Intracontinental Miocene: Climate and paleolake volumes in the Forez Basin, France (Part I)

European Tertiary sedimentary basins as the Forez Graben, France, are potential records of continental paleoclimates. The Forez Basin hosts deposited and precipitated sediments of Oligocene to Miocene age. Geochemical data of carbonates indicate strictly continental origin starting at Eocene-Oligocene with tropical to temperate climate conditions, then during the Middle Miocene a temperate continental climate prevails. Combining volume of calcite deposits and their geochemical data, volumes of large lakes and evaporation/inflow ratios were reconstructed. The Late Miocene in the Forez Graben has been affected by dissolution and secondary precipitation of calcite, barite, which is the result of wetter and colder climate conditions. These lake volume calculations represent the first estimation of large lakes volumes in Western Europe during the Miocene.