dinondation

Dinondation is a neologism used in certain interdisciplinary discussions to denote episodes of large-scale inundation that would affect landscapes inhabited by dinosaurs. The term is not widely standardized and does not refer to a single defined process in mainstream geology or paleontology.

The word is a fusion of dino- (referring to dinosaurs) and inondation (flooding). It tends to be used in French-language contexts and in speculative or heuristic discussions about how rapid flooding could impact dinosaur ecosystems and fossil records.

Proposed causes include rapid sea-level rise during transgressive events, tectonic subsidence creating new marine basins, or regional flood phenomena driven by climatic shifts and glacial melt. Dinondations would produce rapid facies changes in sedimentary records and shifts in depositional environments from terrestrial to coastal or marine.

Because dinondation is not a standardized term, researchers typically analyze sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleontological data to infer abrupt hydrological changes. Critics caution that the label can obscure the diversification of flood-related processes by lumping distinct events under one term.

Related topics include inundation, transgression, sedimentology, paleoecology, and paleoclimatology.

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