B D Finch Oct 14, 2013:

Vegetation? I note that your definition that associates "ourlet" with vegetation is taken from http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ourlet_forestier. As used there, in a phytosociology context, it would translate into English as vegetation of the "forest margin". However, that does not seem at all relevant or appropriate to the geological context of your source text. Would it be possible to identify a forest margin for that period? Why does the source text have "L'ourlet du quaternaire" rather than "L'ourlet forestier du quaternaire"? During a period of several million years one might expect forest margins to have moved substantially.