Support for a Vraconnian Stage between the Albian sensu stricto and the Cenomanian (Cretaceous System)

The geological scale for the middle Cretaceous currently used throughout the world was proposed by Alcide d'Orbigny in the XIXth century between the years 1842 and 1847 and establishes the succession of stages as Albian, Cenomanian and Turonian. In 1868 Renevier proposed that a supplemental chronostratigraphic division be intercalated between the Albian and the Cenomanian: the Vraconnian stage. This term was not generally accepted and after a period when it was referred to by Breistroffer (1936) as a substage constituting the upper part of the Albian, as an equivalent of the Stoliczkaia dispar ammonite Zone, its abandonment was "recommended" by the Conference on the Lower Cretaceous held in Lyon in 1963. The conditions that led to this "decision" will be discussed herein.Historically, for almost a century the Vraconnian was studied only in the condensed levels of the platform where ammonites are abundant, but the succession is thin and not mappable. The type section of the Vraconnian in the Vaud canton of Switzerland is only 2 meters thick. In France the situation is the same in the northern Alps, in most of central Europe, in Russia, in the Crimea, and as far as the Caspian sea.The examination of a certain number of sections located in other parts of the world: in the southeastern basin of France (Salazac, Marcoule, Mont-Risou), in the Anglo-Paris basin (Folkestone, Merstham, Grandpré), in the Mons basin (Harchies, Strépy-Thieu), at the southern edge of the Tethys in central Tunisia (Kaalat Senan), in Madagascar (Diégo Suarez) and North America in California (Dry Creek) demonstrates, however, that in a number of regions of the globe the sedimentary record of the Vraconnian is sometimes rather considerable, often much more important than that of the Albian sensu stricto.In addition, the Vraconnian represents a very important eustatic event between an Albian transgression and the great Cenomanian transgression (third order cycle and the peak of transgression in a second order cycle). It involves a period of rapid ecologic expansion both as regards the macrofauna (ammonites in particular) and microfauna (planktonic foraminifera). These are the main reasons why a rehabilitation of the Vraconnian as a true stage is proposed here.The Vraconnian in 2008 * Lower boundary. The base of the Vraconnian is taken at the first appearance of the ammonite Mortoniceras (Mortoniceras) fallax (Breistroffer). A substitute index species might be the ammonite Neophlycticeras (Neophlycticeras) blancheti. * Upper boundary. It is the base of the Cenomanian stage which coincides