La Voulte-sur-Rhône (, literally La Voulte on Rhône; ) is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France.
Population
Lagerstätte
La Voulte-sur-Rhône is a marine Lagerstätte (sedimentary deposit) located in France. It is Middle Jurassic (Callovian) in age, and is known for the variety of fossils it produces, including cephalopods, such as Proteroctopus ribeti, Rhomboteuthis lehmani, and Vampyronassa rhodanica. Fossilized cephalopods are rare, and Voulte-sur-Rhône is prized among paleontologists as one of only a few known localities known to produce such cephalopod fossils. Fossil preservation is by pyrite, a geologically rare process. Other sites with pyrite preserved fossils are Beecher's Trilobite Bed and the Hunsrück Slate. see page 41 Also found at the site are ophiuroids, crustaceans, fish, and other pyritized specimens.(Bartels, Briggs, and Brassel 1998) The exceptional preservation of the fossils at this site is most likely due to the result of oxygen deficient water at the time of the deposition of the fossils, and possibly repeated sediment blanketing.(sensu Seilacher, Reif, and Westphal 1985)
See also Communes of the Ardèche department
References