The Eustatic Hypothesis and the Pre-Pliocene Cutting of the Rhone Valley

Abstract

The finding of an extensive layer of evaporites in the deep drillings in the Mediterranean revives a new interest in the hypothesis of a temporary isolation of this sea at the end of the Miocene. Since this idea has already received support from the interpretation of boreholes within the Rhone Valley in southern France, I have been invited to first trace the history of this hypothesis, and then examine how it provides a unique solution to a number of problems of continental paleogeography.