Georges Le Mesle (21 August 1828 – 31 December 1895) was a French geologist. He is best known for his work on the geology of northern and southern Tunisia, which he undertook between 1887 and 1891.
Life
Georges Le Mesle was a geologist, paleontologist, correspondent of the
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
and member of the Scientific Commission of Tunisia.
Le Mesle was born in Paris on 21 August 1828.
He became a corresponding geologist of the Museum of Natural History of Paris, which charged him with a mission to Indochina.
He undertook useful work in
Tonkin
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
.
Some of his photographs have been preserved by the Paris Society of Geography.
The society calls them "photos of the Ba Keng Buddha, near Angkor, 1864", but the date is dubious since
Angkor
Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...
had only recently been found by European travellers.
Le Mesle visited Algeria several times, and built up a valuable collection of fossils, which were used by M. Peron in his works on Algeria.
In the 1870s Le Mesle found
tridactyl
In biology, dactyly is the arrangement of digits (fingers and toes) on the hands, feet, or sometimes wings of a tetrapod animal. It comes from the Greek word δακτυλος (''dáktylos'') = "finger".
Sometimes the ending "-dactylia" is use ...
footprints in Algeria, which the local people attributed to a giant bird, a view that Le Mesle shared.
The botanist
Ernest Cosson
Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson (22 July 1819 – 31 December 1889) was a French botanist born in Paris.
Cosson is known for his botanical research in North Africa, and during his career he participated in eight trips to Algeria. In several of these ...
led the ''Mision Scientifique de Tunisie'' (Tunisian Scientific Exploration Mission) from 1885 to 1887.
In 1884 a geological section under
Georges Rolland
Georges Rolland (23 January 1852 – 25 July 1910) was a French geologist and industrialist, a member of the Corps des mines, who worked in Algeria in the 1880s.
He made important discoveries about the underground hydrology of the Sahara.
He was ...
was added to the mission.
Rolland was assisted by
Philippe Thomas
Philippe Thomas (4 May 1843 – 12 February 1910) was a French veterinarian and amateur geologist who discovered large deposits of phosphates in Tunisia.
Despite the huge economic importance of his discovery, he received little recognition during ...
from 1885 and by Georges Le Mesle in 1887.
Rolland covered the centre of the country, while Thomas worked further south and Le Mesle worked mainly in the north, apart from an expedition to the extreme south.
The team gave good descriptions of the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
of the
Zaghouan
Zaghouan (or Zaghwan; ar, زغوان '' ; ber, ⵣⴻⵖⵡⴰⵏ / Zeɣwan)'' is a town in the northern half of Tunisia.
Situated on a low ridge of the Dorsale Mountains, the town has a mild climate and presents a green aspect. Cold water ...
region and the
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
of the
Maktar
Maktar or Makthar ( ar, مكثر), also known by other names during antiquity, is a town and archaeological site in Siliana Governorate, Tunisia.
Maktar was founded by the Berber Numidians as a defense post against Carthaginian expansion. At th ...
and
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...
regions.
On the mission Le Mesle travelled with
Jean Albert Gaudry
Jean Albert Gaudry (16 September 1827 – 27 November 1908) was a French geologist and palaeontologist. He was born at St Germain-en-Laye, and was educated at the Catholic Collège Stanislas de Paris. He was a notable proponent of theistic evolut ...
.
Georges Le Mesle died on 31 December 1895 in Bône, in Algeria.
Tunisian research
In 1888 Le Mesle published the results of his first exploration, which took place in April–June 1887, in the form of a daily journal that recorded minor facts and incidents of the journey along with scientific observations.
Le Mesle made some preliminary trips around
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, then studied the peninsula of
Cap Bon
Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli;
Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...
, which based on his observations formed an archipelago at the start of the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
and did not become part of the continent until quite recently.
He then investigated the region of
Bizerte
Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
, where the substrate of limestones consists entirely of microscopic
foraminifera
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell biology), ectoplasm for catching food and ot ...
.
The foraminifera belonged the same genera as those found in chalk of the Paris basin, such as
Globigerina
''Globigerina'' () is a genus of planktonic Foraminifera, in the order of Rotaliida.[Glo ...](_blank)
,
Textularia
''Textularia'' is a genus of textulariid foraminifera
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular Ec ...
, Orbulina and Rotalina.
Above these he found hard sandstone, alternating marls and soft sandstones from the
Late Miocene
The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...
or the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58[Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...](_blank)
terrain in which Kobelt had discovered ''Perisphinctes Kobelti'' from the
Oxfordian age.
He collected ''Aptychus'' (from the lamellosi group), ''Peltoceras transversarium'', ''Rhacophyllites tortisulcatus'', ''Oppelia'' cf. ''Bachiana'', ''Lytoceras'' cf. ''Liebigi'' and ''Perisphinctes'' cf. ''Kobelti''.
In 1888, since Rolland had not been able to complete his investigation of the center, Le Mesle resumed his itinerary between
Zaghouan
Zaghouan (or Zaghwan; ar, زغوان '' ; ber, ⵣⴻⵖⵡⴰⵏ / Zeɣwan)'' is a town in the northern half of Tunisia.
Situated on a low ridge of the Dorsale Mountains, the town has a mild climate and presents a green aspect. Cold water ...
and
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...
in April, May and June.
From there he went to Cherichira and Trozza, and then to Souk-el-Arba, Beja, Ain-Draham and Taharque before returning to Tunis.
The mission was interrupted for two years due to the death of its head in 1889.
Le Mesle then resumed his explorations between November 1890 and February 1891.
He visited
Medenine
Medenine ( ar, مدنين ) is the major town in south-eastern Tunisia, south of the port of Gabès and the Island of Djerba, on the main route to Libya. It is the capital of Medenine Governorate.
Overview
In pre-colonial times, Medenine wa ...
, the environs of
Tataouine
Tataouine ( ber, Tiṭṭawin; ar, تطاوين) is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the ...
and Douirat and the Oudernas massif, where he discovered a very interesting
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
stage.
At the end of this journey he described himself as being morally and physically in tatters, and he did not recover.
His last two travel journals did not appear until 1899, after his death.
Publications
Georges Le Mesle published very little himself, but donated his collections to the National Museum of Paris where others could study them.
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Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Mesle, Georges
1828 births
1895 deaths
19th-century French geologists
French paleontologists
Scientists from Paris