Barremian
Fourth Early Cretaceous age, named for Barrême, but now bounded by a ratified section in southeast Spain.
Language and route: Scientific French from French locality. French locality: Barrême → French stratigraphic Barremian (spelling of the scientific formation subsequently anglicised).
Literal gloss: ‘of/from Barrême’ (geographical; not a Greek compound)
The name and its history
Henri Coquand · 1862 proposal; 1873 also cited in later tables
- What does the word literally mean?
- ‘of/from Barrême’ (geographical; not a Greek compound)
- What did the original author mean?
- Coquand sought to distinguish an interval between lower Neocomian strata and the fossil and facies associations then gathered into the Urgonian.
- Why was the name needed?
- A broad Urgonian or Neocomian unit could not consistently accommodate changing ammonite faunas across southeast French limestone and marl successions.
- What evidence supported the original concept?
- Local fossil assemblages, including echinoids and molluscs, offered a practical regional distinction, later refined through ammonite zones.
- How has geology changed the concept?
- The globally ratified Barremian base is now in the Río Argos section, Murcia, Spain (2024 GSSP); the word still recalls Barrême, not Spain.
Further historical context
Coquand sought to distinguish an interval between lower Neocomian strata and the fossil and facies associations then gathered into the Urgonian.
A broad Urgonian or Neocomian unit could not consistently accommodate changing ammonite faunas across southeast French limestone and marl successions.
Local fossil assemblages, including echinoids and molluscs, offered a practical regional distinction, later refined through ammonite zones.
The globally ratified Barremian base is now in the Río Argos section, Murcia, Spain (2024 GSSP); the word still recalls Barrême, not Spain.
Editorial qualification
A dated 1862 paper proposing a new intervening stage is identifiable; some tertiary lists cite 1873. The exact first occurrence of the modern spelling needs page-level checking.
Related names
Cretaceous · Early Cretaceous · Hauterivian · Aptian · Urgonian
Sources
- International Commission on Stratigraphy, International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2026/06 — Controlling nomenclature, rank and sequence of internationally recognised ages; not a historical-coinage source
- ICS Cretaceous Subcommission, Barremian GSSP at Río Argos, Spain — Modern formal base in Murcia based on ammonite evidence, not the French namesake locality
- Reboulet et al. (2013), reinterpretation of Barremian in the Swiss Jura — Shows replacement of an apparent rock-based Urgonian division by later biostratigraphy
- Reboulet et al. (2013), stratigraphy of historic Neocomian around Neuchâtel, Carnets de Géologie — Historical reassessment of Thurmann, Desor, Renevier and the original Swiss successions