Preliminary Magnetostratigraphic Study of the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Site from Villeveyrac-Mèze Basin, Southern France

A magnetostratigraphic study was performed on continental Upper Cretaceous beds in the L'Olivet quarry, Villeveyrac-Mèze Basin (Hérault, France). Nearly all specimens subjected to progressive thermal demagnetization procedures exhibit opposite polarities for the low- and high-temperature magnetization components. The high-temperature component shows reverse polarity, characteristic of the Late Cretaceous magnetization, which is well isolated between 200° and 450°C. The overall mean paleomagnetic direction (incl. = -39.1°, decl. = 160.7°, k = 15, a95 = 10) suggests a counterclockwise vertical axis rotation of about 15.1° ± 8.3 with respect to the expected Late Cretaceous direction calculated from the Eurasian polar wander curve (incl. = -49.0°, decl. = 174°). Combined with local biostratigraphic data, the L'Olivet sequence can be correlated with polarity chron C33.1r, corresponding to the Early Campanian with an age of 83.5 to 79.5 Ma