Geology in Essonne - Villemartin’s sandpit

The Sablière de Villemartin (Villemartin’s sandpit) is a geological site in the Villemartin locality in Morigny-Champigny, France

The Villemartin sandpit is a classified geological site within the National Nature Reserve of geological sites in Essonne. Acquired by the Department in 1980, this geosite was rehabilitated in 2022 in order to present its historical fossiliferous deposit to the public. Indeed, the Villemartin sands contain numerous mollusc fossils that allow scientists to reconstruct the environment of Morigny-Champigny more than 30 million years ago.

(Please note that the videos are in French with no English subtitles)

In the first three videos of this series, Didier Merle and Jean-Paul Baut are in the field to present all the steps of a geological excavation.

In this 4^th episode, we meet Didier Merle in the CR2P laboratory at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris.

In the 5^th episode, Didier Merle makes us visit the paleontology collections of the In the 5th episode, Didier Merle makes us visit the paleontology collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris.

In the last episode of this series, Didier Merle shows us how fossil shells that appear white in natural light reveal their patterns under UV light. The study of the patterns formed on the shells allows us to distinguish the different species.