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Describes an important vertebrate fossil locality at Corniche de Sete, Lazaret cape region, France, consisting of ancient, partly submerged caves filled with Villafranchian (Pleistocene) material. The remarkable accumulation of small rodent and insectivore remains suggests that the caves were the lair of birds of prey and carnivores. The history of the Languedoc shore in this vicinity is roughly as follows: Previously developed karst topography was accentuated by late Tertiary uplift, then submerged in Astian? time; subsequent marine regression introduced the Villafranchian steppe conditions under which the fossil deposits accumulated; a series of transgressions and regressions related to the various glacial and interglacial stages ended with the uplift of the shore line which is continuing in the present.

Among the fossils recovered from Villafranchian volcanic tuffs (southeast of Lake Victoria) were species belonging to the subfamilies Herpestinae and Viverrinae: Herpestes palaeoserengetensis (Dietrich), H. palaeogracilis (Dietrich), Mungos dietrichi n. sp., Mungos sp., Viverra leakeyio n. sp. Examination of major differences between the denture structure of Herpestes and Mungos justifies the reallocation of the species originally assigned to the genus Mungos by Dietrich (1942) to the genus Herpestes. V. leakeyi is the first viverrid species reported from the Pleistocene and the first representative of the genus found on the African continent. Fossil species of Viverra are previously known only from the Vindobonian (Miocene) of Europe; two living species inhabit southeast Asia.

Comparison of continental Quaternary deposits shows a parallelism between the chronology and morphogenesis of the Quaternary in Midi (southern France) and Morocco (north Africa). In Midi, three totally different regions are distinguished by their paleoclimates: the Roussillon area, characterized by a relatively dry climate; the Languedocian wastes, where the cold winters were often violent with radical temperature changes; and the Provence Prealps, where the basins were sheltered but benefited from higher summer humidity than in the Roussillon area. The Moulouyan pluvial (upper Villafranchian) is represented in Morocco by periglacial climate and extreme temperature changes, and in the Alps, by a major glaciation. The Saletian pluvial (Guenz) was cold and humid in both areas with strong regional contrasts between the three Midi regions. The Amirian (Mindel) in Morocco was warm and pleasant with a predominance of chemical alteration. In Midi, however, there was harsh cold, a contrast possibly due to a difference in atmospheric circulation. The Tensiftian pluvial (Riss) in Morocco was extremely cold with widespread glaciation. In Midi a periglacial climate prevailed with the formation of congelifraction gravels. The Soltanian (Wuerm) was less cold in both areas; in Morocco erosion decreased while in Midi there was an increase with no interruption in pedogenesis. The Holocene is represented in Morocco by an accumulation of terrace deposits and increased pedogenesis, and in Midi by decreasing stream erosion and deposition of sandy material.

Examination of a section of the core taken from a boring in the center of the Villafranchian Seneze lake has provided additional data on this classic locality. Variations observed in the pollen content are used to delineate a series of four separate climatic oscillations of alternating temperate and cool periods. The deposits represented in the core were laid down during the Villafranchian in a fresh-water medium as indicated by the presence of pollen from fresh-water aquatic plants and from Botryococcus. Pollen diagrams are included.

A study of the third lower molar and the second and third upper molars of Gazellospira torticornis found in the Villafranchian (Quaternary) deposit of Saint-Vallier (Drome, France) is presented. Comparison with specimens from Spain indicates a size decrease. Spain and France were two distinct climatic provinces during the Villafranchian, with similar faunas differing from each other only in the frequency of species.

In the volcanic massifs of Mont-Dore and Cantal (Central Massif of France), Villafranchian (Pleistocene) pumice 'nappes' occur. The pumice has an acidic and tholeiitic character and represents a type of ignimbrite. It originated from calc-alkaline material formed by remobilization of the gneissic basement of the large volcanoes, followed by a mixture of basalts and products of anatectic fusion. Granulometric analysis of the ignimbrite enables location of the calderas that were the centers of eruption. The temperature of the ignimbrites at the time of their emission is estimated at 900-1000 degrees C.

Describes the mammalian fauna and stratigraphic position of a new Villafranchian bone deposit at Aien Brimba in southern Tunisia. The locality extends the known area of occurrence of the Villafranchian fauna and is important for the study of the early Quaternary of north Africa.

Closed depressions similar to sinkholes are frequently developed in the Pliocene flagstone capping the Guir sandstone plateau in the Algeria-Morocco border region. In places they are filled with alternating sands and clays and two zones of alveolar calcareous crusts. In others, only one crust occurs as a result of Villafranchian (Pleistocene) erosion. Some of the depressions exhibit the characteristics of karst cavities; they were formed in areas where the sandstone was extremely calcareous.

Summarizes data on Villafranchian vertebrate localities in north Africa. The fauna indicates that the Villafranchian deposits of north Africa are contemporaneous with those of Europe and with early Pleistocene deposits of east Africa.

Assigns fossil teeth found near Rabat, Morocco, to Omochoerus maroccanus n.sp. This discovery extends the known area of distribution of members of the genus from Lake Rudolf to the Atlantic, and establishes a second Villafranchian zone.

Four levels of erosion and continental deposition are observed in the lower valley of the Ligua river. The lowest level, characterized by a plane surface developed in the Ligua-Petorca interfluve and on the right bank of the Ligua, 100 meters above its present level, represents a major glaciation in the early Quaternary, perhaps a semi-arid climate with a tendency toward the tropical Villafranchian(?). Twenty-five to thirty meters above the river is the second level, a high gravel terrace deposited by waters of the retreating glacier. The middle terrace is five to seven meters above the low terrace, which is one or two meters above the present level of the river. Recent and fossil dunes are found where the Ligua approaches the Pacific. Traces of three ancient sea levels are found at 100 meters, 35 meters, and five to seven meters above present sea level. These shorelines correspond to forms recognized in western Europe and northwest Africa, the result of transgressive-regressive pulsations of the sea.

Reconstruction of the Quaternary terraces of the Rhone (southeast France) reveals three or possibly four levels between the Rhone delta and the Rhone-Drome confluence. The age of the lowest terrace level--best exposed at Valence-Romans and upstream--is questionable. It may represent either the Wuerm or the Riss, or it may be divided between two different stades--neo-Riss and an older stade represented by the Leore-Fouillouse terrace. The middle terrace is Rissian and the highest terrace represents the Villafranchian. This phenomenon of uplifted terraces seems to be related to an isostatic uplift of blocks to compensate for the load of glacial ice. The continuity and extent of this phenomenon would explain the relative positions of the terraces, the older higher than the younger. Cross sections are included which show the recognized terraces. A correlation chart presents the Quaternary stratigraphy of Scandinavia, the alpine regions, the Sahara, central Africa, and Australia, and includes the major archaeological divisions.

A climato-sedimentologic cycle is proposed on the basis of Villafranchian deposits in the northwest Sahara. The relationship between the erosion-sedimentation cycle and the pluvial-arid cycle is shown. The stratigraphy and sedimentation of the material composing the terrace deposits show an evolution toward increasing aridity, beginning with gravel deposits of a fluvial character and progressing toward typically arid sediments. The proposed cycle begins with a period of maximum aridity during which massive dunes cover the ancient terraces and hamadas, and debris from gravity erosion accumulates in cones. In the arid-pluvial transition period, humidity gradually increases, causing erosion of the slopes and debris cones. Maximum erosion occurs in the pluvial period. In the pluvial-arid transition period, sedimentation is at first fluvial, involving coarse-grained material, then loamy, and finally eolian. Lacustrine levels, crust formations and secondary rhythms are also recognized and briefly described. This cycle is confirmed by the prehistoric civilizations from the Pebble Culture to the Neolithic.