A new Golden Spike in France !
The GSSP of the Valanginian stage: ratification made by the IUGS on 18 December 2024
Link to the Subcommission on Cretaceous Stratigraphy website
On Wednesday 18 December 2024, the GSSP of the Valanginian was unanimously ratified by the executive committee of the IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences). This ratification is the last step of a succession of votes that took place throughout 2024, first by the Valanginian Working Group, then by the Subcommission on Cretaceous Stratigraphy and finally the International Commission on Stratigraphy which voted unanimously. Discussions and votes were based on the “Valanginian Formal Proposal”, a project and proposal led by Stéphane Reboulet, including Emanuela Mattioli and Davide Olivero.
A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) or PSM (Global Stratotypical Point or Limit Stratotype) is a world-wide reference geological cut on which the base of the stage is defined using a first marker (biological/fossil, physical or chemical). Thus, the geological cut of Vergol, located on the commune of Montbrun-les-Bains in the Drôme, becomes the GSSP of the Valanginien (photo). The first marker used to define the stage base is the appearance of H. pertransiens ammonite. The Golden Spike ceremony will take place in 2026.
For further developments on this theme and the GSSPs of the Cretaceous, with in particular the inauguration of the gold spikes of the Hauterivien and Albien stages (29 June 2024), it is possible to consult the following four sites:
