_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BRANDANO, M., JADOUL, F., LANFRANCHI, A., TOMASSETTI, L., BERRA, F., FERRANDINI, M. & FERRANDINI, J. (2009): Stratigraphic archit<strong>et</strong>ure of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system in the Bonifacio Basin (Early-Middle Miocene, South Corsica). - Field Trip Gui<strong>de</strong> (FT13), 27th IAS Internation<strong>al</strong> Me<strong>et</strong>ing of Sedimentology, Alghero, Sar<strong>de</strong>gna, It<strong>al</strong>y, 299-313. FERRANDINI, M., GALLONI, F., BABINOT, J.F. & MARGEREI, J.P. (2002): La plate-forme carbonatèe burdig<strong>al</strong>ienne <strong>de</strong> Bonifacio (Corse du Sud) : microfaunes <strong>et</strong> p<strong>al</strong>èoenvironnements. - Revue Microp<strong>al</strong>éontologie, 45 (1): 57-68. JOHNSON, M.E. (2006): Uniformitarianism as a gui<strong>de</strong> to rocky-shore ecosystems in the geologic<strong>al</strong> record. - Canadian Journ<strong>al</strong> of Earth Science, 43: 119-1147. 174
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kölner Forum Geol. P<strong>al</strong>äont., 19 (2011) M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.) Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, <strong>Liège</strong>, August 19-29, 2011 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jean Gabriel LAFUSTE (1930-1990) and the « French » interpr<strong>et</strong>ation of microstructures in P<strong>al</strong>aeozoic cor<strong>al</strong>s. Francis TOURNEUR 1 & Yves PLUSQUELLEC 2 1 Pierres <strong>et</strong> Marbres <strong>de</strong> W<strong>al</strong>lonie ASBL, 11 rue <strong>de</strong>s Pieds d’Alou<strong>et</strong>tes, B-5100 Naninne, Belgium; francis.tourneur@pierres<strong>et</strong>marbres.be 2 <strong>Université</strong> <strong>de</strong> Br<strong>et</strong>agne Occi<strong>de</strong>nt<strong>al</strong>e, CNRS-UMR 6535 « Domaines océaniques », Laboratoire <strong>de</strong> P<strong>al</strong>éontologie, UFR Sciences, 6 av. Le Gorgeu, CS 93837, F-29 238 Brest, France; yves.plusquellec@univ-brest.fr The French p<strong>al</strong>aeontologist Jean Gabriel LAFUSTE was born in La Rochelle (South West France) in 1930, where he died prematurely at the age of sixty. After studies at the University of Poitiers, where he worked on Jurassic reefs, he quickly joined Paris, first at the Sorbonne and fin<strong>al</strong>ly at the Institut <strong>de</strong> P<strong>al</strong>éontologie of the Muséum nation<strong>al</strong> d’Histoire naturelle, where he ma<strong>de</strong> most of his career. He was c<strong>al</strong>led by James ALLOITEAU (1890-1969) to join the « cor<strong>al</strong> team » as the speci<strong>al</strong>ist of tabulate cor<strong>al</strong>s. T<strong>al</strong>ented with a great manu<strong>al</strong> skill, he prepared himself his specimens and thin sections and he invented different speci<strong>al</strong> technic<strong>al</strong> improvements, <strong>al</strong>lowing the thickness of the sections to be strongly reduced, until a few microm<strong>et</strong>ers. This reduced thickness permits very subtle observations of microstructures, as the boundaries of the very thin cryst<strong>al</strong>s appear sharply in polarized light. As he was very curious, he prepared these « ultra-thin » sections or sections with polished si<strong>de</strong>s (« lames à faces polies » or LFP) in a lot of different objects (cor<strong>al</strong>s of course, but <strong>al</strong>so shells, eggs, bones, <strong>et</strong>c.), making comparisons b<strong>et</strong>ween the different kinds of biominer<strong>al</strong>isation processes. He studied most of the classic<strong>al</strong> Tabulate cor<strong>al</strong>s faunas – Siluro-Ordovician of Scandinavia and of the British Isles, Devono-Carboniferous of Western Europe, Permian of Timor, <strong>et</strong>c. – during visits to the most important museums and collections in the world. But he <strong>al</strong>so received many « fresh » collections from field geologists, among others from the Devono-Carboniferous strata of Northern Africa (Algeria and Morocco) – among others the very large collection of Henry HOLLARD. His approach was very carefull, beginning with observation of morphologic<strong>al</strong> characters of the colonies, then of thin sections and fin<strong>al</strong>ly of the microstructure of the skel<strong>et</strong>ons. Each step was connected with the other ones, to un<strong>de</strong>rstand the growth form and the precise morphology of <strong>al</strong>l these species. He used for these studies <strong>al</strong>l the possible tools – thin and ultra-thin sections for optic<strong>al</strong> microscopy but <strong>al</strong>so SEM and other contemporary means. As these studies were very carefully conducted, they were <strong>al</strong>so rather slow and the main problem for J.G. LAFUSTE was to conclu<strong>de</strong> them and to write communications. So many results unfortunately remained unpublished – as a comprehensive approach of the Alveolitids or an attempt to un<strong>de</strong>rstand the complex relationships b<strong>et</strong>ween Favosites and Thecia! Most of these « dossiers » were transmitted after the <strong>de</strong>ath of J.G. LAFUSTE to his co-workers, but it is difficult for them to conclu<strong>de</strong> these researchs without the princip<strong>al</strong> author. It could be avanced that J.G. LAFUSTE was not sufficiently aware of the diagen<strong>et</strong>ic evolution of carbonates and that its interpr<strong>et</strong>ations were too close to the rough observations. But the precision of these observations is without doubt a very precious contribution to the knowledge of the Tabulate cor<strong>al</strong>s, of their structure, microstructure and organization – with gener<strong>al</strong> trends, like the glob<strong>al</strong> evolution from (micro)lamellar in Siluro-Ordovician forms to fibrous ones in the Permian. Unquestionably a great « natur<strong>al</strong>ist » in the best, noble meaning of the word! 175
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