Paris Basin (geology)

The Paris Basin is a basin setting in the Paris region in France. It is the northern main settlements and economic area of France.

Tighter and more meanings of the terms

In a narrower sense the surrounding catchment area of the Seine Paris see also Ile-de -France is referred to as the Paris Basin.

In a broader sense it includes the whole reasonably uniform sedimentary basins in central France and Lorraine in the limits:

• Belgium and Luxembourg to the east and West Germany in the southeast
• Of Brittany to the Vosges
• And of the Ardennes Massif Central

Geology

Geologically, the Paris Basin, a depression basin and characterized by limestones. The accumulated sediments are up to 3,000 m thick. The basin was created after the decay of the Variscan orogeny from one of the four main basins of the Jurassic Sea shelf ( Liasmeer, Posidonia Sea ). Armorica, Massif Central, Vosges and Ardennes were four major islands of the European archipelago. In the east it borders on the South German Basin.

The study of fossil mollusks led Jean Baptiste Lamarck to formulate his theory of evolution.