The Voulte-sur-Rhône

the Voulte-sur-Rhône is a common French, located in the department of the Ardèche and the area the Rhone-Alps.

Geography

Place chief of canton, reaching 95 meters of altitude, the city is located at the edge of the the Rhone opposite the dromoise city of Livron-sur-Drôme, to 18 km of Valence and Privas.

It is connected to Livron by a beautiful bridge with Haubans on the Rhone damaged during the Second world war. Voulte also constitutes a rail junction with a junction of unballasting between the line the SNCF of left bank of the Rhone (Lyon/Marseilles) and that of the Right Bank (Givors/Nimes).

History

Its past is that of an industrial Town (textile factory, weaving.) and mine (Blast furnaces, Parc Baboin Jaubert), mixed with the great sporting epopees: its team of Rugby was champion of France in 1970, of Voultains present at the Olympic Games in 1948 and 1956…

Today, the Voulte-sur-Rhône is a small town constituting an important industrial pole of the Ardèche, of high technology, with a national and international radiation.

Lagerstätte of Voulte on the Rhone

It is about a paleontological layer of international reference famous for the extraordinary conservation of the marine animals dated from the Jurassic one. The site is located on the territory of the communes of Voulte on the Rhone and of Rompon, it corresponds to the old iron mining. During the XIX ème century, one extracted up to 60.000 tons from ore per annum from a vast lens from approximately 240 m from length and 50 m from width. It is at that time that one discovers the first Fossile S of Crustacé S and Poisson S in nodules (spherical concretions or in the shape of rugby ball!). J. Fournet, in 1843, gives the first description of the layer in a study on the Jurassic grounds and the iron ores of Ardeche. Thereafter, the fossiliferous site of Voulte on the Rhone was the subject of several scientific studies specific and limited to the description of some zoological groups. It is in 1967, thanks to the study of S. Elmi of the Université Lyon I that the dating specifies will be established using the ammonites, the fossiliferous layer of Voulte on the Rhone is dated from the Jurassic means (lower Callovien is nearly 160 million years). German amateurs come from time to time to try to find the part rare, but little by little the site falls almost completely into the lapse of memory. The extraction of the fossils being increasingly difficult because of the strong rectification of the fossiliferous layers (close to 70°). In 1973, a young person voultain impassioned paleontology, Bernard Riou, takes again research with the authorization of the owner of the layer. At the end of almost ten years of perseverance, it succeeds in constituting a collection of reference which will make it possible to publish starting from 1982 many scientific discoveries of main interest. One of most remarkable for the time is the discovery of the oldest known octopus: Fischer J.C and Riou B.: 1982 Oldest octopode known (Cephalopoda, Dibranchiata): Proteroctopus ribeti, Gen Nov., Sp Nov., of Callovien of Ardeche (France), C.R. Acad. Sc.Paris, T. 295, Series II, p 277-280.

This major discovery will encourage the paleontologist to create in 1989 with Voulte on the Rhone a Museum of Paléontologie which will exist until in 2006, year of its closing because of too exiguous buildings, in spite of the number of visitors (close to 12.000/an in the last years). The many scientific work which was completed starting from the work of the young paleontologist will make it possible to highlight the particular paleontological interest of the site of Voulte like its strong potential the level of the international scientific research.

In 1996, Bernard Riou publishes an important work on the volcanicity of Ardeche: Ardeche, Ground of Volcanos where for the first time it presents an assumption on the reasons of the richness of the fossiliferous site of Voulte on the Rhone, and this following a work in common with English researchers of Bristol-board Université (Wilby P.R., Briggs D.E.G and Riou B.: 1996, Mineralization off software bodied invertabrates in has Jurassic metalliferous deposit, Geology, september 1996, v. 24, n°9, p. 847-850, 3 figures). The presence of certain minerals and many Sulfide S (crystal, sphalerite, cernyite…) could allow to think that the fossils discovered died in a cyclic way following hydrothermal pollution. The gases resulting from the geological fault would be thus at the origin of the presence of all these organizations in this zone at the bottom of a calm sea and more than 200 m of depth. This exceptional layer, as well by abundance as for the conservation in three dimensions of the fossilized organizations, is in relation to a fast death of the animals then present. In 2002, the discovery of several squids vampires confirms the presence of a major medium where the light was probably non-existent. Fischer J.C and Riou B.: 2002 Vampyronassa rhodanica, Nov. gen., Nov. sp., vampyromorphe (cephalopoda, coleoidea) of lower Callovien of the Voulte-sur-Rhône (Ardeche, France). Annals of Paleontology 88,1-17, 10 fig., 2 boards. A study recently published, carried out in collaboration with researchers of Université of Lyon 1 on fossils of marine spiders discovered by Bernard Riou between 1983 and 1990 even confirms the presence of a major seamen circle being able to reach 500m. Coalman S., Basket maker J., Riou B.: 2007, New sea spider from the Jurassic Voulte on the Rhone Lagerstätte, Proceedings off the Royal society B.

In conclusion At the Jurassic average, the site of Voulte on the Rhone was located in margin of a platform in major seamen circle being able to reach 400 to 500 m, similar so that one knows today in the large ocean deeps where one discovered Volcan S submarines which one names of the black smokers. Thanks to the whole of this scientific work, the paleontological site of Voulte on the Rhone is indexed among the most extraordinary layers on a world level for the conservation of the fossils. D.E.G. Briggs, paleontologist of international reputation, the University of Yale (the USA) the account among one of the twenty fossiliferous sites most remarkable, named “Lagerstätte”. The whole of this work made it possible to convince the town councilors and departmental to acquire this layer. Today, it is classified Significant Natural space and belongs to the Department of Ardeche.

Administration

Demography

Places and monuments

the Castle of Voulte on the Rhone (dating from the beginning 14th century and finished in XVIe and XVIIe centuries. It classified Historic building.
the old city consists of rising and narrow lanes, of arched passages.
the vault of the Princes (classified Historic building)
the church Saint Vincent
the museum of Paleontology presents more than one thousand of extraordinary fossils of whole world and illustrating the evolution of the species. Museum closed since 2006 because them local too exiguous See the site in the course of reorganization.
the fountain Giroud (classified Historic building)
the natural reserve of " Printegarde"
the site of the Foundries with 4 blast furnaces (classified Historic building)

Economy

Events

Personalities related to the commune

Guy Camberabero and Lilian Camberabero: players of Rugby to the sporting Voulte, champions of France in 1970.
Didier Camberabero and Gilles Camberabero: wire of Guy.
Bernard Riou Graduate Paléontologue of the School Practices High Studies (Sorbonne) Life sciences and Earth. Discoverer of the Lagerstätte site of Voulte on the Rhone (fossiliferous layer of international reference).

See too

Common of Ardeche
sporting Voulte

External bonds

the Voulte-sur-Rhône on the site of the national geographical Institute
the Voulte-sur-Rhône on the site of INSEE
the Voulte-sur-Rhône on the site of Quid
Localization of the Voulte-sur-Rhône on a chart of France and communes bordering
Plane of the Voulte-sur-Rhône on Mapquest

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