The first report (1980) on the threesamples,Anorthosite AN-G, Basalt BE-N and Granite MA-N resulted in the chemical characterization of major, minor and 30 trace elements. The present report confiis the validity of a great majority of these working values, in addition to presenting working values for 20 more trace elements for each sample. Only compiled data on trace elements are presented, followed by Tables of statistical param- eters used as a basis for their evaluation, both statistical and subjective. A plea is made to obtain more data on platinum group elements and on other “difficult” trace elements (Au, B, Bi, Se, Te, TI, ...). The three samples have been processed in 900 kg amounts and, therefore, they are likely to remain available for some decades to come. As such, it is certainly worthwhile to take pains to characterize them well for even these difficult trace elements.
The Middle–Upper Jurassic boundary corresponds to a period of far-reaching changes in sedimentation patterns related to alterations in the palaeoclimate and in the global carbon cycle. Marl deposits were laid down in the east of the Paris Basin at this time and ANDRA has selected these lithological units as the site for an underground study laboratory. The build-up of these marls is the result, among other things, of the area long having been a shelf and of more rapid subsidence from the Early Callovian to the Early Oxfordian. Changes are detected between areas on either side of the Vittel Fault from the onset of the mid-Oxfordian onwards.
