THE DOVER STRAIT, A DISCRETELY OPEN CENOZOIC STRAIT

The Dover Strait is open during the Paleogene, closed from the Upper E ocene and reopens from the middle Quaternary; but Pliocene foramifers assemblages ave identical on both sides of the strait. The re-analysis of the Messinian shore line of the Monts de Flandres (Diestian at the Noires Mottes) in the prolongation of the Landrethun Flexural zone, o f the Slack Formation, and the discovery of a new formation (Wimille F ormation, inside the Boulonnais), all scealled by a goethitic pan, att est of an opening of the Dover Strait, controlled by the Messinian tec tonical crisis and by the evolution of the Western Channel and its pal eovalley system. Tectonical, geomorphological and climatic implication s of this opening are discussed within the Western European context. ( C) Academie des sciences / Elsevier, Paris.