René Chudeau (21 August 1864, in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

– 1921) was a French

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. Formerly an instructor at the University of Besançon, from 1905 to 1914 he conducted a series of geological surveys in the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

(later day nations of

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

and

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

). His interests included

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), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

deposits, the formation of

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s, processes of

aeolian erosion Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials ...

, et al. In the

Taoudeni basin The Taoudeni Basin is a major Sedimentary basin in West Africa, named after the Taoudenni village in northern Mali. It covers large parts of the West African craton in Mauritania and Mali. It is of considerable interest due to its possible reserv ...

, he investigated ancient volcanoes, and south of

Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of the eponymous Agadez Region, the city lies in the Sahara ...

, he found the presence of dinosaur bones. In the

Zinder region Zinder Region is one of the seven regions of Niger; the capital of the region is Zinder. The region covers 145,430 km². It is the most populous province of Niger. History Numerous Palaeolithic and Neolithic remains, as well as cave paintin ...

, he made a discovery of

Lower Cretaceous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also * Nizhny {{Disambiguation ...

rocks being overlain by

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cret ...

successions. His geological collections are housed at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The botanical species ''Pennisetum chudeaui'' Trab. Maire is named in his honor.

Selected writings

* ''Contribution a l'étude géologique de la Vieille-Castille'', 1896 – Contribution to the study of geology in Vieille-Castille. * ''Missions au Sahara'' Volume 1, 1908–09 (with Émile Félix Gautier). Missions of the Sahara. * ''Sahara Soudanais'', 1909 – Sudanese Sahara. * ''A travers la Mauritanie Occidentale : de Saint-Louis a Port-Etienne'', two volumes 1909, 1911 (with

Jean Abel Gruvel Jean Abel Gruvel (14 February 1870 in Le Fleix – 18 August 1941 in Dinard) was a French marine biologist known for his research of cirripedes. Biography In 1894 he obtained his doctorate in sciences, and later taught classes in zoology fo ...

) – Through western Mauritania : Saint-Louis – Port-Etienne. * ''Note sur l'ethnographie de la région du Moyen Niger'', 1910 – Note involving

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

from the mid-Niger region. * ''Rapport de Mission en Mauritanie 1910–1911'', 1913 – Report on a mission to Mauritania. * ''Le bassin du moyen Niger'', 1912 – The

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the middle

.WorldCat identities
(publications)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chudeau, Rene 1864 births 1921 deaths 20th-century French geologists Academic staff of the University of Franche-Comté People from Angers