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