MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE TEMPERATE DEPOSITS AT DINGE, ILLE-ET-VILAINE, NORTHWEST FRANCE - POLLEN, PLANT AND INSECT MACROFOSSIL ANALYSIS

Nine cores were taken from a damp depression at Dinge, Ille-et-Vilaine , northwest France. Analyses of the pollen, plant macrofossil and Cole optera remains preserved in the same organic samples of two profiles s uggest a temperate vegetation characterised by a mixed deciduous fores t with mesophilous taxa (Carpinus, Fagus, Quercus) followed by a conif erous forest with Pinus and Picea. The determination of plant taxa to species was made either directly through the identification of plant m acrofossil remains and pollen or indirectly through the identification of phytophagous Coleoptera specifically related to certain plants. St ratigraphical information derived from pollen, plant macrofossil and i nsect data indicates that this sequence may be correlated with a tempe rate episode older than the Eemian and younger than the Holsteinian, p ossibly the Bouchet 2 (Oxygen Isotope Stage 7c) or Bouchet 3 (Oxygen I sotope Stage 7a) temperate periods or the Landos Interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 9 pro parte). (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.