Rivers as repositories for fossil vertebrates: a case study from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France

An accumulation of vertebrate remains in Late Cretaceous continental deposits at Cruzy (Hérault, south-western France) is studied, using sedimentological (clay mineralogy, granulometry, cathodoluminescence) and taphonomic approaches, in order to reconstruct the depositional environment under which it was formed. The fossil-bearing conglomerates, sands and clays were apparently deposited during brief flood episodes affecting a braided river system, under a “tropical” type of climate with alternating dry and wet seasons. This type of depositional environment shows close similarities with those reconstructed for Late Cretaceous vertebrate sites in Romania.