Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This paper provides a synthesis of current data and interpretations on the crustal structure of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian orogenic belt, and presents new tectonic models for representative transects. The Pyrenean orogeny lasted from Santonian (~84 Ma) to early Miocene times (~20 Ma), and consisted of a spatial and temporal succession of oceanic crust/exhumed mantle subduction, rift inversion and continental collision processes at the Iberia-Eurasia plate boundary. A good coverage by active-source (vertical-incidence and wide-angle reflection) and passive-source (receiver functions) seismic studies, coupled with surface data have led to a reasonable knowledge of the present-day crustal architecture of the Pyrenean-Cantabrian belt, although questions remain. Seismic imaging reveals a persistent structure, from the central Pyrenees to the central Cantabrian Mountains, consisting of a wedge of Eurasian lithosphere indented into the thicker Iberian plate, whose lower crust is detached and plunges northwards into the mantle. For the Pyrenees, a new scheme of relationships between the southern upper crustal thrust sheets and the Axial Zone is here proposed. For the Cantabrian belt, the depth reached by the N-dipping Iberian crust and the structure of the margin are also revised.The common occurrence of lherzolite bodies in the northern Pyrenees and the seismic velocity and potential field record of the Bay of Biscay indicate that the precursor of the Pyrenees was a hyperextended and strongly segmented rift system, where narrow domains of exhumed mantle separated the thinned Iberian and Eurasian continental margins since the Albian-Cenomanian. The exhumed mantle in the Pyrenean rift was largely covered by a Mesozoic sedimentary lid that had locally glided along detachments in Triassic evaporites. Continental margin collision in the Pyrenees was preceded by subduction of the exhumed mantle, accompanied by the pop-up thrust expulsion of the off-scraped sedimentary lid above. To the west, oceanic subduction of the Bay of Biscay under the North Iberian margin is supported by an upper plate thrust wedge, gravity and magnetic anomalies, and 3D inclined sub-crustal reflections. However, discrepancies remain for the location of continent-ocean transitions in the Bay of Biscay and for the extent of oceanic subduction. The plate-kinematic evolution during the Mesozoic, which involves issues as the timing and total amount of opening, as well as the role of strike-slip drift, is also under debate, discrepancies arising from first-order interpretations of the adjacent oceanic magnetic anomaly record.
ISSN: 0040-1951

insu-01683989
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01683989/file/teixell-tectono-2018.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2018.01.009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Proceedings GeoMod 2016
Montpellier, France

insu-01397058
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01397058

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : Contaminant migration in aquifers is one of the most debated issues in hydrogeology, as most experimental results display large deviations from the standard (asymptotic) Fickian dispersion theories. Multi-scale investigation and high-resolution sensors are required to determine the origin of non-asymptotic dispersion and validate models. For this, a set of multi-scale Single-Well Injection-Withdrawal (SWIW) tracer tests using a new dual-packer probe CoFIS, including a high resolution optical sensor TELog, are presented. When compared to standard techniques such as salinity measurements, it is shown that high-resolution optical measurements allow an improved characterization of the long-lasting non-asymptotic dispersion mechanisms.
ISSN: 1631-0713

hal-00445250
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00445250
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2009.07.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Deciphering Variscan versus Alpine history in the internal Rif system is a key to constraining the tectonic evolution of the Alboran domain and hence the geodynamics of the western Mediterranean system during the Cenozoic. This study focuses on the evolution of the metamorphic envelope of the Beni Bousera massif and its relation to the underlying peridotites. Combining structural geology, metamorphic petrology, and LA-ICP-MS U-Th-Pb dating of monazite, this study contributes to the understanding of the tectonic history of the western internal Rif. The regional foliation (S2) is characterized by LP/HT mineral assemblages and obliterates a former foliation (S1) developed along a barrovian (MP/MT) metamorphic gradient. The dating of some metamorphic monazite grains from a micaschist and a migmatitic gneiss demonstrates that the crustal envelope of the peridotite recorded two distinct tectonometamorphic episodes. Data from monazite inclusions in S1 garnet suggest that the first event, D1, is older than 250-170 Ma and likely related to the Variscan collision, in agreement with the barrovian type of the metamorphic gradient. The second event, D2, is Alpine in age (at circa 21 Ma) and corresponds to a strong lithosphere thinning allowing subsequent subcontinental mantle exhumation. Such a tectonic context provides an explanation for the LP/HT metamorphic gradient that is recorded in the regional foliation of the western Betic-Rif system. This extension is probably related to a subduction slab roll-back in the western end of the Mediterranean realm during the Oligo-Miocene times. No evidences for a Tertiary HP/LT metamorphism have been identified in the studied area
ISSN: 0278-7407

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01152517/file/gueydan-2015.pdf
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003769

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Baikal Rift System in southern Siberia is one of the main intracontinental extensional features on Earth. The rift system represents the northwestern boundary of the Amuria plate and in that respect can be considered as an evolving plate boundary. The Baikal Rift System has been widely studied both in terms of geology and geophysics and many models have been proposed for its formation and evolution. However, the age of the initiation of deformation and the mechanism driving this deformation are still largely debated. While major extension has occurred since the Late Miocene-Pliocene, the onset of extension seems older than the India-Asia collision, implying that several driving mechanisms may have acted together or in relay through time. In this work, we review the available data and models for deformation in an area encompassing the Baikal Rift System, the Sayan ranges to the west and the Transbaikal to the east. Using a synthesis of this data and our own field and mapping observations, we show that the Baikal Rift System, along with transpressional deformation in the Sayan ranges and transtension in the Transbaikal area, can be explained through major left-lateral strike-slip systems. The deformation is strongly controlled by inherited crustal and lithospheric structures, and is distributed over a wide area within the western Amuria plate that consequently cannot be considered as a rigid block. Such distributed deformation is likely to have a strong effect on the structure of the future continental margin if extension evolves towards the formation of oceanic crust.
ISSN: 1342-937X

hal-00903612
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903612
DOI : 10.1016/j.gr.2012.07.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Understanding subduction rheology in both space and time has been a challenge since the advent of plate tectonics. We herein focus on "subduction infancy", that is the first ~1-5 My immediately following subduction nucleation, when a newly born slab penetrates into the upper plate mantle and heats up. The only remnants of this critical yet elusive geodynamic step are thin metamorphic soles, commonly found beneath pristine, 100-1000 km long portions of oceanic lithosphere emplaced on continents (i.e., ophiolites).Through the (i) worldwide compilation of pressure-temperature conditions of metamorphic sole formation augmented by pseudosection thermodynamic modeling, (ii) calculations of the viscosity of materials along the plate interface and (iii) generic numerical thermal models, we provide a conceptual model of dynamic plate interface processes during subduction infancy (and initiation s.l.).We show in particular how major rheological switches across the subduction interface control slab penetration, and the formation of metamorphic soles. Due to the downward progression of hydration and weakening of the mantle wedge with cooling, the lower plate (basalt, sediment) and the upper plate (mantle wedge) rheologies equalize and switch over a restricted temperature-time-depth interval (e.g., at ~800°C and ~1 GPa, during 0.1-2 My, for high-temperature metamorphic sole formation). These switches result in episodes of maximum interplate mechanical coupling, thereby slicing the top of the slab and welding pieces (basalt, sediment) to the base of the mantle wedge. Similar mechanical processes likely apply for the later, deeper accretion and exhumation of high-temperature oceanic eclogites in serpentinite mélanges, or for the accretion of larger tectonic slices.This model provides constraints on the effective rheologies of the crust and mantle and general understanding, at both rock and plate scale, for accretion processes and early slab dynamics.
AGU Fall Meeting 2015
San Francisco, United States

insu-01242103
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01242103

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
One of the main difficulties encountered when characterizing the hydrodynamic properties of a fractured aquifer is to identify the preferential flow paths within it. Different methods may be applied to determine the variability of the permeability at the borehole scale and to image the structure of the main flow zones between boreholes. In this paper, we compare the information obtained from different measurement techniques performed in a set of three 100 m depth wells (well-to-well spacing: 5­10 m) in a fractured crystalline rock setting. Geophysical logging and borehole-wall imaging are used to identify open and closed fractures intersecting the boreholes and their orientation. The comparison with flowmeter and single packer tests shows that few of the fractures interpreted as open from geophysical logs are significantly transmissive. Cross-borehole connectivity is first investigated from single packer tests with pressure monitoring in adjacent boreholes. To determine fracture zone connectivity, we propose a methodology simply based on the variation with packer depth of the ratio of the drawdown in the observation well and the drawdown in the pumping well. The results are compared to the analysis of cross-borehole flowmeter tests. We show that both methods provide consistent results with a similar level of information on connectivity.
ISSN: 0022-1694

insu-00221380
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00221380
DOI : 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.07.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Characterizing the hydraulic properties of heterogeneous and complex aquifers often requires field scale investigations at multiple space and time scales to better constrain hydraulic property estimates. Here, we present and discuss results from the site of Ploemeur (Brittany, France) where complementary hydrological and geophysical approaches have been combined to characterize the hydrogeological functioning of this highly fractured crystalline rock aquifer. In particular, we show how cross-borehole flowmeter tests, pumping tests and frequency domain analysis of groundwater levels allow quantifying the hydraulic properties of the aquifer at different scales. In complement, we used groundwater temperature as an excellent tracer for characterizing groundwater flow. At the site scale, measurements of ground surface deformation through long-base tiltmeters provide robust estimates of aquifer storage and allow identifying the active structures where groundwater pressure changes occur, including those acting during recharge process. Finally, a numerical model of the site that combines hydraulic data and groundwater ages confirms the geometry of this complex aquifer and the consistency of the different datasets. The Ploemeur site, which has been used for water supply at a rate of about 106 m3 per year since 1991, belongs to the French network of hydrogeological sites H+ and is currently used for monitoring groundwater changes and testing innovative field methods.
AGU Fall Meeting 2014
San Francisco, United States

insu-01088596
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01088596

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
GeoMod Conference 2016
Montpellier, France

insu-01397037
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01397037

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : National audience
Journées IODP France
Paris, France

insu-01133131
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01133131

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Two opposing visions of the Aegean backarc tectonics implicitly contain contrasting images of the rheological behaviour of the lihosphere, supported by different sets of observations. The propagation of the NAF and extension in the Corinth Rift suggest a strongly localising rheology whereas the formation of MCC in the Cyclades and the Rhodope suggests instead a more viscous behaviour. This paradox was the seminal question addressed by the ANR-EGEO programme (2007-2010) that leads to the following conclusions: (1) The exhumation of the Cycladic MCC's is accommodated by the N-dipping North Cycladic Detachment System (NCDS) that partly reworks the Vardar suture and at the base by a series of thrusts, including the basal contact of the Cycladic Blueschists (CBS) over the Cycladic Basement (CB). The activity of LANF is due to the reactivation of pre-existing discontinuities such as thrusts or earlier detachments and much less to the interaction with granitic plutons. (2) Exhumation in the Cyclades has proceeded in two stages: (a) Eocene syn-orogenic exhumation within the subduction lower/upperplate interface while the post-orogenic Rhodope MCC formed further north, (b) Oligo-Miocene post-orogenic extension in an MCC mode coeval with syn-orogenic exhumation in Crete and the Peloponnese. (3) Both stages were associated with slab retreat, as early as the Eocene with an acceleration at 30-35 Ma. (4) The localisation of the presently active steeply-dipping normal faults on the southern margin of the Corinth Rift may have been preceded by a partial reworking of thrusts and syn-orogenic detachments by shallow-dipping decollements. (5) The localisation of the NAF in the Marmara Sea region and the Northern Aegean Sea is now accurately dated between 5.3 and 5 Ma Ma using the erosion and deposition surfaces that mark the Messinian salinity Crisis and nannofossils ages. (6) The formation of MCCs in the Cyclades resulted in the draining of the low viscosity lower crust from the northern Aegean Sea and led to an easier coupling between upper mantle and upper crust, easing the localisation and propagation of the NAF. (7) A comparison between crustal and mantle finite strain suggests that mantle flow due to slab retreat controls the stretching of the crust. Our model involves progressive slab retreat and mantle flow below the overriding plate inducing the observed succession of tectonic episodes with a progressive localisation of extension due to several slab tearing events. There is no paradox in the tectonic history and rheological behaviour of the Aegean lithosphere but an evolution of the kinematic boundary conditions due to slab deformation at depth.
American Geophysical Union
San Francisco, United States

insu-00860518
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00860518
BIBCODE : 2010AGUFM.T13G..04J

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The biogeochemistry of sulfur and carbon during early-diagenetic processes within organic-rich marine mangrove sediments was studied in the “Manche à Eau” lagoon, Guadeloupe, West Indies. These sediments are characterized by a total organic carbon content (TOC) mostly above 11 wt%, δ13CTOC below − 25‰ VPDB and C/Nmolar ratios exceeding 15. Rates of mangrove-derived organic carbon accumulation vary between ~ 200 and 400 gOC·m− 2·yr− 1, with highest rates at the shore of the lagoon. On the lagoon border, where colorless filamentous sulfur-oxidizing bacteria colonize the sediments, active sulfate reduction within the upper 20 cm, with a net removal rate of ~ 0.5 μmol·cm− 3·d− 1, is assumed to be essentially driven by organic carbon oxidation. This is expressed by relatively low apparent sulfur isotope fractionation (34εnet = − 33‰) and a gentle δ18O/δ34Ssulfate apparent slope of 0.36 ± 0.03 (2s). Further inside the lagoon, in the absence of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, higher apparent sulfur isotope fractionation and a steeper δ18O/δ34Ssulfate slope (0.67 ± 0.20) suggest an overall lower sulfate removal rate that may be coupled to minor sulfur disproportionation. Spatial and vertical variation in sulfur cycling, reflected by oxygen and sulfur isotopic characteristics, seem to be mainly controlled by unsteady to relatively steady organic matter deposition and its reactivity. In all sediments, δ34S values of pyrite are positively correlated with the TOC/TS ratio and negatively correlated with δ13CTOC; suggesting a primary control of the quantity and quality of organic matter on the pyrite isotope records, despite potential iron-limiting conditions for the most active sites. Our results provide insights into the role of organic carbon input on sulfur cycling; stimulating sulfate reduction and in turn the presence of sulfur-oxidizing microbial mats, resulting in an intense cycling of both carbon and sulfur in these marine mangrove sediments.
ISSN: 0009-2541

hal-01507696
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01507696
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01507696/document
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01507696/file/Cr%C3%A9mi%C3%A8re%20et%20al.%20-%20Sulfur%20diagenesis%20under%20rapid%20accumulation%20of%20orga.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.02.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
AGU Fall Meeting 2010
San Francisco, United States

insu-01133022
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01133022

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Proceedings GeoMod 2016
Montpellier, France

insu-01397036
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01397036

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
4th International Conference on Thermochronology (Thermo2014 Meeting)
Chamonix, France

insu-01117846
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01117846

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The Aegean domain is a key area for understanding the processes of back-arc extension. Observed deformation pattern and present day kinematics result from the interaction between the southward retreat of the Hellenic trench and the westward escape of Anatolia. Using laboratory experiments designed to study lithosphere-scale deformation, we show that the overall pattern of Aegean extension requires not only the combination of trench retreat and Anatolia escape since 15 Ma but also the presence of an inherited lithosphere-scale mechanical discontinuity: the Vardar Suture Zone (VSZ). The reactivation in dextral shear of the eastern branch of the VSZ accommodates both the trench retreat (NS stretching) and the westward escape of Anatolia (EW shortening) in the Cyclades area since 15 Ma. Additionally, our model shows that the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is a late structure in the evolution of the Aegean, initiated 10 Ma after the onset of Anatolia escape. The model displays displacement sub-domains, which result from strain partitioning instead of being “rigid microplates”, directly comparable to the present-day displacement field (GPS) of the Aegean and western Anatolia. Our modelling provides a simple way to look at the dynamics of Aegean extension in two main stages. From middle Eocene to middle Miocene, extension was only driven by the southward retreat of the Hellenic trench at a rate lower than 1 cm.y-1. Since middle Miocene, the combination of slab rollback with Anatolia westward escape, resulted in a southwest direction of trench retreat, with an accelerating rate of up to 3 cm.y-1.
AGU Fall Meeting 2015
San Francisco, United States

insu-01242045
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01242045

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Sedimentary basins, through the sedimentary successions and the nature of the deposits, reflect the geology of thearea from which the sediments were derived and thus provide valuable record of hinterland tectonism. As the collisionbetween the South China and the Indochina blocks (i.e. the Indosinian orogeny) is still the object of a numberof controversies regarding, for instance, its timing and the polarity of the subduction, the sedimentary basins associatedwith this mountain belt are likely to provide clues to reconstruct its geodynamic evolution. However, boththe Sam Nua Basin (located to the south of the inner zones of the Indosinian orogeny and the Song Ma ophiolites)and the Song Da Basin (located to the north of the inner zones), northern Vietnam, are still lacking importantinformation regarding the depositional environments and the ages of the main formations that they contain.Using sedimentological and dating analyses (foraminifers biostratigraphy and U-Pb dating on detrital zircon), weprovide a new stratigraphic framework for these basins and propose a geodynamic evolution of the present-daynorthern Vietnam.During the Early Triassic, the Sam Nua Basin was mainly supplied by volcaniclastic sediments originating froman active volcanic activity. Geochemical investigations, combined with sedimentological and structural analyses,support an arc-related setting for this magmatism. This magmatic arc resulted from the subduction of a south dippingoceanic slab that once separated the South China from the Indochina blocks. During the Middle to the LateTriassic, the Sam Nua Basin underwent erosion that lead to the formation of a major unconformity, termed theIndosinian unconformity. This unconformity is interpreted to result from the erosion of the Indosinian mountainbelt, built after the continental collision between the South China and the Indochina blocks. Later, during the LateTriassic, the Sam Nua Basin experienced the deposition of very coarse material, emplaced under continental settingand representing the product of the erosion of the Indosinian mountain belt.To the North, the Song Da Basin is characterized by strongly diachronous deposits over a basal unconformitydeveloped at the expense of volcanic and volcaniclastic deposits related to the Emeishan Large Igneous Province.The sedimentary succession indicates a foreland setting during the Early to the Middle Triassic, which contrastswith the commonly assumed rift setting for these sediments. Thus, the Song Da Basin documents the formation ofthe Indosinian thrust belt, located immediately to the South of the basin.
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2017
Vienne, Austria

insu-01510331
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01510331

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Subduction infancy corresponds to the first few million years following subduction initiation, when slabs start their descent into the mantle. It coincides with the transient (yet systematic) transfer of material from the top of the slab to the upper plate, as witnessed by metamorphic soles welded beneath obducted ophiolites. Combining structure–lithology–pressure–temperature–time data from metamorphic soles with flow laws derived from experimental rock mechanics, this study highlights two main successive rheological switches across the subduction interface (mantle wedge vs. basalts, then mantle wedge vs. sediments; at ∼800 °C and ∼600 °C, respectively), during which interplate mechanical coupling is maximized by the existence of transiently similar rheologies across the plate contact. We propose that these rheological switches hinder slab penetration and are responsible for slicing the top of the slab and welding crustal pieces (high- then low-temperature metamorphic soles) to the base of the mantle wedge during subduction infancy. This mechanism has implications for the rheological properties of the crust and mantle (and for transient episodes of accretion/exhumation of HP-LT rocks in mature subduction systems) and highlights the role of fluids in enabling subduction to overcome the early resistance to slab penetration.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01383368
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01383368/file/Agard_2016_Plate_interface.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.06.054

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
New evolutionary models for the Pyrenean orogeny must consider feedbacks between the Mid-Cretaceous hyperextension postulated recently and the Pyrenean inversion. We present a new crustal section of the Pyrenees through the Jaca Basin, the western Axial Zone and the Chaînons Béarnais, which allows identifying the ancient continental margins of the Iberian and European plates and a suture. A sequential restoration allows a reassessment of the style of convergence through time. Restoration leads to a progressively thinned crust in narrow continental margins separated by a domain of exhumed mantle peridotite and overlain by a detached sedimentary lid. Early convergence during the Late Cretaceous and the Earliest Paleogene was accommodated by subduction of the peridotite domain. This was followed in the Eocene by initial collision involving overriding of the Iberian margin onto the European margin along the deep ramp of the North-Pyrenean Frontal thrust, which defines the suture. Subsequent full collision and strong relief generation from the late-Mid or Late Eocene to the Early Miocene were associated with thrust accretion of the Iberian plate, underlain by wedging and northward subduction of the decoupled Iberian lower crust.
ISSN: 1631-0713

insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01291223/file/The%20crustal%20evolution%20of%20the%20west-central%20Pyrenees%20-%20postprint.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.crte.2015.10.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Inter Research
Résumé : International audience
The main objective of the VULSACO (VULnerability of SAndy COasts to climate change and anthropic pressure) project was to investigate present day and potential future vulnerability of sandy coasts at the 2030 horizon, i.e. on a time scale related to climate variability. The method, based on a multidisciplinary approach bringing together geologists, geographers, physicists, social psychologists, engineers and stakeholders, was structured around 4 axes: field data analysis; numerical modelling; analysis of governance and stakeholder perceptions; and development of vulnerability indexes. This approach was designed to investigate vulnerability at a local scale and was applied to 4 contrasting beaches located in France: Sète Lido (Mediterranean Sea), Truc Vert and La Tresson beaches (Atlantic Ocean), and Dewulf (English Channel). The results focus on decadal and multi-annual beach trends at the Truc Vert beach site. There is almost no trend in beach volume at Truc Vert beach, although there is a variation in this parameter on a cycle of 2 to 3 yr, with variations related to wave energy and probably to indexes of climate variability. Numerical modelling identified the sensitivity of beach responses to changes in wave height and direction, especially in terms of subtidal morphology and the potential development of shoreline instability. Together with the observed offshore wave angle at the Biscay Buoy, these model results suggest that a potential change in wave angle due to climate variability could significantly modify the bars' morphology. The combination of data analysis and numerical modelling contributed to the development of vulnerability indexes designed for sandy coasts, which take into account climate-dependant variables such as waves. This allowed the differentiation of the sites in terms of vulnerability to erosion: Sète Lido and Truc Vert beach were the most and least vulnerable sites, respectively. These indexes help in identifying the dominant components of beach vulnerability, and provide potential for the study of how anthropogenic factors affect vulnerability. The study of stakeholder perceptions and decision-making with regard to climate-related risk also highlighted potential anthropogenic effects on beach vulnerability, and identified possible site-specific outcomes.
ISSN: 0936-577X

hal-00843946
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00843946
DOI : 10.3354/cr01153