, tectonic phenomena are also testified by the contrasting regional patterns of paleobathymetric offsets combined with drowning events. They are a clue for understanding thickness changes and coeval modifications in the overall orientation of the progradational polarity of the platform system, towards the adjacent basinal areas. Environmental changes, essentially the two main OAE1a subevents, are regarded as significant agents of the Mid late and late Bedoulian drownings, whereas tectonic processes are also involved in the corresponding deepening. However, the effects of the OAE events on the functioning of the shallow carbonate factory are poorly understood and still need to be investigated.

⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J.-P. Masse). 0037-0738/$ – see front matter © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2013.09.004

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The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide pressure and, as a consequence, the reduction of the calcification potential of benthic organisms, both reported in the literature, are not clearly reflected in the composition of the biota: aragonite-dominated organisms such as caprinid rudists thrive throughout the Bedoulian. The role of acidification in platform demise is therefore questionable. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction Drowning events, and their correlative drowning unconformities, play a significant role in the stratigraphic organization of shallow platform carbonates (Schlager, 1981, 1989, 1998; Schlager and Camber, 1986). As potential sequence boundaries, drowning discontinuities have proved to be useful in stratigraphic correlations at regional and even extra-regional scale (Schlager, 1998). For instance flooding and/or drowning events were used for the stratigraphic correlations of Cretaceous carbonates from the Helvetic domain (Funk et al., 1993) and the southern Pyrénées (Gili, 1993). Four precisely dated drowning events having high stratigraphic correlation power have been identified in the upper Barremian–Bedoulian platform carbonates of SE France (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011); the late Barremian (D1), Middle Bedoulian (D2), Mid late Bedoulian (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4). This paper is designed to present anatomic implications of the stratigraphic correlation based on drowning events and the corresponding step by step paleogeographic reconstruction of the platform system and adjacent outer shelf and basinal settings. Environmental conditions coeval with the drowning events are documented and discussed as potential controlling factors. Main causes of drowning, relative sea-level rise, tectonics, changing benthic carbonate producers, oversteepening and self erosion and burial by clastics (Erlich et al., 1990; Jansa, 1993), are prone to reduce the growth potential of shallow water carbonate systems, whereas drowning may also be envisaged as a result of modifications of environmental factors (Schlager, 1999; Erlich and Coleman, 2005; Mutti et al., 2005). For instance, drowning episodes of early Cretaceous platforms of the Northern Tethyan margin, usually regarded as the reflection of transgressive pulses (e.g. Bodin et al., 2006), have been correlated with modifications in the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, or even a methane hydrate dissociation event (Föllmi et al., 1994; Weissert et al., 1998; Clavel et al., 2002; Wissler et al., 2003; Renard et al., 2005). Interpretation of sedimentary breaks in platform history tends to be correlated with environmental perturbations recorded in the adjacent basins and having some global significance (Weissert et al., 1998; Godet et al., 2013). During the late Barremian–Bedoulian, drastic changes recorded in the pelagic record include: a nannoplankton crisis (Erba, 1994), an Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1a) (Arthur et al., 1990), and a modification of the isotopic composition of the global carbon pool (Menegatti et al., 1998; Weissert et al., 1998). Moreover intense volcanic degassing and release of methane hydrates contained in the marine sediments are asked for a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide pressure and, as a consequence, reduction of the calcification potential of benthic and planktonic organisms (Wissler et al., 2002). What is the influence of the foregoing climatic and oceanographic perturbations on the functioning of shallow carbonate platforms, in other words how the platform responded to these external factors, without ignoring the role of possible other factors, such as tectonics, frequently involved in the organization of platform systems (Najarro et al., 2010; van Buchem et al., 2010), these are the questions we want to address by analyzing drowning events. Drowning implies a significant bathymetric offset with two modes, either as a drowning sequence or as an abrupt discontinuity. The origin of drowning discontinuities is in general stepwise and includes:1 — an interruption of shallow water sedimentation, generally associated with or followed by 2 — lithification (usually submarine), 3 — a depositional lag associated with or followed by a deepening, prior to 4 — a

phase of renewed (deeper) sedimentation. Steps 2 and 3 are quite variable and may be inconspicuous in the case of a drowning sequence. This succession of events postulates a suite of different related or unrelated mechanisms and each step requires specific, distinctive environmental conditions.

2. Paleogeographical and geographical settings During the Aptian, the studied region was located at 27–28° North (Masse et al., 2000), that is beyond the Tropic, whereas the overall shallow water biological communities, including rudist bivalves, hermatypic corals, calcareous green algae and large foraminifera (Masse, 1992), i.e. a Chlorozoan association sensu Lees (1975), conform to the present day “tropical settings”, i.e. warm sea, with a thermal regime exceeding or at least equal to an average annual sea surface temperature of 18–20 °C (Pérès, 1961; Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2008), Shallow water carbonates developed around the southern, western and northwestern margins of the Vocontian Basin, the westward termination of the Alpine basin (Fig. 1a,b). During the latest Barremian and most of the Bedoulian, shallow water carbonates were restricted to the North Provence platform, surrounded northwards and southwards by deep-water settings. Southwards to the South Provence basin, the extent of the South Provence platform is only documented from the Toulon region. In the Languedoc, the platform area represents the western extent of the North Provence platform, the two platforms being presently disconnected into two blocks by the Tertiary Nîmes fault (a sinistral fault with an offset in the range of 45 to 50 km) (Masse, 1980). Consequently the reconstruction of the original paleogeography of the Provence–Languedoc platform system depends on the range of the post-Cretaceous strike-slip displacement assumed for the Nîmes fault (see Masse et al., 1990).

3. Timing, characters and regional extent of drowning events in SE France The late Barremian (D1), Middle Bedoulian (D2), Mid late Bedoulian (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4) drowning discontinuities, recognized in the Late Barremian–Bedoulian of SE France, referred to ammonite zones (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011) coincide respectively with: -

the Gerhardtia sartousiana–Imerites giraudi boundary, the Deshayesites weissi–Deshayesites deshayesi boundary, the “Roloboceras hambrovi subzone”, and the Deshayesites grandis–Dufrenoya furcata transition.

The geographic distribution of the key localities and the position of major faults are illustrated in Fig. 2. The stratigraphic cross section of the Provence platform (115 km wide) (Fig. 3) built after 6 key stratigraphic sections to show the position and the lateral extent of the 4 late Barremian–Bedoulian drowning discontinuities. Notwithstanding their relatively wide lateral continuity, the regional expression of drowning discontinuities is not uniform and each event tends to show specific attributes: i.e. regional extent, depositional hiatus, linkage with exposure and paleobathymetric range.

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Fig. 1. Early late Barremian (a) and early Aptian (b) paleogeography of SE France.

3.1. Regional spatial extent of drowning discontinuities Geographic distribution of the late Barremian drowning discontinuity (D1) is relatively wide and extends from the southern part of Provence, including the Cassis–La Bédoule early Aptian stratotype, to Languedoc. It has not been identified precisely in the eastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse, and it is missing in the Urgonian stratotype at Orgon, as well, due to the Mid-Cretaceous erosion of the topmost part of the Barremian series (Masse, 1976, 1996; Léonide et al., 2012; Masse and FenerciMasse, 2013a, 2013b). The Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2) has a wide regional extent, especially in the Monts de Vaucluse-Ventoux and Languedoc regions. The Mid late (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4) drownings are well marked in the eastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse-Ventoux; their expression in other regions (e.g. Languedoc) is rather weak. 3.2. Drowning discontinuities and drowning sequences In the Cassis–La Bédoule stratotype of the Bedoulian, the late Barremian event corresponds to a 4 m thick drowning sequence, and we note the absence of a single major discontinuity, but two sharp facies changes are found at the boundary between beds 35/36 (D1a) and 37/38 (D1b), the latter associated with the onset of planktonic foraminifera, which may be regarded as a major bathymetric break (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011, Fig. 8, p.667). At Saint-Chamas an abrupt discontinuity and a hardground are recorded between ammonite-bearing limestones (belonging to the G. sartousiana zone) and Aptian marls. The late Barremian drowning is therefore identified by a hiatus located within basinal sediments. The I. giraudi zone is missing and the demise of rudist-bearing facies is older, i.e. coeval with the G. sartousiana zone, therefore the picture here differs from that of the southern Provence (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2013a, 2013b). By contrast, in the Monts de Vaucluse the drowning discontinuity is located at the boundary

between rudist and Palorbitolina–Heteraster-bearing beds that is in between infralittoral and shallow circalittoral sediments. The Mid Bedoulian event (D2, Fig. 3) is either associated with Palorbitolina beds overlying coral biostromes capping rudist-bearing limestones, i.e. a drowning sequence, or Palorbitolina beds overlying an early lithified exposure surface on top of rudist beds, i.e. a drowning discontinuity. The first mode documents a stepwise deepening from infralittoral to shallow circalittoral settings, while the second mode deals with the abrupt submergence of an exposed area by shallow circalittoral sediments. Contrasting patterns are associated with the Mid late Bedoulian event (D3, Fig. 3). It is usually evidenced by an abrupt change from coral or calcarenite limestones to fine grained cherty limestones (Rustrel) or marly limestones with ammonites (Apt), both corresponding with a drowning discontinuity in between infralittoral and circalittoral sediments. But locally (Oppedette–Carniol) there is a drowning sequence, i.e. a fining upward/deepening upward trend within calcarenites (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011). In Languedoc the event is locally (Serviers and Labaume) found within ammonite-bearing marly limestones and is inconspicuous. The late Bedoulian drowning (D4, Fig. 3) is marked by marls either overlying a hardground, which caps shallow circalittoral or infralittoral calcarenites with a sharp terminal discontinuity, or is associated with a deepening upward sequence following circalittoral marly limestones. The foregoing shows that a given drowning event may vary regionally and may be represented either by a sharp discontinuity or a drowning sequence. 3.3. Non-depositional hiatus associated with drowning discontinuities It is widely assumed (Schlager, 1981; Drzewiecki and Simo, 1997; among others) that, as sedimentary breaks, drowning discontinuities are coeval with non-depositional hiatus with various durations. In the

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Fig. 2. Geographical and geological regional settings of the study localities; notice the three major NE–SW regional faults (Cevennes, Nîmes and Aix faults). Inset shows the location of Fig. 16.

case of the studied late Barremian–Bedoulian drowning events, the duration of the time lag is assumed to have been relatively short, less than that of an ammonite zone or subzone. For instance, the duration of the depositional hiatus documented below the exposure surface associated with the Middle Bedoulian drowning in the Monts de VaucluseVentoux and Languedoc regions, even difficult to estimate is likely less than an ammonite zone (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011). Moreover uncertainties exist whether the missing record relates to the top of the D. weissi zone and is connected to the exposure-erosional time lag, or to the basal D. deshayesi zone and may be associated with a delayed flooding, or both. However data acquired in some localities, for some of the drowning events document longer durations, as shown by the two following examples. 1- A significant hiatus associated with the late Barremian drowning at Saint-Chamas, where sediments corresponding to the entire I. giraudi zone are missing below the drowning discontinuity capped by early Aptian marls (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011). 2- The Mid late Bedoulian drowning ascribed to the “R. hambrovi subzone” and roughly coeval with the OAE1a event corresponds, in part, with a hiatus reported from the Monts de Vaucluse-Ventoux, and wide areas of the Languedoc region (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011 and discussion below). However, recent biostratigraphic and carbon isotope investigations in the Gargas area (Moullade et al.,

2012) suggest that the basal part of the marly beds overlying the drowning surface is located within the “R. hambrovi subzone”. This observation shows that the hiatus associated with the Mid late Bedoulian drowning is locally limited but corroborates the coincidence of the onset of the OAE1a event with the strong regional, spatial reduction of platform carbonates (calcarenites). Data concerning the duration of the OAE1a event provide an estimate for the duration of the hiatus. Considering that the anoxic or dysoxic conditions correlate with the C5 or even C5 and C6 segments of the carbon curve established by Menegatti et al. (1998), and reported and/or revised from well dated and expanded sections from SE France and Spain, the duration of the event is proposed by Kuhnt et al. (2011) as close to 200 ky and by Gaona-Narvaez et al. (2013) as 95.23 to 120 ky. Other estimates, mainly from Italy, are between 400 ky and 1 Ma (Menegatti et al., 1998; Tejada et al., 2009). These discrepancies may be explained by the use of distinctive cyclostratigraphic methods or may reflect the heterochrony of the onset and termination of the main event in different localities and by the presence of depositional hiatus below, and possibly within and above the black shale interval (see discussion in Menegatti et al., 1998). 3.4. Drowning events, exposure and paleobathymetric offset (Fig. 4) Most of the studied abrupt deepening events mark the termination of a moderate deepening-up trend, observed in infralittoral sedimentary

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Fig. 3. Stratigraphic correlations of the late Barremian–Bedoulian platform carbonates of Provence, focusing on the position, lateral extent and major facies changes associated with drowning events D1 to D4 (see text). Red stars correspond to drowning discontinuities, red arrows represent drowning sequences. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

sequences, and are not associated with exposure. The Middle Bedoulian drowning departs from this model because it postdates, locally, an antecedent emersion. At Cassis–La Bédoule the late Barremian is marked by a drowning sequence characterized by a pronounced bathymetric change, whereas at Saint-Chamas the drowning is associated with a significant non-

depositional hiatus in deep-water sediments. The bathymetric offset tends to decrease in the Monts de Vaucluse and is not detected in the eastern part of this region, but tends to increase basinwards in the Ventoux and Languedoc regions. Bathymetric changes associated with the Middle Bedoulian drowning tend also to increase basinwards (i.e. northwards) in the Monts de Vaucluse-Ventoux and Languedoc

Fig. 4. Anatomic reconstruction of the stratigraphic organization of the late Barremian–Bedoulian platform carbonates of Provence (based on correlations from Fig. 3) to show the extent, major facies changes and sedimentary bodies bounded by drowning discontinuities. Facies legend is given in Fig. 3.

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regions. However a contrasting feature is observed in the western part of the Monts de Vaucluse and the Gard regions, where relatively deep marine sediments developed on top of the emerged antecedent rudist-bearing platform. The above regional trend, i.e. southward deepening coeval with a northward one, is still persisting in the eastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse in relation with the Mid late Bedoulian drowning. The bathymetric offset associated with the late Bedoulian drowning is usually limited, except in the eastern and northeastern parts of the Monts de Vaucluse. 3.5. Effects on subsequent platform organization Actually the recovering potential of rudist biotopes did not depend on the amplitude of the antecedent deepening; rudist communities recover both after the development of relatively shallow circalittoral Palorbitolina facies and deeper ammonite-bearing marls as well. The rate of accommodation appears a key phenomenon to allow or hamper the recovery of shallow water environments. At Cassis–La Bédoule, accommodation is thought to have been in equilibrium with sedimentation rates to maintain a near constant, deep-water paleobathymetry acquired during the late Barremian drowning event. By contrast, at Saint-Chamas, a moderate accommodation rate is postulated, that is first lower (earlier Bedoulian) then in relative equilibrium with the rate of sedimentation, to maintain, throughout the early Bedoulian, shallow platform conditions. As inhabitants of inner platform settings rudists were dependent on water depth (Masse et al., 2003), on the size and physiography of the platform domain (Masse, 1979) and trophic conditions (Masse et al., 2000) The replacement of rudist communities by Palorbitolina communities, a common feature associated with late Barremian–early Aptian platform drowning, supports a significant change in trophic conditions, i.e. increasing nutrient supply (Vilas et al., 1995; Pittet et al., 2002). These biological modifications are coupled with a change from platform to ramp topography. 4. Platform organization and paleogeographic changes associated with drowning events in SE France: evidence of tectonic movements Distribution of the platform and basinal facies from the Provence block is based on stratigraphic correlations of distant measured sections; moreover, the reconstruction of hidden or eroded portions of the stratigraphic system acknowledges a paleoenvironmental model (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011), which provides, potentially, the lateral zonation of facies and their spatial extent (see Fig. 4). For instance the reconstruction of the anatomy of the southern margin of the North Provence platform (presently hidden by the Etang de Berre, between Saint-Chamas and Gignac) is based on this approach. However, as mentioned above, the paleogeographic reconstruction of both the Provence and Languedoc regions must acknowledge the lateral strike-slip displacement of the two corresponding tectonic blocks. Consequently, in the following, for each time slice, we will illustrate the present day (post tectonic) platform configuration, and a reconstruction, which aims to represent the original paleogeography, based on the assumption that the Provence and Languedoc blocks where displaced over 45–50 km due to the sinistral post-Aptian strike-slip effect of the Nîmes fault. Our investigations did not address the western margin of the Alès graben, adjacent to the main Cevennes fault, where Barremian platform limestones are present, because their original position, prior to the sinistral displacements of the border faults, is not clear; however, tectonic studies postulate a significant left-lateral movement (Sanchis and Séranne, 2000). The amplitude of the post-Cretaceous lateral offset of blocks adjacent to the Aix fault is also problematic. 1- During the early late Barremian the Provence platform was characterized by the wide extent of the inner, rudist-bearing, and domain (Fig. 5). Agriopleura beds, which are associated with the

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main progradational phase in platform development, are found from southern Provence to the western part of the Monts de Vaucluse, whereas the corresponding beds have also a wide extent in Languedoc (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2013a, 2013b). As indicated above, the G. sartousiana drowning event was responsible for the formation of a relatively deep-marine corridor, the SaintChamas corridor, 20–30 km wide, possibly east–west trending between the Nerthe hills and Les Alpilles, and breaking the antecedent Provence platform in two distinct entities. This corridor is the precursor of the South Provence basin (Figs. 5, 6). A specific paleogeography marks the late Barremian drowning event, the major trait is the onset of the “Bedoulian paleogeography” through the formation of the relatively wide (70–80 km in width) South Provence basin, which resulted from the spreading of the antecedent Saint-Chamas corridor, and separated the South and North Provence platforms (Figs. 6, 7). The development of the South Provence basinal sediments to the detriment of the antecedent rudist, inner platform regime, contrasts with that of the North Provence carbonate margin, where relatively shallow basinal sediments overly outer platform sediments (usually bioclastics or coral facies). The North Provence platform and its Languedoc counterpart are essentially characterized by shallow circalittoral Palorbitolina–Heteraster facies, whereas a band of shallow water bioclastics is documented in the eastern Monts de Vaucluse, adjacent to basinal sediments northwards, and Palorbitolina–Heteraster facies southwards (Léonide et al., 2012). This sandy bioclastic shoal prefigures the future Rustrel– Flassan uplifted bulge (Fig. 7). The development of the South Provence basin, tied to the late Barremian drowning, has been (Masse, 1976; Machhour et al., 1998), and still is interpreted as the result of a tectonic phenomenon (Fig. 5). The origin of this intra-shelf basin may be due to a north– south extension associated with the reactivation of E–W trending paleo-faults, possibly inherited from the Permian (Toutin-Morin and Bonijoly, 1992). The “Istres fault”, a deep masked fault cutting the basement, documented from seismic profiles (Molliex et al., 2011) and running from Istres to the northern part of the Etang de Berre, is a good candidate for such E–W faults. The lateral displacement, in the subsurface, of the Triassic evaporites overlying the Paleozoic basement (Le Pichon et al., 2010) is another possible factor for the origin of the South Provence basin. The strong break in Bouger anomaly lining the southern edge of the Etang de Berre (Terrier et al., 2007) is another possible candidate for E–W tectonic discontinuities involved in the formation of the basin. The postulated N–S extension is coeval with the rifting and opening of the Bay of Biscay (Montadert et al., 1974) and its North-Pyrenean expression that is the onset of the North Pyrenean deep corresponding with the Deshayesites marls basin (Choukroune and Mattauer, 1978; Peybernès, 1979; Combes and Peybernès, 1989) with an E–W orientation and truncated by NE–SW transverse faults. The South Provence basin is considered as the eastern extent of the Deshayesites marls basin, whereas the onset of the former (late Barremian) is older than that of the latter (Middle Bedoulian) and the tectonic offset between the two regions, due to the cumulative effects of the Cévennes and Nîmes faults is in the range of 100 km if we refer to the reconstructions of Arnaud-Vanneau et al. (1979). 2- During the early Bedoulian, Urgonian facies recovered, leading to the individualization of the North Provence platform and its Languedoc counterpart; this system was prograding northwards towards the Vocontian Basin and southwards towards the South Provence basin. Rudist facies are spatially dominant and flanked, northwards (Provence) and eastwards (Languedoc), that is basinward, by a belt of outer platform coral and bioclastic facies (Fig. 8). 3- The Mid Bedoulian marked the termination of this leveling phase and was characterized by the emergence of the Flassan–Rustrel uplifted bulge and its western extent in Languedoc, from Pouzilhac

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Fig. 5. Cross sectional profiles to illustrate the 3 evolutionary steps and the tectonic origin of the South Provence basin between the North Provence and South Provence platforms, associated with the early late and late Barremian drowning events.

to Bourg-Saint-Andéol (Fig. 9). In Provence this exposed area is flanked northwards by outer platform bioclastics and southwards by coral mounds. The North Provence–Languedoc exposed bulge tends to parallel the antecedent outer platform margin and, in the Monts-de-Vaucluse-Ventoux region, is almost spatially coincident with the late Barremian bioclastic shoals, but with a northeastern shift (Fig. 9). The Provence–Languedoc marginal bulge is bounded in the east and west by the Aix and Cevennes faults respectively, and we interpret this uplifted anomaly as the result of folding between dextral strike-slip faults: the Cevennes and Aix faults (Fig. 9). 4- The Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2) is characterized by the widespread occurrence of Palorbitolina facies, the corresponding spatial distribution of which mimics that of the late Barremian episode (Fig. 10). There is a quasi obliteration of the antecedent Provence– Languedoc bulge. Nevertheless this bulge is still expressed by the presence of pure Palorbitolina facies flanked northeastwards and southwestwards by Palorbitolina-bearing cherty, glauconitic, limestones. 5- The ensuing sedimentation records shallowing up trends with bioclastic shoals developing in some parts of the Monts de Vaucluse and in the eastern part of Languedoc, whereas the western part of the Monts de Vaucluse records deeper conditions with cherty limestones (Fig. 11). We note that in Languedoc the bioclastic shoals are also flanked westwards by ammonite-bearing marly sediments. Moreover the southeastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse records

the presence of rudist-bearing rudstones, which testify the presence of rudist biotope southwards. The southern and the eastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse show contrasting features, as shown by the Apt–Oppedette stratigraphic transect (Fig. 12). Following the Palorbitolina leveling phase, mixed coral-rudist beds settled in the Apt area and grade northwards to coral facies, then to fine bioclastics. Time lines defined by the D2–D3 and D4 discontinuities tend to converge towards the northeast (Fig. 12) whereas time lines tend to diverge northwards (Fig. 4). Proximality–distality trends show contrasting orientations. 6- The Mid late Bedoulian drowning (D3) is followed by an overall deepening; ammonite-bearing marly limestones tend to spread over the entire region with the exception of the northeastern part of the Monts de Vaucluse, where the Provence bulge is somewhat reactivated as a submarine high. A NW–SE belt of shallow bioclastics (potentially the younger ones of the entire Urgonian stratigraphic column) is flanked eastwards and westwards by cherty limestones grading laterally to marly limestones (Fig. 12). This pattern has no apparent equivalent in Languedoc, where thin (i.e. condensed) glauconite rich limestones are locally present. 7- The late Bedoulian drowning event (D4) records the obliteration of the preexisting contrasting regional features and is therefore marked by a uniform, marly, basinal sedimentary regime, which identifies the onset of the Gargas marls (Fig. 13). This regime is also hypothesized for regions of the Durance Uplift (e.g. between Orgon and Saint-Chamas), where the early Cretaceous deposits have been

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Fig. 6. Spatial organization of the Provence–Languedoc region during the early late Barremian, prior to the late Barremian drowning event: platform stage and the Saint-Chamas corridor. A — Geographic configuration of the carbonate platform showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of facies belts between the two regions.

eroded during the Mid Cretaceous. The wide, quite uniform regional distribution of the “Dufrenoya marls” reflects a relative tectonic stability. Nevertheless a significant hiatus of the late Bedoulian marls, and the late Aptian–Albian as well, documented from Chateauneufdu-Pape, where a phosphatic crust overlies the Bedoulian cherty limestones, shows that tectonic deformations were still continuing during the Middle Cretaceous, possibly driven by the activity of the Nîmes fault system (Masse et al., 1990). Faults affecting the carbonate basement (vertical offset in the range of a decameter) and sealed by the “Dufrenoya marls” are locally present in the Banon area, which means that the margin of the antecedent platform was still tectonically unstable at the onset of the Gargas marls regime. To summarize, the foregoing shows that drowning events tend to interrupt the platform type organization to which is substituted by a ramp type organization i.e. Palorbitolina episodes, then followed by platform recovery. The paleogeographic evolution of the region shows that the history of the North Provence platform (Fig. 14) is characterized by: - bipolar (southward and northward) progradational trends during the earlier Bedoulian, followed by a southward downwarping associated with uplift, and, during the late Bedoulian, a trend towards deepening associated with local uplift or downwarping, and - the lateral migration of a bulge, either emerged or immerged, the corresponding anomaly moving back and forth, with a NE–SW trend. During the late Barremian and early Bedoulian, drowning events are coupled with activation of the bulge, which tends to be smoothed during the subsequent aggradational or progradational

phase; during the late Bedoulian, drowning events are coupled with the obliteration of the bulge. Contrasting regimes were associated with the early and late Bedoulian respectively, and there was a peak in tectonic intensity of the Cevennes, Nîmes and Aix faults in the Middle Bedoulian, then a decline during the late Bedoulian. This pattern is also documented from the North Pyrenean region where the “Iraqia limestones” (from the D. furcata zone) tend to seal the antecedent structures (Arnaud-Vanneau et al., 1979; Peybernès, 1979). Relationships between thickness and facies variations (Fig. 4) assumed to reflect spatial differential subsidence show that platform and outer-shelf carbonates tend to be thicker than their basinal counterparts (e.g. Cassis–La Bédoule). Interpreting this observation in terms of differential subsidence needs further studies for acknowledging the role of compaction higher in basinal marly limestones than in pure carbonates. The early and the late Bedoulian show contrasting spatial trends in differential subsidence: during the early Bedoulian time lines are convergent northwards and the depot center was located in the central part of the North Provence platform (Saint-Chamas–Fontaine de Vaucluse), whereas during the late Bedoulian time lines are divergent northwards and the depot center migrated at the North Provence outer margin (Ventoux-Rissas). This pattern shows that tectonicdriven basement mobility was changing through time with significantly different modes before and after the Mid Bedoulian drowning event. Facies and thickness changes of the North-Provence platform during the Bedoulian are illustrated on and summarized by the Fontaine de Vaucluse–Apt–Banon stratigraphic transect (Fig. 14), which shows the

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Fig. 7. Spatial organization of the Provence–Languedoc regions in correspondence with the late Barremian drowning event: ramp stage and the onset of the South Provence basin. A — Geographic configuration of the carbonate platform, showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of facies belts between the two regions.

position of the drowning events. Correlations allow the recognition of: the exposure surface, which marks the location of the emerged marginal bulge (Flassan–Rustrel uplift), the Apt coral bulge and the Simiane– Montsalier bioclastic shoal. A close-up of associated modifications in differential subsidence, proximality–distality trends, leveling patterns and fault derived vertical movements is illustrated by the Apt–Oppedette/ Carniol stratigraphic transect discussed above (Fig. 12). The evolution through time and the shifting positions and amplitude of the marginal bulge (subaerially exposed or submarine) and its associated and adjacent sediments, assumed to have been tectonically driven, are represented in Fig. 15. The corresponding stepwise sedimentological and morphological changes are closely related with drowning events. The structural pattern underlying sea bottom deformations due to block mobility and its correlated topographic changes through time (referred to ammonite zones or subzones) are summarized by the Apt–Banon transect and the regional structural map (Fig. 16A,B) which shows: - modifications of the sea bottom topography in correspondence with the successive drowning events and subsequent sedimentary episodes, the location of paleofaults and indications on upward or downward movements of fault bounded blocks, and - the coincidence of paleofaults with the present-day faulted pattern of the Monts de Vaucluse and Plateau d'Albion region, assumed to be inherited from the Cretaceous.

The basement major faults appear as key elements for interpreting the spatial configuration and tectonic origin of the Mid Bedoulian marginal bulge of the Provence–Languedoc and nearby regions (Fig. 17). In (a) is represented the present day situation and the orientation of fault strike slip movements (mainly sinistral) during the Tertiary in correspondence with the Alpine orogeny; (b) figures the original configuration and the corresponding (mainly dextral) Cretaceous movements. The Cretaceous inheritance of paleofaults is substantiated by the structural pattern and tectonic history of the Monts de VaucluseVentoux region during the late Aptian–Albian, which documents the prominent role of NE–SW strike slip, sinistral, induced deformations, responsible for a NW–SE transtension (Beaudoin et al., 1986; Joseph et al., 1987; Hibsch et al., 1992). The NW–SE direction, which matches the orientation of the Bedoulian marginal bulge, is represented by a 16 km wide faulted zone, including sinistral N 20° and dextral N 160° faults (Joseph et al., 1987). During the Albian, in correspondence with the Austrian tectonic phase, this network evolved into several en echelon troughs, as for instance the Banon and Sault grabens with an overall NE–SW orientation (see Figs. 14, 16b) (Moullade and Porthault, 1970; Beaudoin et al., 1986; Joseph et al., 1987; Masse et al., 1995). During the late Barremian–Bedoulian the lateral displacement of the Provence and Languedoc blocks is difficult to quantify but we assumed that it was far less than that of the Tertiary and with contrasting directions, mainly dextral instead of sinistral.

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Tectonic movements are not restricted to the Europe–Iberian junction and the opening of the Bay of Biscay. In Spain, the Maestrat and Iberian basins record a peak in extensional, synrift, tectonism and differential subsidence during the early Aptian (Salas and Casas, 1993; Vilas et al., 1993; Bover-Arnal et al., 2010). On the eastern carbonate margin of the Apulian plate the early Aptian sees a peak of huge collapsing events located along active paleofaults (Masse and Luperto-Sinni, 1987). This is also the case for the marginal distal escarpment of the Shuaiba platform in Jebel Akhdar (Oman) (Masse et al., 1997). The onset of some Arabian intrashelf basins, e.g. the Bab (Oman, United Arab Emirates) and the Kazhdumi (Zagros, Iran), linked to extensional tectonic, dates from the early late Bedoulian (Vincent et al., 2010). Last but not least, there is a strong evidence for a wide extent of the emersion/submersion event at the D. weissi–D. deshayesi transition reported not only from SE France and the Helvetic domain but also from Oman–Abu Dhabi at the Kharaib–Hawar boundary (JPM personal observations) and Portugal (Burla et al., 2008). Data from SE France show that structural phenomena have a determinant control on this Mid-Bedoulian event.

5. Environmental changes associated with drowning events Basinal sediments, and in particular the stratotypic section of Cassis–La Bédoule, provide oceanographic and biological signals which document

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environmental changes, precisely dated by biostratigraphic (ammonite, calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminifera) and chemostratigraphic markers. Fig. 18 summarizes the main environmental changes recorded in basinal settings, i.e. Cassis–La Bédoule (Moullade et al., 1998a) and contemporaneous with the four drowning events.

5.1. Late Barremian (D1) The late Barremian drowning (I. giraudi subzone) is coeval with a positive excursion of the oxygen isotope curve, which marks a cooling event. Perturbations of the carbon cycle, evidenced by black shales (Machhour et al., 1998; Masse and Machhour, 1998), a negative carbon isotope shift (Kuhnt et al., 1998) and productivity increase (Bergen, 1998) coupled with a peak in P-content (Stein et al., 2012) are associated with the drowning sequence but tend to postdate the main bathymetric offset. Faunal changes, i.e. the composition of ammonite assemblages, are well expressed in deepwater successions (the so-called “Heteroceras marls” episode) of the Vocontian Basin (Bert et al., 2008). In marginal neritic environments, faunal changes are essentially ecological, i.e. depth related, and illustrated by the replacement of rudist and otherwise shallow water biotas by shallow circalittoral Palorbitolina–Heteraster communities.

Fig. 8. Spatial organization of the Provence and Languedoc regions during the early Bedoulian platform recovery: the major developmental phase of the North Provence platform. A — Geographic configuration of the carbonate platform, showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of facies belts between the two regions.

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Fig. 9. Spatial organization of the Provence and Languedoc regions prior to the Middle Bedoulian drowning event: the exposed marginal bulge A — Geographic configuration showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of the uplifted marginal bulge between the two regions.

5.2. Middle Bedoulian (D2) As shown above, the emergence, in Provence, of the “Flassan–Rustrel uplift”, and its Languedoc counterpart, marked by a karstic surface developed onto rudist-bearing limestones, is coeval with significant sedimentary modifications in adjacent basins, mainly the replacement of pure limestones by marly limestones (Cassis–La Bédoule, Angles). Onto the permanent submarine platform area (Monts-de-VaucluseVentoux) coral facies or ooidal facies develop after the rudist dominated regime; this means that marine opening or moderate deepening is coeval with the emergence of the uplifted domain located at the outer margin of the pre-existing rudist-bearing domain. The Middle Bedoulian drowning, which is essentially characterized by the flooding of the antecedent uplifted exposed areas, associated with a deepening phase that is the deposition of circalittoral sediments which overly: either the exposed surface and its underlying inner platform infralittoral deposits (rudist facies) or outer platform infralittoral deposits (ooidal or coral facies). The amplitude of deepening varies regionally (see above). Basinal settings (Cassis–La Bédoule) record: - a positive excursion of strontium, a possible consequence of the break in aragonite production onto the platform system (Renard and De Rafelis, 1998), - a lowering in temperature (Kuhnt et al., 1998), and

- an increasing fertility of the sea surface concurrent with a peak in abundance of the genus Biscutum (Bergen, 1998). The contemporaneous “nannoconid crisis” reported by most authors working in pelagic sediments (Erba, 1994; Erba and Tremolada, 2004; Luciani et al., 2006) is poorly expressed at Cassis–La Bédoule (Bergen, 1998).

5.3. Mid late Bedoulian (D3) Oxygen isotopes recorded at Cassis–La Bédoule document a lowering in temperature antecedent to the OAE1a (Kuhnt et al., 2011) testified by a collapse in abundance and diversity of benthic and planktonic foraminifera coeval with the upper part of the “R. hambrovi subzone” (Moullade et al., 1998b) that is in correspondence with the C5–C6 segments of the carbon curve of Menegatti et al. (1998) (Kuhnt et al., 2011). Increase in P-content is observed in the “R. hambrovi” subzone (Stein et al., 2012), whereas productivity increase, expressed by a peak in Biscutum, is documented from the overlying D. grandis subzone (Bergen, 1998) and postdates the “anoxic event”. As for the foregoing drowning events, circalittoral sediments overly infralittoral ones, but infralittoral conditions never recover and the environment remained relatively deep with the exception of local, punctual infralittoral highs.

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Fig. 10. Spatial organization of the Provence and Languedoc regions during the Middle Bedoulian drowning event: ramp stage. A — Geographic configuration, showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of facies belts between the two regions.

5.4. Late Bedoulian (D4) The overall replacement of carbonates by marls coincides with a thermal positive peak (Kuhnt et al., 1998; Kuhnt et al., 2011) and an increase of terrestrial organic elements (microflora) indicative of increasing rainfall (Masure et al., 1998), also suggested for clay minerals (Stein et al., 2012), in a context of relatively high sea water fertility (Bergen, 1998). 6. Discussion During the late Barremian–Bedoulian, paleogeographic changes recorded in SE France, including drowning events, may have been controlled by the interaction of regional and global processes. Tectonic phenomena are expected to be essentially regional, whereas modifications recorded in the oceanic system: anoxia, biocalcification crisis, sea level changes and even trophic perturbations are assumed to be global (Schlanger and Jenkyns, 1976; Jenkyns, 1980; Arthur et al., 1990; Erba, 1994; Clavel et al., 1995; Menegatti et al., 1998; Renard and De Rafelis, 1998; Weissert et al., 1998; Wissler et al., 2003). 6.1. Sea level changes Because in shallow carbonate settings drowning events represent deepening events, regarding such events as the result of sea level rise is tempting and so the four late Barremian–Bedoulian events might

therefore be interpreted as four sea level positive pulse, expressed by flooding surfaces, a model proposed by Hardenbol et al. (1998). Actually sea level changes and their expression in terms of sequence stratigraphy have been envisaged by many authors, especially for the Bedoulian stratotype (Clavel et al., 1995; Renard and De Rafelis, 1998), the Vocontian section of Angles (Magniez-Jannin, 1991) and were also discussed in the Hardenbol et al. (1998) “eustatic cycle chart”. The number of sequences varies from 2 to 5 and different key surfaces (sequences boundaries, maximum flooding surfaces) were proposed by different authors (see discussion in Masse, 1998). In the Middle East, sequences also vary in correspondence with different authors; from 2 to 3 for the same time interval and the locations of the key surfaces are different (Granier et al., 2003; Strohmenger et al., 2009; van Buchem et al., 2010). Usually, sea level changes are not quantified in the literature. However, an example of quantification is provided by Bover-Arnal et al. (2009) for the Maestrat Basin (Spain); a sea level fall in the range of 60 m, and subsequent rise, assumed to be widespread in the Tethyan domain, has been hypothesized to be coeval with the D. furcata zone. The glacio-eustatic component of this sea level fall is postulated to be due to a cooling trend. Similarly a drowning event subsequent to the exposure of the Sarastarri platform is described from northern Spain (Garcia-Mondejar et al., 2009). Data from SE France disagree with such a “sea level fall”: the bathymetric trend is water deepening, while the oxygen isotope values obtained from Cassis–La Bédoule and northern Spain document a warming trend.

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Fig. 11. Spatial organization of the Provence and Languedoc regions after the Middle Bedoulian drowning event, an advanced stage of platform demise. A — Geographic configuration showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. B — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault, showing the lateral continuity of facies belts between the two regions.

The “relative sea level fall” which is thought to account for increasing siliciclastic contents at the top of the Atherfield clay (Isle of Wight, southern England), in the lowermost part of the D. deshayesi zone (Gröcke et al., 1999), is consistent with the emergence of the Urgonian platform at the D. weissi/D. deshayesi transition (with a strong tectonic component), but mismatches with the subsequent Middle Bedoulian drowning. Another case for mismatch is given by the Russian eastern plate (Zorina, 2009), where a lowstand is alleged at the Barremian– Aptian transition, coeval with the deepening phase recorded in SE France. Black-shale episodes, in particular the Selli level, an expression of the OAE1a event, have been regarded as being caused by rapid eustatic sea level rise (Grötsch et al., 1998); data from the Pacific guyots, where black shales are associated with shallow water carbonates (Jenkyns, 1995), suggest that this is not the case. 6.2. Transgressive–regressive cycles The late Barremian–Bedoulian corresponds with the topmost part (regressive) of the so-called second order Regressive cycle 12 of Jacquin et al. (1998) and the lowermost part (transgressive) of the TR cycle number 13 of the same authors. This model postulates a change from transgressive to regressive trend at the G. sartousiana/I. giraudi transition (T12d–R12d) and a change from regressive to transgressive trend at the Deshayesites oglanlensis–D. weissi transition (R12d–T13). Data from SE France are in contradiction with the foregoing model but

have some relevance with the third order scale. First, the drowning event observed at the G. sartousiana/I. giraudi transition marks a deepening phase, recognized as a third order transgression by Jacquin et al. (1998), but this event hardly correlates with a second order regressive phase, and actually no sequence boundary, i.e. the so called Barr 6, has been observed. Second, three transgressive peaks and their subsequent sequence boundaries (Ap1, Ap2, and Ap3), envisaged in the uppermost I. giraudi and D. oglanlensis zones, are not expressed, as well as the regressive event hypothesized in the D. weissi zone. Assuming that the so-called Ap3 sequence boundary (R12d–T13 boundary) correlates with the demise of the Urgonian platform of the subalpine domain leads to the movement the age of this event, “the major Mesozoic sealevel downward shift” sensu Jacquin et al. (1998), from the D. weissi to the D. weissi/D. deshayesi boundary. In addition, the “major drowning event in between Ap3 and Ap4 at 119.2 my” following a “major sea level fall” is adequately placed in the D. deshayesi zone. Last but not the least the onset of the so-called second order regressive phase R13 located at the D. deshayesi/D. furcata boundary (Jacquin et al., 1998) coincides with an overall deepening phase, which marks the end of the carbonate regime and is therefore hardly correlatable with a regressive phase. Deepening is in line with the transgressive character of platform limestones (Iraqia simplex limestones) either onto earlier bauxites, such as in the French Pyrénées (Peybernès, 1979) or on continentalmarginal marine sediments, such as in southern Spain (Vilas et al., 1993). The sequence boundary Ap4 at the Bedoulian/Gargasian transition is not expressed in the pelagic marls of SE France.

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Fig. 12. Relationships between facies changes, modifications in proximality–distality trends and drowning events during the Middle and late Bedoulian (Apt–Oppedette transect, Monts de Vaucluse). Progradational directions are modified after drowning events. Facies legend is given in Fig. 3.

6.3. Temperature changes In SE France, the late Barremian drowning (D1) is associated with a cooling event (I. giraudi subzone); average sea surface temperature estimated at Cassis–La Bédoule (paleolatitude 28° N after Masse et al., 2000) was based on oxygen isotopes. First using a sea-water composition with dW = −1%, in correspondence with an ice free world, the

temperature was established as less than 20 °C (Kuhnt et al., 1998), that is below values for tropical, warm seas (Pérès, 1961; Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2008). A revision of this value by applying a 1.1% correction for coccolith vital effect (Kuhnt et al., 2011) shows that it was underestimated and the calculated temperature was likely in the range of 22–23 °C, that is typical for a warm sea, in the context of greenhouse world at 28° N paleolatitude. This cooling event and subsequent

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Fig. 13. Spatial organization of the Provence and Languedoc regions after the Mid late Bedoulian drowning event: shoal stage and last step before the final platform demise. a — Geographic configuration showing the offset of isopic lines along the Nîmes fault. b — Paleogeographic reconstruction based on the assumption of a Tertiary displacement of the Languedoc and Provence blocks due to the sinistral offset of the Nîmes fault. Notice that the belt of shallow water bioclastics and their adjacent cherty limestones are somewhat homothetic to the antecedent Flassan–Rustrel bulge.

thermal increase are also documented from the Vocontian Basin (Angles) (Wissler et al., 2002; Godet et al., 2008). Similarly a temperature drop is clearly expressed in the European Boreal realm, where it coincides with the Oxyteuthis depressa belemnite zone, coeval with the Simancyloceras stolleyi–Parancyloceras bidentatum ammonite zones,

contemporaneous with the Tethyan I. giraudi zone (Mutterlose, 1998; Masse and Steuber, 2007). At Cassis–la Bédoule the Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2) correlates with a modest lowering in temperature. By contrast the Mid late Bedoulian drowning (D3) is associated with a significant transient

Fig. 14. Relationships between thickness, facies changes, modifications in progradational trends and drowning events during the Middle and late Bedoulian (Fontaine de Vaucluse–Banon stratigraphic transect, Monts de Vaucluse). The stratigraphic correlation allows the recognition of three main successive events: exposure, settlement of a coral bulge and formation of bioclastic shoals, bounded by drowning events. Facies legend is given in Fig. 3.

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Fig. 15. Paleobathymetric, morphological and sedimentological changes associated with drowning events of the North Provence carbonate platform, during the late Barremian–Bedoulian, based on the Fontaine de Vaucluse–Apt–Banon transect, to show the shifting position and amplitude variations of the marginal bulge. Facies legend is given in Fig. 3.

cooling (values are in the range of 22–23 °C) just antecedent to the OAE 1a event (Kuhnt et al., 2011) with temperature at about 24– 25 °C. Thermal changes associated with the OAE event have been documented from different regions of the world by using different geochemical proxies, establishing a consistent, significant thermal maximum (Dumitrescu et al., 2006; Mutterlose et al., 2009). The

late Bedoulian drowning (D4) is coeval with a sharp drop of 2 to 3 °C observed at the onset of the D. furcata zone, whereas temperature recovers then to 24°–26 °C. In northern Spain two warming trends, based on oxygen isotope values, have been proposed: the first at the base of the D. deshayesi zone and a second one at the base of the D. furcata zone (Garcia-

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Fig. 16. Relationships between late Barremian–Bedoulian drowning events and morphological/physiographical changes and the role of block faulting on the North Provence platform and adjacent basins (Apt–Banon transect). A — topographic evolution through time and block movements. B — map showing the location and coincidence of the present day regional, structural pattern and early to Mid Cretaceous paleofaults and their nomenclature. Map legend: a — main faults, b — masked faults, c — boundary between the inner and outer platform domains, d — location of the transect, e — marly cover of the platform carbonates.

Mondejar et al., 2009). These results, which contradict those from SE France, merely reflect discrepancies in the recognition of the ammonite biozones used for the calibration of temperature changes; comparisons of carbon isotope curve between the two regions suggest that the first warming event may correlate with the “R. hambrovi subzone” of Cassis–La Bédoule, in correspondence with the Mid late Bedoulian drowning event (D2), and the second being coeval with the thermal peak associated with the D. furcata zone, which postdates the last drowning event (D4). 6.4. Black shale events and anoxia The Goguel/Selli black shale is the most spectacular expression of the global OAE1a in basinal settings of the Mediterranean region (Menegatti et al., 1998; Tejada et al., 2009), including northern Europe (Bischof and Mutterlose, 1998), the eastern Russian area (Zorina, 2009), and the Middle East where it corresponds to the so-called “Radiolarian flood zone” of southwest Iran (Vincent et al., 2010). This event is well documented in the Cassis–La Bédoule stratotype, where it is coeval with the upper part of “R. hambrovi subzone”, i.e. the C5–C6 segments of the carbon curve (Kuhnt et al., 2011) and is characterized by a drastic faunal break including foraminifera and ammonites, but black shales are absent.

Black shales referred to the OAE1a event are not restricted to the Selli level (OAE1a main event) and sub-events have been reported from other stratigraphic levels of the Mediterranean Tethys. The first OAE1a sub-event is located in the I. giraudi zone at Cassis–la Bédoule, where sapropelic beds S1 and S2 were identified in the I. giraudi subzone, and organic rich beds (the Taxy event) were found in the Martelites sarasini and lowermost Pseudocrioceras waagenoides subzones (Masse and Machhour, 1998); a possible equivalent of these organic rich beds has been observed in northern Spain: the Pagota level (Garcia-Mondejar et al., 2009). Following the main event a third OAE1a sub-event has been recognized in the D. furcata zone and is illustrated by the “Upper black shale”, identified in Southern Italy, above the Selli level (Cobianchi et al., 1997; Luciani et al., 2006), and Northern Spain too where the black shale is known as the Aparein level (GarciaMondejar et al., 2009; Millan et al., 2009). Black shales are present in the La Pena marls from the Mexican Gulf, ascribed to the Caribbean equivalent of the D. furcata zone, i.e. the Dufrenoya justiniae zone (Scott, 1990; Moreno-Bedmar et al., 2013). In these three regions black-shales postdate the late Bedoulian drowning event D4. In SE France no black shale has been detected in the D. furcata zone but the corresponding marls are rich in pyrite, a feature expressed by the pyritic nature of bioturbations, ammonites and other originally aragonite made skeletons, i.e. minute gastropods and infaunal bivalves,

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Fig. 17. Structural dynamics of the Provence–Languedoc region, focusing on major basement faults and the origin of the Mid-Bedoulian marginal bulge. a — Present day (post Oligocene) situation, derived from the lateral, sinistral offset of the Provence and Languedoc blocks. b — Restored configuration corresponding with the Middle Bedoulian uplift, assumed to be due to the dextral strike-slip movement of the regional faults, with a limited lateral offset.

whereas the originally calcite made shells, e.g. oysters and serpulids, are still calcitic. These specific diagenetic features, already noticed by Kilian (1888) and Jacob (1907) as an attribute of the “Gargas marls”, indicate that a significant amount of sulfur was incorporated into the sediment and suggests that the sea bottom was close to anoxia and/or dysoxia. The timing of this sulfide rich episode correlates with the exhalative processes of hydrothermal brines onto the sea floor, recorded in Northern Spain (Fernandez-Martinez and Velasco, 1996; Millan et al., 2009), and related to the tectonic processes associated with the rifting and opening of the Bay of Biscay (Montadert et al., 1974; Millan et al., 2009). The connection between black-shale events and anoxia has been discussed by numerous authors since the seminal works of Schlanger and Jenkyns (1976) and Jenkyns (1980). OAE events are usually regarded to include, besides anoxia, possible increasing nutrient supply, increase in pCO2 (due to volcanic outgassing and/or methane release) and a rise in atmospheric and sea surface temperature (Parente et al., 2008). Regarding the triggering mechanisms of the OAE1a event, the role of large volume, submarine volcanism, as the source of considerable CO2 release (with a possible doubling of pCO2) and fertilization of the global ocean, is presently emphasized, and the culmination of eruption of the Ontong Java Plateau is considered the main agent of the perturbation of the corresponding global carbon cycle (Méhay et al., 2009; Tejada et al., 2009; Föllmi and Godet, 2013). As in many parts of the Tethyan realm (Luciani et al., 2001; Lehmann et al., 2009) the ambient conditions of the South Provence basin during the OAE1a were not anoxic, but merely temporarily dysoxic, and black shales are missing (Moullade et al., 1998b) and in basinal settings of northern Spain as well (Millan et al., 2009). Moreover anoxia is expected to be confined to relatively deep waters and appears unlikely to stress significantly shallow water carbonate ecosystems (Parente et al., 2008); in addition, data from the Mid Pacific guyots (Jenkyns, 1995) show that anoxic sediments may locally develop onto carbonate platforms without causing any collapse of the carbonate factory.

Despite the foregoing review which tends to under-emphasize the role of OAE for shallow water carbonates, some side effects of anoxia must be acknowledged, that is the massive release of hydrogen sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere, due to the upward excursion of the chemocline separating sulfidic deep waters from oxygenated surface waters; the H2S flux to the atmosphere may have reached toxic levels, the ozone shield would have been destroyed and methane levels would have risen significantly (Kump et al., 2005). These perturbations appear to have been more effective during the third OAE1a subevent than during the Goguel–Selli event (main OAE1a sub-event). In searching a cause for the “Mid Bedoulian” methane hydrate dissociation event and its associated carbonate isotope negative shift, Renard et al. (2005) suggested a destabilization of gas hydrates trapped in sediments, the methane released being involved in the ensuing anoxia, which means that methane release and anoxia were not concomitant and that the former didn't play a significant role in the latter. The modest role of methane release in anoxia is also suggested by Méhay et al. (2009) for the Selli level. 6.5. Productivity changes By using nannofossils as indicators of high surface water fertility, e.g. Biscutum (Bergen, 1998; Bischoff and Mutterlose, 1998), four productivity peaks are evidenced in the stratotypic section of Cassis–La Bédoule, three of them are associated with drowning events: the late Barremian (D1), the Middle Bedoulian (D2), and the late Bedoulian (D4). The Middle Bedoulian trophic peak is coeval with the establishment of a direct marine connection between SE England and the Paris basin that is the opening of the Boreal–Tethyan seaway across France (Casey et al., 1998). The corresponding paleogeographic innovation may be a clue for understanding the increasing productivity through the possible initiation of a trans Boreal–Tethyan circulation. This scenario linking drowning and change in oceanic circulation is comparable with the

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Fig. 18. Late Barremian–Bedoulian biological and environmental changes (temperature, carbon isotopes, sea water fertility, anoxia) illustrated from basinal settings at the Cassis–La Bédoule stratotype, with the stratigraphic position of drowning events D1 to D4.

drowning history of the Northern Nicaragua Rise during the Oligocene– Miocene (Mutti et al., 2005). In Provence, as in southern Italy (Gargano), the mainOAE1a sub-event is associated with a moderate productivity (Bergen, 1998; Luciani et al., 2006), and its Boreal equivalent, the Fischchiefer, documents contrasting fertility (Bischoff and Mutterlose, 1998). The third sub-event is associated with a high productivity in both Tethyan (Bergen, 1998; Luciani et al., 2006) and Boreal regions (Bischoff and Mutterlose, 1998). The role of the increasing nutrient content in the development of Palorbitolina communities, associated with the late Barremian and Mid Bedoulian drowning discontinuities, has been proposed for various regions of the Tethyan region (Vilas et al., 1995; Pittet et al., 2002). Increasing productivity of the open sea is testified by peaks in abundance of the genus Biscutum (Bergen, 1998). Biscutum peaks coincide with the two main Palorbitolina episodes found in Provence and Languedoc and present in the I. giraudi subzone and at the D. weissi–D. deshayesi transition. It is important, however, to recall the potential for Palorbitolina communities to be distributed in a relatively wide range of paleodepths (from infralittoral to circalittoral) and to thrive in muddy (either terrigenous free or terrigenous rich) circalittoral settings, like the modern Operculina communities, found in muddy terrigenous substrates, for instance in the fore-reef settings of the Indian Ocean (Masse, 1970).

The outbreak of Palorbitolina may also reflect the change from relatively stable, stenotopic biotas, i.e. rudist communities (with “K” demographic strategies) to more opportunistic forms (with “r” demographic strategies) having a significant population turnover. 6.6. Biocalcification crisis The Early Cretaceous has been considered to coincide with a “calcite sea regime” (Sandberg, 1983; Stanley and Hardie, 1998; Stanley, 2006), which means ambient conditions favoring the abiotic precipitation of calcite and facilitating the corresponding biomineralization; a low Mg/Ca ratio (Mg/Ca b 2) and/or a high CO2 content being the key controlling factors (Hardie, 1996; Lowenstein et al., 2001). This view is supported by the dominance of originally calcitic ooids (Masse, 1976). The quantitative analysis of the proportions of fossil skeletons made of aragonite and low magnesian calcite throughout the Phanerozoic provides a contrasting picture (Kiessling et al., 2008) and shows that during the Early Cretaceous aragonite made fossils had a significant record, casting some doubts on the so-called “calcite regime” hypothesized by former workers, including those having had a special focus for the Barremian–Aptian, e.g. Masse (1989), Steuber (2002) and Wissler et al. (2003). Nevertheless measurements provided by Steuber (2002)

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on rudist shells of Barremian–Aptian age, document low Mg/Ca ratios, close to 1, whereas Ca2 + content may have been relatively high (Skelton et al., 2003). It is important to recall, however, that the Bedoulian is characterized by the outbreak of the rudist family Caprinidae, made of aragonite, and a peak in diversity of the dasycladalean algae with the same mineralogy (Masse, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2003; Skelton et al., 2003), which suggests that ambient conditions were not detrimental to the biocalcification of aragonite. The biocalcification crisis hypothesis is essentially based on the occurrence of a “Nannoconus crisis”, first recognized by Erba (1994), which is expressed by an extreme reduction of these calcite made nannofossils, followed by a recovery; this event is documented just before the OAE1a main event and is interpreted as the result of a high CO2 content and lowering pH (Erba and Tremolada, 2004; Luciani et al., 2006). One must be aware that the abrupt decline of Nannoconus may be a stratigraphic artifact due to the fact that in the locality of Cismon for instance, a sedimentary hiatus coincides with the event in question (Renard et al., 2005). The ambient conditions are thought to reflect a decrease in carbonate oversaturation during a time of rising pCO2 due to enhanced volcanic activity, possibly amplified by additional methane release (Wissler et al., 2003; Weissert and Erba, 2004; Méhay et al., 2009). Experimental data based on living corals, calcareous green algae and nannoplankton show that rising CO2 tends to lower the pH and the carbonate–ion concentration and leads to the weakening of the calcification potential of organisms, especially those dominated by aragonite (Buddemeier and Gattuso, 1998), but marine calcifiers exhibit mixed responses to CO2-induced ocean acidification (Ries et al., 2009). Surprisingly the only evidence for the Bedoulian calcification crisis is provided by calcite made organisms, i.e. Nannoconus. The crisis in question, expected for both shallow and deep oceanic settings, was invoked for the demise of the Helvetic Urgonian platform with a potential for the entire Tethys (Föllmi, 2008). This model was based on the contemporaneous character of the “nannoconid crisis” and the demise of the Helvetic shelf. Because, in SE France, the reduction of shallow water rudist-bearing carbonates is nearly coincident with the “calcification crisis” (more precisely its onset) in question, in correspondence with the Middle Bedoulian drowning (D. weissi–D. deshayesi transition), it should be tempting to interpret this coincidence as a cause and effect phenomenon. Actually, platform carbonates with corals and bioclastics were still present after the crisis and the ensuing platform demise was essentially a two step event corresponding with the Mid late (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4) drownings, results which are in contradiction with the hypothesis of Föllmi (2008) and Huck et al. (2010). Moreover late Bedoulian platform carbonates from Spain and SW France contain diversified caprinid rudists, which were not affected by the biocalcification crisis (Masse, 1996; Masse et al., 1998; Skelton et al., 2010). Late Bedoulian rudistbearing platform carbonates are still present in Portugal (Burla et al., 2008) and on the southern Tethyan margin (Masse et al., 1998). Osmium isotope ratios retrieved from Italian sections (Tejada et al., 2009) show that the eruptive peak of the Ontong Java massive volcanism is coeval with the Selli event, which postdates the so called “biocalcification crisis” and therefore cannot be causal for the crisis in question, which is coincident with a trophic peak (Bergen, 1998). Data concerning the relationships between growth rates and pH in some modern foraminifera show that decreasing pH below 7.9 (present day values of seawater 7.9–8.2) may induce decreasing growth rates (Kuroyanagi et al., 2009), but increasing phosphates may also lead to the same result for calcareous algae (Demes et al., 2009) and planktonic foraminifera (Aldridge et al., 2012); there is consequently an alternative or complementary effect to the hypothesized decrease in pH values.

7. Controls on late Barremian–early Aptian drowning events The foregoing discussion assessing the role of environmental changes on platform drowning shows the following (Fig. 19).

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1- Incoherent or inconsistent data concerning the timing, spatial extent, and amplitude of the alleged late Barremian–Bedoulian sea level changes, mainly based on sequence stratigraphy, and acknowledging both sequence boundaries and maximum flooding surfaces appear unlikely to be the predominant cause of the four drowning events; similarly the concept of TR cycles with a general significance, obviously rooted in the sequence stratigraphy approach, appears unlikely to explain adequately the drowning events in question. 2- The positive or negative thermal fluctuations are in the range of variations to which warm sea biotas (e. g. hermatypic corals) are tolerant. Consequently there is little evidence that temperature changes had, per se, a significant impact on drowning events through biological changes. 3- The late Barremian black shales and associated anoxia or dysoxia and trophic peaks coeval with both the late Barremian and Middle Bedoulian events tend to postdate the drowning events and are unlikely to be considered as controlling agents for two of them; by contrast the Selli–Goguel event, possibly represented by two sub-events, coeval with the Mid Late Bedoulian (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4) drownings, had a potential for platform demise. 4- The “calcification crisis” is contemporaneous with the Middle Bedoulian drowning. The development of Urgonian type carbonates with aragonite-bearing caprinid rudists, in beds of late Bedoulian age, from Spain and the Middle East (Masse, 1996, 2003; Millan et al., 2009; Strohmenger et al., 2009; Granier and Busnardo, 2013), and hermatypic corals in the same interval from Provence (Morycowa and Masse, 2009), postdating the “calcification crisis”, show that this event did not affect the size and development of large, aragonite dominated, biotas. The extinction of caprinid rudists, still present in the D. furcata zone (I. simplex limestones with Caprina and Offneria), postdates the event in question (Masse et al., 1998; Skelton et al., 2010), which appear therefore, poorly evidenced by shallow water shelly organisms. The progressive reduction in species diversity of many calcified biological groups, including for instance aragonite-made dasycladales and trocholinid foraminifera, thriving in shallow carbonate settings, actually started in Mid Bedoulian times (Masse, 2003, and work in progress), but the extinction peak was at the Bedoulian–Gargasian transition (Masse, 1989, 1998). The reduction in species diversity remains an open question, which needs to be addressed by using: a precise chronology, quantitative studies, biogeographical aspects and their relationships with fluctuations in the spatial extent of carbonate platforms. Tectonics is regarded as a major controlling factor of: - the origin of the late Barremian deepening event, leading to basin scale paleogeographic changes and coeval environmental changes; however, temperature decrease and fertility increase are reliable agents of the associated or ensuing facies types, i.e. the Palorbitolina facies in the shallow circalittoral zone and serpulid or Astarte-bearing limestones with black shales in deeper, outer-shelf settings (Masse and Fenerci-Masse, 2011), a ramp type physiography is temporarily substituted to the antecedent platform type physiography, and - the emergence of the marginal Provence–Languedoc bulge, coupled with the westward downwarping of the antecedent platform, its subsequent detumescence, and the ensuing semi-persistent submarine highs located at the outer margin of the Provence–Languedoc platform. Tectonic phenomena are also testified by the spatial contrasting patterns of the paleobathymetric offset between the underlying and overlying sediments, combined with drowning events, which imply that the antecedent, submarine topographic profiles, were modified during the events in question. Moreover, drowning events tend to be associated with significant changes in the overall orientation of the progradational polarity of the platform system towards the adjacent

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Fig. 19. Drowning events, facies changes and demise of late Barremian–Early Aptian platform carbonates of SE France, and their relationships with environmental and tectonic factors. Facies legend is given in Fig. 3.

basinal areas. The Mid late Bedoulian drowning event (D3), including a hiatus, and correlative with the mainOAE1a sub-event, is also associated with an active dynamics of the North Provence–Languedoc marginal bulge (moving basinwards), and shallow water bioclastic shoals were still persisting in this area. The coeval biological changes, illustrated by basinal benthic and planktonic foraminifera, suggest that dysoxia coupled with other oceanographic changes may have been detrimental for the infralittoral calcareous biota and may account for a significant perturbation of the carbonate factory, leading to platform demise.

But this hypothesis still needs to be tested in detail and deserves additional investigations regarding the response of particular shallow water organisms to the environmental perturbations. Similar even most severe conditions may be envisaged for the late Bedoulian drowning, contemporaneous with the second OAE1a sub-event. The foregoing shows that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide pressure and, as a consequence, reduction of the calcification potential of benthic organisms, are not clearly reflected in the potential of shallow water biota to contribute to platform growth and do not seem to matter

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with drowning events. This observation is in good agreement with those of Jenkyns (1995), Immenhauser et al. (2005), and Parente et al. (2008), regarding the resilient character to anoxia and other carbon derived perturbations, of, at least, some shallow Cretaceous carbonate platform systems. 8. Conclusions In Provence and Languedoc, four drowning events were identified in platform carbonates of late Barremian–Bedoulian age; their timing, referred to ammonite zones or subzones, is as follows: (1) Late Barremian (D1), at the G. sartousiana–I. giraudi boundary, (2) Middle Bedoulian (D2), at the D. weissi–D. deshayesi boundary, (3) Mid late Bedoulian (D3) in correspondence with the “R. hambrovi subzone”, and (4) Late Bedoulian (D4) at the D. grandis–D. furcata transition. Notwithstanding their relatively wide lateral continuity, the regional expression of drowning discontinuities is not uniform: each event involves specific attributes concerning its depositional hiatus, linkage with exposure, paleobathymetric range, and geographical extent. The paleogeographic evolution of the region shows that the history of the North Provence and Languedoc platform is punctuated by the above drowning events and is characterized by the following steps: - the late Barremian drowning (D1) is marked by a new paleogeography; the South Provence intra-shelf basin split into two separate entities the antecedent platform, represented by a wide rudist-bearing domain spreading over the Provence–Languedoc area; in northern Provence and Languedoc a Palorbitolina–Heteraster facies develop to the detriment of the antecedent rudist dominated facies, - rudist facies recover during the early Bedoulian and the North Provence platform progrades northwards towards the Vocontian Basin and southwards towards the South Provence basin; this evolution is interrupted by the emergence of an uplifted marginal bulge: corresponding in Provence to the Flassan–Rustrel segment, and in Languedoc to the Pouzilhac–Bourg-Saint-Andeol segment; the uplifted exposed area is flanked by “coastal” bioclastic or coral facies, - the Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2) records the sealing of the antecedent paleogeography and the wide development of Palorbitolina facies, then bioclastic and coral facies tend to recover, the corresponding shoals being localized onto the preexisting uplifted, exposed bulge; rudists are virtually absent, - the Mid late Bedoulian drowning (D3) identifies a significant stage of platform demise and is characterized by an overall deepening phase with ammonite-bearing marly facies or cherty limestones, shallow water bioclastics being still present locally, with a spatial distribution more or less inherited from the antecedent bulge, and - the late Bedoulian drowning (D4) marks the final stage of platform demise and shows the wide extent of ammonite-bearing marls, that is the onset of the Gargas marls. Drowning events tend to interrupt the platform type organization to which is substituted by a transient orbitolinid episode of ramp type organization, then followed by partial or total platform recovery or demise. There is no evidence that global sea level changes and transgressive– regressive cycles had a significant impact on drowning events, and some evidence that changes in temperature and productivity may have played a role in these phenomena, in conjunction with other factors. Tectonics is regarded as the major controlling factor for: - the origin of the late Barremian deepening event, leading to basin scale paleogeographic changes, mainly the development of an intrashelf basin; whereas the coeval environmental changes: temperature decrease and fertility increase, are reliable agents of the associated or

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ensuing facies types, i.e. the Palorbitolina facies in the shallow circalittoral zone and serpulid or Astarte-bearing limestones with black shales in deeper, outer shelf and basinal settings, and - the emergence in Provence of the Rustrel–Flassan uplift, and its extent in Languedoc, coupled with the westward downwarping of the antecedent platform, its subsequent detumescence involved in the origin of the Middle Bedoulian drowning (D2), and the ensuing semi-persistent submarine bulge located at the outer margin of the Provence–Languedoc platform. The role of regional faults, mainly the strike slip NE–SW faults, and possibly E–W ones, is emphasized. Tectonic phenomena are also testified by the contrasting patterns, observed at a regional scale, regarding the paleobathymetric offset between sediments underlying and overlying the drowning discontinuity, which implies that the antecedent, submarine topographic profile was modified during the event. This gives a clue for understanding why such events tend to be associated with significant changes in the overall orientation of the progradational polarity of the platform system towards the adjacent basinal areas and modifications in patterns of differential subsidence. Environmental changes, essentially associated with the three OAE1a subevents, the first one at the G. sartousiana–I. giraudi transition, the second (main) one (Goguel–Selli event) below the D. grandis subzone, and the third one at the onset of the D. furcata zone, are regarded as important controlling factors of the late Barremian (D1), Mid late (D3) and late Bedoulian (D4) drownings respectively, whereas tectonic processes are also involved in the corresponding drowning mechanisms. The effect of oxygen depletion, recorded in basinal or outer-shelf settings, on the functioning of the shallow carbonate factory is not clear and poorly understood, and data are presently insufficient, especially regarding its role in quantitative and qualitative aspects of biodiversity changes and biogeographic modifications. A key question is the resilience of organisms playing a major role in carbonate production, still to be analyzed. Our study shows that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide pressure and, as a consequence, the reduction of the calcification potential of benthic organisms, repeatedly reported in the literature as agents of platform demise, are not reflected in the potential of shallow water biota to contribute to platform growth and do not seem to matter with drowning events. Acknowledgments This paper benefited greatly from discussions with J. Borgomano, L. Bulot, P. Leonide, J. Lamarche (Aix-Marseille University) and P.W. Skelton (Open University, Milton-Keynes). The editor and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their critical comments which have helped to improve the initial version of the manuscript. References Aldridge, D., Beer, C.J., Purdie, D.A., 2012. Calcification in the planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides linked to phosphate concentrations in surface waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Biogeosciences 9, 1725–1739. Arnaud-Vanneau, A., Arnaud, H., Charollais, J., Conrad, M.A., Cotillon, P., Ferry, S., Masse, J.-P., Peybernès, B., 1979. Paléogéographie des calcaires urgoniens du sud de la France. Géobios Mém. Spec. 3, 363–383. Arthur, M.A., Jenkyns, H.C., Brumsack, H.J., Schlanger, S.O., 1990. Stratigraphy, geochemistry, and palaeoceanography of organic-carbon rich Cretaceous sequences. In: Ginsburg, R.N., Beaudoin, B. (Eds.), Cretaceous Resources, Events and Rhythms. Kluwer Academy Press, pp. 75–119. Beaudoin, B., Fries, G., Joseph, P., Bouchet, R., Cabrol, C., 1986. Tectonique synsédimentaire crétacée à l'ouest de la Durance (SE France). CR Acad. Sci. Paris 303 (II), 713–718. Bergen, J.A., 1998. Calcareous nannofossils from the lower Aptian historical stratotype at Cassis–La Bédoule (SE France). Géol. Mediterr. XXV (3/4), 227–255. Bert, D., Delanoy, G., Bersac, S., 2008. Nouveaux biohorizons et propositions pour un découpage biozonal ammonitique du Barrémien du Sud-Est de la France. Carnets de Géologie/Notebooks on Geology. (Article 2008/03 (CG2008_A03)). Bischoff, G., Mutterlose, J., 1998. Calcareous nannofossils of the Barremian/Aptian boundary interval in NW Europe: biostratigraphic and palaeoecologic implications of a high resolution study. Cretac. Res. 19, 635–661.

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