40Ar/39Ar constraints on some French landmark Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene large mammalian paleofaunas: Paleoenvironmental and paleoecological implications

To improve the French Plio-Pleistocene biostratigraphy scheme based on mammal biozone boundaries or “Mammal Neogene/Quaternary Zones” (MNQ) we collected volcanic material that could be dated using the 40Ar/39Ar method in five exceptional mammalian paleofauna sites located in the Massif Central (France). We present 40Ar/39Ar ages that we obtained for Perrier-Les Etouaires, Roca-Neyra, Chilhac, Senèze and le Creux de Peyrolles. We show that the overall stratigraphic position of these sites based on faunal assemblages is valid from the relative point of view. However, we greatly improve both the accuracy and precision of the age of these mammalian paleofaunas. We obtained 40Ar/39Ar ages varying between 2.78 ± 0.01 Ma (1σ external) for Les Etouaires (Lower MNQ 16b) and 1.47 ± 0.01 Ma for the Creux de Peyrolles site (MNQ 19). Based on these new dates we estimate the duration of several biozones including MNQ 16b, 17a and 17b. We suggest that the first Late Villafranchian biozone (MNQ 18) starts as early as the Reunion subchron or just after. The first occurrence of Equus stenonis in Roca-Neyra (i.e. 2.60 ± 0.02 Ma) is close to or synchronous with the Gauss–Matuyama transition (i.e. 2.59 Ma) and the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. The chronological framework we build shows the very rapid increase of the large grazers community in French faunal assemblages at the beginning of MNQ 17 (i.e. 2.6 to 2.4 Ma). This rapid faunal turnover is probably associated with a general decrease of woodland habitat in the Massif Central contemporaneous with the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations. The faunal assemblages in France, Spain, and Italy covering the period between 2.1 and 2.0 Ma suggest that favorable conditions for early hominin settlement (mainly savannah prairies, grassland with open forest patches) existed in southwestern Europe at least 200 ka before the first traces of Homo in Eurasia. This period also shows the arrival of taxa originating in Asia and Africa, suggesting dispersal events within southwestern Europe well before the Olduvai subchron and with no indication (as yet) of Homo as a “fellow traveler”.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► Five important French paleofaunal sites were dated using 40Ar/39Ar. ► Ages of several biozone boundaries and estimated biozone durations are provided for the first time. ► MNQ 18 starts as early as the Reunion subchron. ► The mammalian fauna reacted rapidly to the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciations. ► Several taxa from Asia and Africa (but not Homo) arrived in France before the Olduvai subchron.