Decazeville. Nearly 50 people for the conference on the Carboniferous

The Decazeville community culture department, with Matthieu Communeau, facilitator and scientific mediator, offered a conference on the Carboniferous at the Decazeville media library. The event was a great success with nearly 50 people present.

The speaker explained in a very accessible manner the appearance and role of this geological period which dates back more than 300 million years. The region was at that time at the equator, part of a huge continent, marked by hot weather, mountainous, humid areas and sustained volcanic activity. To get an idea of ​​what Decazeville and its Basin looked like, it is possible to refer to the current landscapes of Colombia and Papua New Guinea.

Flowering plants and fruits did not exist in this distant period. But there were tall trees that had more bark than wood and so-called scale trees – some fossils were found in situ by miners – as well as species of ferns or horsetails. Insects, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, amphibians, fish and reptiles abounded while birds and mammals were not yet in this world. Then the speaker detailed the formation of coal, following the decomposition of plants, spanning thousands of years.