Chronostratigraphy and sediment evolution in an alpine karst : the Aranzadi Gallery (Gouffre de la Pierre Saint Martin, Pyrenees, France)

In the ''Gouffre de la Pierre Saint Martin'', the Aranzadi Gallery is a notable sediment trap. A thick filling consists of three discordant detrital sets: a lower unit mainly made of round-stones, a main unit with largely predominant carbonated clays, river terrace deposits covering successive steps hollowed in the main unit. This set took place during glacial periods and shows how evolves the sedimentology in a high alpine cave during glacial periods. Dates obtained from the speleothems cover the period between 300 000 B.P. and the Holocene. (Author)