Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Understanding long-term variability in the frequency of intense storm activity is important for assessing whether changes are controlled by climate evolution. Understanding this variability is also important for predicting present and future community vulnerability and economic loss. Our ability to make these assessments has been limited by the short (less than 50 years) instrument record of storm activity. Storm-induced deposits preserved in the sediments of coastal lagoons offer the opportunity to study the links between climatic conditions and storm activity on longer timescales. In this study, we present a record of these extreme climatic events that have occurred in the French Mediterrannean coast over the past 1500 years. The identification of these extreme events is based on the analysis of sediment cores from Gulf of Aigues-Mortes lagoons that contain a specific sedimentary and geochemical signature associated with intense storms.;Overwash deposits do not show any evidence of intense storm landfalls in the region for several hundred years prior to the late 17th century A.D. The apparent increase in intense storms around 250 years ago occurs during the latter half of the Little Ice Age, a time of lower continental surface temperatures. Comparison of the sediment record with palaeoclimate records indicates that this variability was probably modulated by atmospheric dynamics. The apparent increase of the superstorm activity during the latter half of the Little Ice Age was probably due to the thermal gradient increase leading to enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic/European domain and leading to a modification of the occurrence of extreme wind events along the French Mediterranean coast. A complete understanding of the relationship between climate fluctuations, storm activity, and the coastal response will be crucial to predicting the impacts of future climate change.
ISSN: 0031-0182

hal-00617525
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00617525
DOI : 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.11.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Résumé : Avec l'augmentation récente de la population mondiale et des infrastructures en domaine littoral, les tempêtes et les cyclones sont devenus un des risques majeurs à l'échelle globale. La Méditerranée, et plus particulièrement le Golfe du Lion, ne sont pas épargnés par ces phénomènes. La tempête de 1982 par exemple, de catégorie 2 sur l'échelle de Saffir-Simpson est responsable du décès de quinze personnes et de plus de 400 millions d'euros de pertes économiques. La prévision de ces événements à partir de modèles climatiques est devenue primordiale. Le problème majeur dans cette approche est le manque de recul dans le temps pour calibrer ces modèles. Notre approche a donc été de reconstituer ces tempêtes du passé à partir de l'étude d'archives sédimentaires (paléotempestologie). Les lagunes du littoral languedocien sont les réceptacles de matériels terrigènes provenant des bassins versants en période de crues, mais aussi de sables transportés par la mer en période de tempêtes. L'étude des archives sédimentaires dans l'étang de Pierre Blanche nous a permis d'identifier et de reconstituer l'alternance des événements les plus extrêmes au cours des 2000 dernières années. La fréquence de ces tempêtes semble varier dans le temps et une augmentation significative est constatée durant la fin du Petit Âge Glaciaire.
ISSN: 1142-2904

hal-00486349
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00486349

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present reconstructions of late Holocene changes in the source of organic matter and siliceous export production in the Relocanví Fjord (41°S, 72°W), Northern Chilean Patagonia, based on organic carbon content, δ13Corg, N/C ratio, diatom assemblages and biogenic silica contents from three sediment cores. The age models are based on a combination of 210Pb profiles, AMS 14C dating, and on the first occurrence of the diatom Rhizosolenia setigera f. pungens, as a stratigraphic marker in the fjords. The cores span the last 300 to 700 yr. Diatoms dominate the siliceous assemblages in the three cores (98% on average). Our results suggest that precipitation seasonality in the region of Reloncaví was high in CE 1300–1400 and CE 1700–1850, with a clear decreasing trend since CE 1850. The latter trend is in agreement with instrumental records and tree-ring reconstructions. These fluctuations seem to be associated with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM).
ISSN: 0033-5894

hal-01217176
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01217176
DOI : 10.1016/j.yqres.2015.05.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Finding records of past catastrophic storm events is essential to evaluate the long term climatic evolution in a given coastal area. This question has been addressed by the study of sediment cores sampled in a small coastal lagoon of the French Mediterranean coast (Pierre Blanche lagoon). Two cores were studied in detail and revealed the presence of three main storm events. The sedimentation rates calculated using the CFCS Pb-210 model, in agreement with Cs-137 data, are 3 +/- 0.4 and 4.2 +/- 0.7 mm y(-1) near the border and in the center of the lagoon respectively. This suggests that the 0.6 m deep lagoon could be filled with sediments over the next 150 yr. Our study shows that storm events can be characterized in sedimentary sequences identified by facies, grain size and faunal assemblages (lagoonal and marine species). Comparison of Pb-210, C-14 chronology and historical accounts suggest that the three identified storm events took place in 1742, 1839 and 1893 A.D. (i.e. about one catastrophic event per century).
ISSN: 0025-3227

hal-00411189
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411189
DOI : 10.1016/j.margeo.2008.03.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Trace metals (Cd, U, Co, Ni, Cu, Ba, Fe, Mn), total organic carbon (TOC) and C and N stable isotope signatures (delta C-313 and delta N-15) were determined in short sediments cores from the inner and outer shelf off Concepcion, Chile (similar to 36 degrees S). The objectives were to establish the effect of environmental conditions on trace metal distributions at two shelf sites, one affected by seasonal oxygenation and the other by permanent low oxygen conditions due to the presence of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). We evaluate trace metals as proxies of past changes in primary productivity and the bottom water oxygen regime. Concentrations of pore water sulfides and NH4+ were also measured as indicators of the main diagenetic pathways at each site. Our results for the inner shelf (seasonal suboxia) suggest that the oxidative state of the sediments responds to seasonal pulses of organic matter and that seasonal oxygenation develops during high and low primary productivity in the water column. Here, positive fluxes (to the water column) estimated from pore water concentrations of several elements were observed (Ba, Co, Ni, Fe and Mn). The less reduced environment at this site produces authigenic enrichment of Cu associated with the formation of oxides in the oxic surface sediment layer, and the reduction of U within deeper sediment sections occur consistently with negative estimated pore water fluxes. In the outer shelf sediments (permanent suboxia, OMZ site), negative fluxes (to the sediment) were estimated for all elements, but these sediments showed authigenic enrichments only for Cd, Cu and U. The short oxygenation period during the winter season did not affect the accumulation of these metals on the shelf. The distribution of Cu, Cd and U have been preserved within the sediments and the authigenic accumulation rates estimated showed a decrease from the deep sections of the core to the surface sediments. This could be explained by a gradual decrease in the strength of the OMZ in the last 100 years, in combination with periods of strong oxygenations during El Nino events. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0278-4343

hal-00745672
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745672
DOI : 10.1016/j.csr.2011.11.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Editions Paralia CFL
Résumé : Les lagunes du Golfe du Lion constituent un patrimoine naturel reconnu ainsi qu'un enjeu essentiel pour les activités économiques locales. Leur évolution morphologique est donc une question importante dans le contexte actuel de changements climatiques et environnementaux. L'analyse de données topo-bathymétriques du système des étangs Palavasiens a permis de mieux cerner son évolution depuis le XVIIIème siècle. Les actions anthropiques et les apports du bassin versant apparaissent comme les facteurs principaux de l'évolution du système. Au cours des 40 dernières années, le système montre une tendance à se combler lentement avec une accumulation moyenne de 1,3 mm/an. Des différences de fonctionnement sur chacun des étangs sont mises en lumière en fonction des forçages naturels et anthropiques locaux. Lagoons of the Gulf of Lion, recognized for their natural heritage, are a key challenge for local economic activities. Their morphological evolution is an important issue in the current context of climate and environmental changes. Analysis of topo-bathymetric data of the Palavasian lakes system has helped to clarify its evolution since the XVIII th century. Human impacts and contributions from the watershed appear to be the main drivers governing the evolutionof the system. Over the past40 years, the system shows a tendency to slowly fill at an accumulation rate of 1.3 mm/year. Differences between lagoons are highlighted according to local natural and anthropogenic forcings.
ISSN: 1760-8716

hal-00854075
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00854075
DOI : 10.5150/revue-paralia.2011.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The effects of climate change on extreme events are difficult to assess because extremes present large variability and consequently, it is difficult to identify significant trends in relation to the lack of instrumental long time series. Here we present a record of these extreme storm events in the French Mediterrannean coast over the past 7000 years based on a long sediment core from lagoonal environment in Gulf of Lions. Using a high resolution multiproxies approach on core associating grain size, faunal to reconstruct Mid to Late Holocene history of backbarrier deposits in relation to landfalling activity. Even if change in lagoon geomorphological setting over the Holocene does not allow to compare storm events in terms of intensity trough time, we have recorded six periods of increase in storm activity at 6200, 5500, 4400, 3200, 1500 yr cal B.P. and over the LIA (450 and 100 yr cal B.P.). These evidences of changes in coastal hydrodynamic, inversely correlated to periods of aridification in Western Mediterranean region, are in phase with those observed over the North Atlantic and correspond to Holocene cooling events. This increase in storm activity during Holocene cold events over Mediterranean region was probably due to thermal gradient increase leading to enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic-European domain. This study demonstrates that temperatures in North Atlantic region influence the severe storm activity and therefore the Mediterranean climate at Holocene timescale.
Les effets du changement climatique sur les événements extrêmes sont difficiles à estimer car ces phénomènes présentent une large variabilité, et par conséquent il est délicat d'identifier des tendances significatives compte tenu de l'absence de longues séries de données instrumentales. Dans cette étude, nous présentons un enregistrement de ces tempêtes extrêmes sur la côte Méditerranéenne française au cours des 7000 dernières années à partir de carottes sédimentaires prélevées dans un système lagunaire du Golfe du Lion. L'utilisation d'une approche multi-traceur à haute résolution avec des analyses granulométriques, faunistiques, géochimiques (XRF), en minéraux argileux associées à des données chronologiques de radiocarbone et de 210Pb, 137Cs ; nous a permis de reconstruire l'histoire, au cours de l'Holocène, des dépôts lagunaires en relation avec l'activité des tempêtes. Bien que les paramètres morphologiques de cet environnement lagunaire aient changé durant l'Holocène, ne permettant pas de comparer ces événements au cours du temps en terme d'intensité, nous enregistrons six périodes d'augmentation de l'activité des tempêtes datées à 6200, 5500, 4400, 3200, 1500 an cal B.P. et durant le Petit Age Glaciaire (de 450 à 100 an cal B.P.). Ces changements de l'activité hydrodynamique côtière, en antiphase avec les périodes d'aridifications en Méditerranée de l'Ouest, sont corrélées avec celles observées dans le bassin Nord Atlantique et correspondent aux événements de refroidissement Holocène. L'augmentation de l'activité des tempêtes dans la cette région de la Méditerranée durant les périodes froides, associée à une diminution des températures au pôle Nord, est probablement liée à l'augmentation du gradient thermique qui, par interaction barocline, favorise les cycles d'évolution des tempêtes dans toute l'Europe et la Méditerranée de l'Ouest. Cette étude démontre ainsi que la température dans la région Nord Atlantique influence l'activité des tempêtes extrêmes et donc du climat Méditerranéen à l'échelle de l'Holocène.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757

tel-00437757
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00437757/file/Sabatier_these.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Most of the Mediterranean coastal porous aquifers are intensively exploited. Because of climatic and anthropogenic effects, understanding the physical and geological controls on groundwater distribution and flow dynamics in such aquifers is crucial. This study presents the results of a structural investigation of a system located along the coastline of the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). A key aspect of this study relies on an onshore-offshore integrated approach combining outcrops, seismic profiles, and borehole data analysis. This multidisciplinary approach provides constraints on pore-fluid salinity distribution and stratigraphic organization, which are crucial in assessing the modes of groundwater/seawater exchanges. Onshore, Lower Pliocene deposits dip gently seaward. They are unconformably overlain by Holocene clays in the lagoons. Offshore the Pliocene deposits either outcrop at the seabed or are buried below nonconsolidated sands infilling paleo-valleys. Beneath the lido, the groundwater salinity distribution consists of salty pore water, overlying fresher pore water. Active circulation of groundwater masses is inferred from the geophysical results. In particular, offshore outcrops and paleo-valleys may play an important role in salt water intrusion.
ISSN: 0017-467X

halsde-00866825
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00866825
DOI : 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2012.01011.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : National audience
La sédimentation en baie du Mont Saint Michel se caractérise par la mixité des apports, presque exclusivement d’origine marine, carbonatés et silicoclastiques. La question du comblement de cet environnement hypertidal et de l’évolution de son trait de côte, représenté dans le fond de baie (sud et ouest) par des barrières coquillières, se pose à l’horizon des décennies à venir. Comment ce comblement va t-il être affecté par le changement climatique global marqué entre autres par l’accélération de la remontée du niveau marin et par des modifications potentielles de faunes (habitats, espèces..etc) auxquelles peut également contribuer le développement d’activités humaines comme la conchyliculture ?Les travaux présentés ici (projet Sédibaie, DDTM35 / Région Basse Normandie) ont pour objectif de quantifier le taux de sédimentation dans le fond de baie du Mont-Saint-Michel depuis les derniers siècles, et cela afin d’appréhender les tendances à venir. Pour ce faire des carottages courts (moy. 75 cm) ont été réalisés selon 5 radiales côte-large réparties de St Benoit des Ondes (près de Cancale) à La Chapelle Ste Anne (à l’Ouest du Mt St Michel). Les carottes ont fait l’objet d’analyses variées (faciès, granulométrie, teneur en carbonate, XRF, Scopix, datations 14C...). Un échantillonnage de surface a également été réalisé afin de caractériser les assemblages faunistiques actuels (malacofaune, microfaune, vivant, mort). Parallèlement, des travaux spécifiques sont menés sur les barrières coquillières (stratigraphie THR, évolution contenu faunistique, processus d’édification..). Les enregistrements étudiés sur les carottes couvrent la sédimentation du dernier millénaire au moins. Ils mettent en évidence le passage entre un environnement de dépôt dominé par l’action des marées, à un environnement de plus haute énergie, sans doute dominé par l’action des houles (tempêtes ?). Ce changement majeur, visible sur quasiment toutes les carottes à une profondeur variant entre 30 et 50 cm, s’opère peu après 1000 ans cal. BP. (à confirmer). Il est attribué à un changement climatique d’échelle au moins régionale (Atlantique nord). La complexite de l’enregistrement sédimentaire au-dessus du passage tidal/houle met en évidence une variabilité de faciès sédimentaires à haute fréquence, probablement liée à une fluctuation du climat de houle (NAO, Petit Age Glaciaire), ainsi que dans la partie supérieure à des changements d’apports bioclastiques relatifs au développement des installations conchylicoles.
25e Réunion des Sciences de la Terre
Caen, France

hal-01413154
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01413154

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Chemical Society
Résumé : International audience
A sediment core encompassing 3500 years of continuous sedimentation has been collected from a coastal lagoon located on the southwestern French Mediterranean coast. Lead concentrations and stable isotopes show that the sediments have recorded the three major periods of Pb pollution: the Etruscan-Greek-Roman period (650 BC to AD 50), the medieval period (AD 650 to AD 1450), and the modern period (from around AD 1850 to the present). These periods were separated by low pollution periods during the Dark Ages (between AD 50 and 650) and during the 16th century. From the end of the 19th century to the 1960s, Pb pollution increased exponentially. Coal combustion was the major source of Pb in the lagoon in the second half of the 20th century. Both the decrease in coal consumption and the ban on leaded gasoline resulted in a decrease in Pb pollution by a factor of 1.5 between 1973 and 1995. From 1991, sewage treatment plants and incinerators could be the major source of Pb. The average baseline Hg concentration from 1525 BC to AD 900 was 0.017 ± 0.003 μg g(-1) (n = 54). The Hg concentrations profile shows three major peaks: in AD 1150, AD 1660, and AD 1969, with the concentrations being respectively 8, 5, and 34 times higher than the baseline levels. The medieval peak (AD 1150) is attributed the medical use of Hg in the town of Montpellier and/or the burning of soil and vegetation. Noticeable Hg pollution was also detected during the 17th century in relation to gold and silver amalgamation in Europe. From the end of the 19th century, Hg concentrations increased exponentially until 1969. This modern pollution is attributed to the burning of coal.
ISSN: 0013-936X

halsde-00639280
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halsde-00639280

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : In this study, we assessed past and present influence of ancient mining activity on metal(loid) enrichment in sediments of a former mining watershed (Gardon River, SE France), that is now industrialized and urbanized. A sedimentary archive and current sediments were characterized combining geochemical analyses, zinc isotopic analyses and sequential extractions. The archive was used to establish local geochemical background and recorded (i) increasing enrichment factors (EFs) for Pb, Zn, Cd, Tl, Hg, As and Sb throughout the industrial era, (ii) a contamination peak in 1976 attributed to a tailings dam failure, and (iii) current levels in 2002 and 2011 similar to those of 1969, except for Sb and Hg, reflecting a persisting contamination pattern. Inter-element relationships and spatial distribution of EF values of current sediments throughout the watershed suggested that both ancient and current contamination had a common origin for Pb, Zn, Cd, Tl and As related to the exploitation of Pb/Zn mineralization while old Sb mines and coal extraction area were the main sources for Sb and Hg respectively. This prevailing mining origin was reflected for Zn by a relatively uniform isotopic composition at δ66Zn = 0.23 ± 0.03‰, although slight decrease from 0.23‰ to 0.18‰ was recorded from upstream to downstream sites along the river course in relation with the contribution of the lighter δ66Zn signature (~ 0.08‰) of acid mine drainage impacted tributaries. Results from sequential extractions revealed that the potential mobility of the studied metal(loid)s varied in the order Sb < Tl ≈ As < Zn < Pb < Cd, with an increase of the mobile pool for Cd, Pb, Zn and to a lesser extent for As and Tl associated to increased enrichment. Altogether, these results tend to demonstrate that ancient mining activity still contributes to metal enrichment in the sediments of the Gardon River and that some of these metals may be mobilized toward the water compartment.
ISSN: 0048-9697

hal-01054163
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054163
DOI : 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.078

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD EDP Sciences
Résumé : Cette communication présente les principaux résultats du projet ExtraFlo sur l'estimation des pluies et crues extrêmes. A partir d'un jeu de données conséquent de plusieurs milliers de stations, une procédure d'inter-comparaison a permis d'évaluer les performances d'une trentaine d'implémentations différentes issues de différentes combinaisons (modèle probabiliste, méthode d'estimation, cadre local / régional / mixte local et régional). Le projet ExtraFlo a permis de mettre en évidence le manque de robustesse des approches basées sur le traitement statistique d'une série de quelques dizaines d'années d'observation. Des alternatives intéressantes existent, basées sur l'exploitation des records de pluie et de débit à l'échelle d'une région, de la collecte de données historiques quand cela est possible, de méthodes de simulation basées sur le couplage d'un générateur d'averses avec un modèle hydrologique pour la transformation des pluies en débit, ou des traces morphologiques laissées par les crues anciennes.
ISSN: 0018-6368

hal-01054313
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054313
DOI : 10.1051/1hb/2014010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Fire-history reconstructions inferred from sedimentary charcoal records are based on measuring sieved charcoal fragment area, estimating fragment volume, or counting fragments. Similar fire histories are reconstructed from these three approaches for boreal lake sediment cores, using locally defined thresholds. Here, we test the same approach for a montane Mediterranean lake in which taphonomical processes might differ from boreal lakes through fragmentation of charcoal particles. The Mediterranean charcoal series are characterized by highly variable charcoal accumulation rates. Results there indicate that the three proxies do not provide comparable fire histories. The differences are attributable to charcoal fragmentation. This could be linked to fire type (crown or surface fires) or taphonomical processes, including charcoal transportation in the catchment area or in the sediment. The lack of correlation between the concentration of charcoal and of mineral matter suggests that fragmentation is not linked to erosion. Reconstructions based on charcoal area are more robust and stable than those based on fragment counts. Area-based reconstructions should therefore be used instead of the particle-counting method when fragmentation may influence the fragment abundance.
ISSN: 0033-5894

hal-00903607
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903607
DOI : 10.1016/j.yqres.2013.01.003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The paleostorm history of coastal lagoon environments (Pierre Blanche Lagoon, central part of the Gulf of Lions) has been established by integrating clay mineralogy and geochemical analysis. Clay mineralogy combined with bulk major and trace elements concentrations allow for the definition of four different end members: the Mosson drainage basin, the sandy barrier, the biogenic and the anthropic components. The two main sedimentary sources of the lagoonal system are the Mosson drainage basin which has a high concentration of smectite and Al2O3, and the sandy barrier characterized by high contents of illite, chlorite, SiO2 and Zr. Smectite/(illite + chlorite), SiO2/Al2O3 and Zr/Al2O3 ratios can be used to reconstruct the past storm history of the Pierre Blanche Lagoon. Our results indicate that the sensitivities of the clay mineralogy and geochemistry proxies are different. These sensitivities could be related: 1) first, to the comparison between different grain size for geochemistry and for clay mineralogy: 2) second, to the complexity of the mix (four end-members for the geochemistry and two end-members for the clay minerals): and 3) third, by the storm's ability to transport sediment of different sizes. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0037-0738

hal-00512614
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512614
DOI : 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.04.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : The Maguelone shore extends along the northern coast of the Gulf of Lions margin, West of the Rhone delta and East of some high gradient coastal streams that have been providing most of the elastic sediments to the Gulf of Lions margin since the early Miocene. This 10 km wide area comprises an onshore small coastal watershed (15 km long) in low-lying carbonate hills, kilometer wide marshes, sandy beach and shoreface featuring local low sedimentation. Deposit architecture in such a coastal zone records dynamics of incised valley fill under the influence of rivers and wave/current hydrodynamics in a microtidal environment during an eustatic cycle.;A detailed analysis of about 250 km of very high resolution seismic profiles, tens of cores and outcrops data revealed the evolution of the Maguelone coastal system from Late-Quaternary to present-day. It highlighted also dominant denudation processes in the upstream catchments associated to the formation of incised valley seaward during Quaternary. Combination of this inherited morphology together with hydrodynamics controlled the lagoonal environment evolution since the last transgression. In particular, the Maguelone shore is characterized by the formation of built-over-rias lagoonal systems and records an evolution from partially protected lagoon to isolated lagoon environment. These two stages of lagoon evolution correspond to distinct deposit environments. Correlation of fauna contents with deposit geometry improves lagoonal environment models.
EISSN: 1777-5817

hal-00486370
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00486370
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.181.2.211

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Société géologique de France
Résumé : International audience
The central part of the Gulf of Lions shoreline is characterized by many coastal wetlands that resulted from the interaction between a process of shoreline regularization by migrations of littoral barriers and a slow filling of the back-barrier areas by the riverine and marine inputs. Analyses of Late-Holocene deposits with a very high-resolution multi-proxy study of two sediment cores, allow us to reconstruct the evolution of this coastal system. Two main Holocene sediment units are identified overlying a Pliocene carbonate continental formation. The lower unit consists of sandy and pebbly marine sediments deposited around 7800 B.P., during the final stand of the last sea level rise. Just above, the upper unit displays lagoonal grey clay silts with shells and some intercalated layers of silty sands related to paleostorm events. The age model was established from radiocarbon dating, for the oldest part of the core. Over the last century, sedimentation rates were calculated using the CFCS Pb-210 model, together with Cs-137 data. Radiocarbon data show an increase in he accumulation rate from the base to the top of cores. Marine sand units related to the last transgressive deposit allow to refine the curve of Holocene post-glacial sea level rise. Sedimentological and faunal analyses associated with chronological data provide a means for reconstructing the Late-Holocene paleoenvironments along this part of the coast and suggest that the final closure of the coastal lagoon by the sandy barrier occurred at around 730 +/- 120 yr cal B.P. The beginning of this closure, together with the progradation of the coastal plain, could be responsible for the decline in economic activity of the Lattara harbour during the Roman period.
La partie centrale du littoral du golfe du Lion est caractérisée par de nombreuses lagunes qui résultent de l'interaction entre un processus de régularisation du trait de côte par migration de barrières littorales et d'un lent remplissage des zones situées en arrière des barrières par des apports continentaux et marins. Les analyses des dépôts tardi-holocènes avec une étude multi-traceurs à très haute résolution de deux carottes sédimentaires nous permettent de reconstruire l'évolution de ce système côtier. Deux unités sédimentaires holocènes sont identifiées recouvrant une formation pliocène carbonatée. L'unité inférieure est constituée de sables et de galets d'origine marine déposés vers 7800 B.P., durant les stades ultimes de la dernière remontée marine. Audessus, l'unité supérieure montre des dépôts d'argile et de silt gris coquilliers d'origine lagunaire, dans lesquels sont intercalés des niveaux de sable silteux révélant la présence d'événements de tempêtes. Le modèle d'âge est établi à partir de dates radiocarbones pour les parties les plus anciennes des archives sédimentaires, tandis que pour le dernier siècle, les taux de sédimentation sont calculés en utilisant le modèle CFCS pour le 210Pb, associé aux données de 137Cs. Les données 14C montrent une augmentation du taux d'accumulation depuis la base jusqu'en surface des carottes. Les unités de sables marins liées aux dépôts de la dernière transgression marine permettent de préciser la courbe post-glaciaire de remontée du niveau marin. Les analyses sédimentologiques et faunistiques associées aux données chronologiques fournissent une méthode permettant de reconstituer les paléoenvironnements littoraux tardi-holocènes dans la zone d'étude et suggèrent que la fermeture finale de ces lagunes par le cordon sableux survient autour de 730 ± 120 ans cal B.P. Le début de cette fermeture, associée à la une progradation deltaïque, pourrait être responsable du déclin des activités économiques du port de Lattara durant la période Romaine.
EISSN: 1777-5817

halshs-00740923
https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00740923
DOI : 10.2113/gssgfbull.181.1.27

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
207e session du Comité scientifique et technique - SHF, Session 1 : Estimation de valeurs extrêmes, INSA LYON
Lyon, France

halshs-01282225
https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01282225

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Taiwan area, where the Philippine Sea Plate collides with Eurasia, is one of the most seismically active areas in the world and has been consequently struck repeatedly by destructive earthquakes. To better constrain the occurrence of large earthquakes, we have conducted two cruises in 2012 and 2013 from which five piston, gravity and box-cores were retrieved from selected sites in targeted areas that contain continuous and accurate turbidite deposition offshore eastern Taiwan. Forty-seven turbidite layers deposited between 675 BC and 2012 AD have been described in the cores with facies varying from silty clay to coarse sand. We modeled each turbidite layer using the sedimentation rate deduced from radiocarbon age measurements performed on planktonic foraminifers. Precise dating based on 210Pb–137Cs chronology provided ages for the XXth century turbidites. Coring sites' locations, biotic association within turbidites beds and seismic calibration over the instrumental period, suggest that earthquakes are the most likely triggering mechanisms of turbidity currents over the last 2700 years. Calibration of correlations between turbidites and instrumental earthquakes allowed us to determine the minimum magnitude of recorded events (Mw = 6.8) and the maximum distance between the epicenter and the slope failure. Turbidites' synchroneity between cores has been tested but results showed that this criterion cannot be used in our study area because of the high level of seismicity, i.e., a M > 6.8 earthquake recurrence interval much smaller than the uncertainty on radiocarbon ages. The excellent accuracy of dating allows correlating all the turbidites deposited since 1920 with instrumental earthquakes. For each core, we established a return time ranging between 112 and 147 years for the period pre-1900 and ~ 27 and 34 years for the period post-1900. The discrepancy between pre-1900 and post-1900 recurrence either suggests, that slope stability varies, with higher slope instability after 1900 possibly due to increased sediment delivery by rivers.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01467627
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01467627
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.04.030

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The variability of fluvial activity in the Northwestern Mediterranean coastal lowlands and its relationship with modes of climate change were analysed from the late 9th to the 18th centuries CE. Geochemical analyses were undertaken from a lagoonal sequence and surrounding sediments in order to track the fluvial inputs into the lagoon. An index based on the K/S and Rb/S ratios was used to evidence the main periods of fluvial activity. This index reveals that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was a drier period characterized by a lower fluvial activity, while the Little Ice Age (LIA) was a wetter period with an increase of the river dynamics. Three periods of higher than average fluvial activity were evidenced at the end of the first millennium CE (ca. 900–950 cal yr CE), in the first half of the second millennium CE (ca. 1150–1550 cal yr CE), and during the 1600s–1700s CE (ca. 1650–1800 cal yr CE). The comparison of these fluvial periods with other records of riverine or lacustrine floods in Spain, Italy, and South of France seems to indicate a general increase in fluvial and flood patterns in the Northwestern Mediterranean in response to the climate change from the MCA to the LIA, although some episodes of flooding are not found in all records. Besides, the phases of higher than average fluvial dynamics are in good agreement with the North Atlantic cold events evidenced from records of ice-rafted debris. The evolution of fluvial activity in the Northwestern Mediterranean coastlands during the last millennium could have been driven by atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns.Keywords
ISSN: 0921-8181

hal-01571958
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01571958
DOI : 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.03.008

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell Wiley
Résumé : A new record from the heart of the Moroccan Middle Atlas cedar forests spans the last 18 000 years and provides valuable insight into our understanding of the natural vegetation and environmental changes. The approach is based on the study of pollen content, geochemical elements and grain size analysis. The pollen data indicate that the vegetation was dominated by herbaceous plants until 9000 BP. Such open landscape allowed greater soil erosion and an input of chemical elements from the watershed. After 9000 BP, tree cover, mainly oak, increased slightly and was accompanied by a higher taxonomic diversity. However, several steppe elements remain well represented in the area until 5000 BP, which suggests that the climate was rather dry during the first part of the Holocene. After 6000 BP, the climate became more favourable to expansion of the forest ecosystems, including Cedrus atlantica, thereby reducing erosion. A strong reduction of the tree pollen percentages is recorded after 2000 BP, which may be related to increasing human activities during the Roman period. These forest changes are concomitant with an increase of lead and copper concentrations in the record, probably related to Roman metalworking activities.
ISSN: 0267-8179

hal-01122848
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01122848
DOI : 10.1002/jqs.2708