B. Laignel et al., Reconstruction of the Upper Cretaceous chalks removed by dissolution during the Cenozoic in the western Paris Basin, INT J E SCI, 88(3), 1999, pp. 467-474
During the Cenozoic, in the western Paris Basin, atmospheric weathering of
the chalks with flints of the Upper Cretaceous led to the creation of clay
with flints. A reconstitution of the chalks lost to dissolution is proposed
and is based on the determination of the age of the parent chalks of the c
lay with flints and the quantification of the thickness of dissolved chalk.
The chalks affected by weathering range in age from Turonian to Maastricht
ian, thus confirming the deposition of calcareous sediments in the western
Paris Basin up to the Maastrichtian. Chalk weathering took place in situ, a
s indicated by the preservation of the stratigraphic succession of the chal
k in the clay with flints profiles. Weathering led to the dissolution of 20
-200 m of chalk, with regional variations. The weathering rate varies betwe
en 2.1 and 14.5 m/Ma.