Regolith formations are surficial fragmental and unconsolidated rocks whose genesis and properties result from successive periods of surface processes. They comprise:autochthonous formations resulting directly from successive periods of surface weathering in the upper 200 metres of the Earth's crust;allochthonous formations in which the unconsolidated deposits result from weathering and transport and have not yet been affected by burial diagenesis.Regolith studies are currently at the crossroads of new scientific challenges and new environmental needs. Not only do regolith formations support a full spectrum of biological activity, including human activities, they also provide a source of extractable materials and form the substratum of soils. As such, they should be considered as a capital to be managed and protected. Historically, geological maps have focused mainly on substratum geology. Although the inclusion of regolith formations in the 1:50,000-scale geological map series of France since the 1980s has considerably increased our knowledge of France's regolith, this is still is patchy and generally insufficient for applied uses despite increasing societal pressures demanding up-to-date regolith maps. To produce an updated map at the scale of France is an ambitious project that must necessarily begin with an inventory of existing geological cartographic data relating to regolith formations. A digital two-layered regolith map of France, representing both the allochthonous and autochthonous formations, was produced in 2009 at a scale of 1:1,000,000. Each layer is accompanied by a confidence index map, and a brief descriptive note of the mapped formations (in French) is also available. A critical analysis of the two map layers reveals not only the very uneven nature of our current knowledge in terms of data quantity and quality, but also its deficiency as regards the expectations of the public authorities. Today, therefore, we require surface studies combining geology, geophysics and geochemistry in order to enhance our understanding of the natural processes governing the distribution and evolution of subsoil formations. This approach is critical for developing appropriate guidance in the use and management of natural and groundwater resources. The 2009 map can be viewed and interrogated at http://infoterre.brgm.fr, and a "pdf" of the map and corresponding project report can be downloaded from http://www.brgm.fr/brgm/GEO/rego.htm.

Le regolithe est defini comme l'ensemble des formations geologiques meubles ou consolidees dont la genese ou les proprietes actuelles resultent de processus supergenes (interaction entre la lithosphere et l'atmosphere, l'hydrosphere et la biosphere), quel qu'en soit l'âge. Ces formations regroupent : - des formations autochtones issues de processus d'alteration supergenes (meubles ou consolidees), d'âge variable, situees dans la frange superieure de l'ecorce terrestre (200 premiers metres) ;- des formations allochtones qui regroupent l'ensemble des depots sedimentaires issus de processus de remaniement et de transport et n'ayant pas subi de diagenese d'enfouissement. Les formations du regolithe sont le support de l'activite biologique dont les activites humaines. Elles sont la source de materiaux exploitables et forment le substrat des sols. Elles representent donc un capital a gerer et a preserver. Historiquement, les cartes geologiques se sont focalises sur la geologie du substratum. La connaissance que nous avons des formations du regolithe s'est considerablement accrue depuis les annees 1980 grâce au leve des cartes geologiques de la France a l'echelle du 1/50 000e. Cependant, en regard de la pression societale, elle demeure inegale et incomplete. Une remise a jour des cartes du regolithe est aujourd'hui necessaire. La production d'une carte des formations du regolithe a l'echelle de la France est un projet ambitieux qui debute par un inventaire des donnees geologiques cartographiques disponibles. Une carte numerique a deux couches des formations du regolithe de la France a l'echelle du millionieme a donc ete produite en 2009. Chaque couche est accompagnee d'une carte de qualite de la donnee. Une breve description des formations cartographiees est egalement disponible. Une analyse critique des deux cartes souligne l'heterogeneite de notre connaissance aussi bien en terme de quantite et que de qualite de la donnee. L'analyse met egalement en evidence l'insuffisance de notre connaissance en regard des attentes de nos tutelles. Il est aujourd'hui important de developper des etudes sur la thematique des formations de surface en combinant geologie, geophysique et geochimie et ce afin d'ameliorer notre comprehension des processus naturels gouvernant la distribution et l'evolution des formations qui sont le substrat de nos activites. Cette approche est aujourd'hui critique pour guider nos tutelles dans l'utilisation et la gestion de nos ressources.

New data and especially paleontological analysis allows the correlations between the formations of Rouen (upstream) and Le Havre (downstream) in the Seine Valley The key formation is represented by a palaeoestuary of MIS 7 with an altitude that can reach 15 m O D Another formation, the "sables lites", alluvial (Tourville) or fluvio-marine (Tancarville), has been deposited just after, at the beginning of MIS 6. The Eemian is characterised by a dune (MIS 5e optimum) at Tancarville (4-14 m O D ) and by a regressive palaeobeach (Le Havre) of the late MIS 5e, which altitude is lower than 0 m O D. The beginning of the MIS 6 ("sables lites" formation) is in relation with a marine level identical to the level of the palaeostuary (MIS 7) below. So there was no marine regression during the early MIS 6 unlike the Early Weichselian (MIS substages 5 a-d).

A new assemblage of marine vertebrates from northern Saudi Arabia, east of the Nafud, leads us to reconsider the age of the top unit of the Aruma Formation, the Lina Member, hitherto referred to the Maastrichtian. This assemblage contains the remains of a dozen selachian and actinopterygian fishes, as well as those of a giant sea turtle representing a new dermochelyid taxon. It suggests a Late Paleocene to Early Eocene age for this unit. This new dating and a revision of the stratigraphic position of the Lina Member demonstrate the existence, on a regional scale, of an important hiatus at the K-T boundary.

Excavation at the Mare d'Oissel, at Oissel (Seine-Maritime) has revealled a series of 5561 objects attribuable to typical Mousterian manufacture. This industry is characterized by a lot of Levallois chopping and a good mastery of laminary blade-forming techniques. These objects demonstrate the shaping of raw materials as practiced during the Upper Paleolithic period. This deposit mainly corresponds to a workshop on the site. It has been associated with the duelling near the Ruquier quarry, in the same community, wich has also been connected to typical mousterian production.

A new dermochelyid sea turtle, Arabemys crassiscutata n. gen, n. sp., is described on the basis of epithecal shell mosaic ossicles from the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene of Saudi Arabia. This is the oldest and the most primitive known representative of the dermochelyids having an epithecal shell mosaic. ((C) 1999 Academie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.).

Fossil wood, collected near the western coast of Saudi Arabia, originates either from the Raghama Formation (Miocene), or from the Dhaylan Formation (Oligocene). Its structure designates this wood as a representative of Recent tropical rain forest Sindora trees and the fossil species Hopeoxylon indicum. The largely disjoined distribution of Recent Sindora is in contrast to the continuity of localities yielding fossils closely related to Sindora. A discussion is held on the dispersion direction of Sindora and geographic and climatic modifications in the Tertiary: Early Miocene land connection; climatic drying at the beginning of the Middle Miocene in the west; and later on in India and Pakistan. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The recent studies on the Pleistocene of North western France have allowed the completion and revision of the previous stratigraphical tables published in the 1980s. Regarding to these first synthesis, the new data are mainly represented by the following points : - Definition of new marine and fluvial formations for the Pliocene and the Lower Pleistocene of the Carentan Basin (Normandy) ; - New evidence on the Pleistocene and Holocene marine formation in Normandy ; - Definition of the Pleistocene fluvial systems of the Middle Seine and of the Middle Somme valleys ; - New evidence of reference records for the Eemian interglacial and the Early Weichselian in the Lys Valley fluvial Formation (Nord), and for the Flandrian of the Northern France coastal plain ; - Discovery of a long reference profile for the Middle Pleistocene slope sequence of the Somme basin (Picardy) ; - Proposal of a new pedostratigraphical synthesis and of new reference profiles for the Last Interglacial-Glacial cycle in the loess sequences from new field data, sedimentological analysis, magnetic susceptibility mesurements, and TL and IRSL dates.

Clay with flints in the western part of the Paris Basin occurs in two different morphological contexts: the plateaus and the valley sides. The geometric study of the deposits and the lithological characterization of the clay with flints occurring in the valley sides, named biefs a silex in France, have enabled a typology of these materials. The typology depends on the slope of the valley sides. The analytical comparison (grain-size distribution, flint content and percentage of broken surfaces of flints) between the clay with flints of the plateaus and those of the valley sides (biefs a silex) demonstrates that formations constitute two distinct facies. The clay with flints occurring on the valley sides is equivalent to head and massive grazes. This facies results from periglacial reworking of the plateau clay with flints. The reworking process involved solifluction during the down-cutting of the valleys, in Quaternary. The geometry of the biefs a silex comprises either a single or double bevel; the latter case requires a minimum of two main stages of the reworking, which occurred between -800000 and -20000 years ago.

Les travaux récents menés sur le Pléistocène de la France du Nord-Ouest permettent de compléter et de réviser les tableaux stratigraphiques publiés dans les années 80. Par rapport à ces premières synthèses, les nouveaux apports sont essentiellement représentés par les éléments suivants : - Définition de nouvelles formations marines et fluviatiles pour le Pliocène et le Pléistocène inférieur dans le Bassin de Carentan (Normandie) ; - Mise en évidence de nouvelles formations marines pléistocènes et holocènes en Normandie ; - Définition des systèmes fluviatiles pléistocènes de la Seine moyenne et de la moyenne Somme ; - Mise en évidence de séquences de référence pour l'Eémien et le Début Weichsélien au sein de la Formation fluviatile de la Lys (Nord), et pour le Flandrien dans la plaine maritime du Nord ; - Mise en évidence d'une longue séquence de référence pour le Pléistocène moyen de versant dans le bassin de la Somme (Picardie) ; - Proposition de nouveaux stratotypes et d'une nouvelle synthèse pédostratigraphique pour le dernier cycle Interglaciaire-glaciaire en milieu loessique sur la base de nouvelles données de terrain, d'analyses sédimentologiques, de mesures de susceptibilité magnétique et de datations TL et IRSL. - Parallèlement, des recherches sur l'Argile à Silex ont permis de préciser le mode de formation et l'attribution chronostratigraphique de ce faciès d'altération présent dans l'essentiel du Nord-Ouest de la France. Enfin, la prise en compte de ces éléments nouveaux débouche sur une révision de la carte des formations superficielles de la France du Nord-Ouest publiée en 1987 par F. Joly et dont une nouvelle version est proposée dans le cadre de cet article synthétique.

From 1989 to 1991, a rescue-dig took place at Poses, «Le Vivier- Le Clos-Saint-Quentin». The area studied is situated on the flood-plain, which explains in this place important alluvial deposits, and consequently exceptionnal conservation of neolithic and chalcolithic seulement levels. On four hectares, the excavation has induced the study of seven settlements and also secondary areas (particularly combustion structures of polynesian type and accumulation of blocks of sandstone). The two oldest settlements belong to the «post-rubané» cultures (Villeneuve-Saint-Germain, Cerny) and the five others to the chalcolithic cultures. The most important resuit concerns, on one hand, the first neolithisation of the country and, on the other hand, the development of a chrono-cultural framework for the Late Neolithic - Early Bronze Age transition. The excavations have shown the existence of original late neolithic features (assemblages 3 and 4), have confirmed the large impact of Bell Beakers espansion in a late time in the Lower Valley of the Seine River and their evolution (assemblages 5 and 6), and finally have allowed to discover an unknown chalcolithic feature (assemblage 7). This operation enables us also to approach the theme of the development of marginal lands in areas liable to flooding.

The loessic sequences of Normandy which show mainly the pléniglacial phases and the Early Glacial pedogenesis of isohumic or grey forest soil type, are now completed by the littoral sequences which are clearly more detailed concerning the Interglacial and Early Glacial periods. Comparison is possible between the continental and oceanic-lacustrine records, even though there remain some points to be discussed.