Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
We present an overview of the Mid-Cretaceous hyper-extended rift systemexposed in the northern part of the Pyrenean mountain range. Itsinversion during the Pyrenean orogeny allows for precious observationsof the deep-seated processes occurring at the foot of distal margins.Some peculiar aspects characterizing the pre-Alpine hyper-extended domainare examined throughout the 400 km long suture that is fossilizedin the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ). The high temperature/low pressure(HT/LP) thermal imprint of the extensional event is studied thanksto a dataset of more than hundred peak temperature measurementsby Raman spectroscopy of the carbonaceous material (RSCM). Thepre- and syn-rift metasediments are characterized by an intense, synmetamorphicductile deformation. Focusing on several key-localitiesof the NPZ, we examine the emplacement conditions of the peridotitesin response to this extreme crustal thinning. Geological evidencessuch as the occurrence of peridotite bodies directly underlying metamorphicpre-rift sediments indicate an early attenuation of the rifted continentalcrust. Moreover, syn-rift, Albian-Cenomanian flysch sequenceswere deposited synchronously with the syn-metamorphic ductile deformationof the pre-rift sequences. All along the Internal MetamorphicZone (IMZ), the base of the flysch deposits also recorded the HT tectonicevent. Such a synchronicity between geological events, which aregenerally separated in time, is not common in mountain belts. We examinehow tectonics, metamorphism and sedimentation may be activein a single basin during extension. We propose an original mechanismfor the evolution of the basins involving continuous basal extraction ofthe pre-rift metamorphic sediments. This early HT deformation eventrelates to the « phase anté-Cénomanienne » described by Pyrenean geologistssince 1930.
24 ème Réunion des sciences de la Terre 2014
Pau, France

insu-01080795
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01080795

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé :  
A closed depression is defined as a geomorphologic element where a sediment depository is encircled by hillslopes. Despite the fact that closed depressions are often the only stagnant water points in many European landscapes, few ecological researches on their plant assemblages have been done. The main goal of this study was to give first results of the environmental factors responsible for the vegetation composition, richness and rarity in the closed depressions of the Lorraine biogeographical district (Belgium, France and grand-duche de Luxembourg). We surveyed for plant presence 85 forest and 77 grassland closed depressions. For each site, wetland area, local environmental factors and regional connectivities registered. For each species, the Ellenberg values were compiled. To investigate the main source of variation in species composition and in species richness (including richness in rare species), Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling analyses and Generalized Linear Models were respectively used. Species pools in forest (forest and preforest species) and in grassland (bog plants, pioneers, helophytes) were quite different. In both landscapes, a gradient from plants typical of basic high-productive soils to plants typical of acid low-productive soils reflects a shared successional gradient. The accumulation of organic matter allowed the establishment of Sphagnum spp., which slowly acidified the soil and thus acted as ecosystem engineers for the arrival of bog plants. Moreover, the species composition was additionally driven by the plant light tolerance in forests and by the plant water requirements in grasslands. Mechanisms of species accumulation (increase in species richness) were different in forests and in grasslands: respectively related to the plant light tolerance and to the wetland area. At the regional level, the averaged soil productivity was negatively related to the richness in rare species. Indeed, perennial highly-competitive plants such as Glyceria spp., Iris pseudacorus or Urtica dioica impeded the establishment of smaller and rarer species. At the habitat level, isolated closed depressions (due to either low connectivity or low grazing pressure) have more habitat rare species, giving evidences of dispersal limitation in plant assemblages of closed depressions.
ISSN: 0960-3115

hal-01032125
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01032125
DOI : 10.1007/s10531-007-9227-x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Although lawsonite-bearing rocks are rare in exhumed high-pressure (HP) terranes, they are considered to exert a primary role in subduction dynamics. Recent observations in natural settings have shown that fluid–rock interaction at HP conditions, including metasomatism, may lead to unusually high lawsonite amounts even in rocks that originally contained little or no lawsonite. This process may therefore bear important implications for element recycling in subduction zones. A detailed characterization of the geochemical fingerprints associated with lawsonite metasomatism is presented in this contribution. The studied rocks belong to the HP terranes of Alpine Corsica (France), which is the largest documented exposure for lawsonite metasomatism. Metasomatic lawsonite displays complex compositional zoning, including high trace element, Cr and Ti content. The trace element content is much higher compared with the average of non-metasomatic lawsonite, and is in line with the re-incorporation of large amounts of trace elements (e.g. REE, Sr, Pb, Th) in the rock during metasomatism, as shown by mass transfer calculations. Our data suggest that serpentinites represented the main fluid source for the metasomatism, with concurrent contribution of other, possibly Ca-rich lithologies, such as mafic or meta-sedimentary rocks. We propose that the breakdown of metasomatic lawsonite may contribute to the genesis of magmas and their characteristic geochemical signatures.
ISSN: 0263-4929

hal-01107395
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01107395
DOI : 10.1111/jmg.12074

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report concentrations of hydrogen (H) in upper mantle minerals of peridotites (olivine and pyroxenes) transported by alnöitic lavas, which erupted on the southwestern border of the Ontong Java Plateau (Malaita, Solomon Islands, West Pacific). Unpolarized FTIR analyses show that olivine, orthopyroxene, and diopside contain 2–32 ppm, 162–362 ppm and 159–459 ppm wt H2O, respectively. In the studied lherzolites, garnets are anhydrous. The concentration of hydrogen within individual olivine and pyroxene grains is almost homogeneous, indicating no evidence of dehydration or hydration by ionic diffusion. In the lherzolite, the concentration of hydrogen in olivine tends to increase weakly with depth (based on geothermobarometry), consistent with the increase of water solubility with increasing water fugacity as a function of pressure, but concentrations remain well below water-saturation values determined experimentally. The highest concentration of H in olivine (32 ppm wt H2O) is, however, found in refractory spinel harzburgites, which equilibrated at depths of 85 km., while deeper specimens as the high-temperature spinel harzburgites, and some of the garnet lherzolites, contain less hydrogen in olivine. Olivines from pyroxene- or pargasite-rich peridotites have also lower hydrogen concentrations. We interpret the high hydrogen concentrations in olivine from the refractory spinel harzburgites as due to (1) simultaneous hydration and metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle by a water-rich silicate melt/fluid, during which hydrogen follows MREE and where spinel harzburgite have experienced ‘stealth’ metasomatism, and/or (2) to a late ‘fleeting’ hydrogen metasomatism, which would hydrate the rock after this first ‘stealth’ metasomatism event. In the second case, the composition of the ‘fleeting’ percolating fluid (small volume fraction of very evolved fluids, with high volatiles concentration and transient properties) is likely to be linked to the decrease of the plume activity and resulting in the downwelling of the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary. The difference in hydrogen concentration between harzburgites and lherzolites could be linked to variation in trace elements in olivine induced by the first ‘stealth’ metasomatism alone or associated to the late ‘fleeting’ hydrogen metasomatism, triggered by the lack of secondary crystallization of clinopyroxenes in the harzburgite. To conclude, H concentrations in upper mantle minerals may thus be correlated to metasomatic events, with the later yielding variation of the mineral assemblage and trace element composition that constitute the peridotites.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01143385
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01143385
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2014.11.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This article is devoted to the presentation of a multilevel method using finite differences that is well adapted for solving Stokes and Navier-Stokes problems in primitive variables. We use Uzawa type algorithms to solve the saddle point problems arising from spatial discretization by staggered grids and a semi-explicit temporal scheme. By means of a new change of basis operator, the two-dimensional velocity and pressure fields of an M.A.C mesh are gathered in a hierarchical order, into several grids preserving the M.A.C property on each of them. These new hierarchical unknowns, called Staggered Incremental Unknowns (SIU), allow us to develop techniques which reduce the cost of the resolution of either Stokes or generalized Stokes problems. An experimental estimation of the condition number of the inner matrix is given, and justifies the preconditioning effect of the staggered incremental unknowns.
ISSN: 0168-9274

hal-00770268
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-00770268
DOI : 10.1016/S0168-9274(99)00044-6

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Mineralogical Society
Résumé : International audience
Almost all magmas contain sulfide- or sulfate-bearing phases. In most natural samples the sulfur-bearing phase is a sulfide, which typically is pyrrhotite (Fe1−xS) or pyrite (FeS2) although chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), pentlandite ((Fe,Ni)9S8), sphalerite (ZnS) or molybdenite (MoS2) may be present as well. Sulfate minerals are rare at magmatic conditions, and anhydrite (CaSO4) is the most common. Other magmatic SO4-bearing minerals include the sodalite group minerals (haüyne simplified formula: (Na,Ca)4-8(Al6Si6(O,S)24)(SO4,Cl)1-2), scapolite minerals (silvialite: (Ca,Na)4Al6Si6O24(SO4,CO3)), and S-bearing apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(F, Cl, OH)). Barite (BaSO4) has been mentioned in rare cases (Marchev 1991). Sulfur-bearing minerals usually constitute a negligible fraction of the mineral assemblage in magmatic rocks and thus can be classified as accessory minerals. The crystallization of sulfide, sulfate, and S-bearing minerals strongly depends on melt composition, temperature and pressure, and the S speciation in melt which, in turn, is strongly dependent on the prevailing oxygen fugacity (Baker and Moretti 2011, this volume; Wilke et al. 2011, this volume). Irrespectively of the low abundance of S-bearing minerals, the evolution of sulfur in magmas may be evaluated from the occurrence of sulfides and sulfates. These minerals are critical for estimating the activity of various sulfur-bearing species in magmas and can be used to constrain the oxygen fugacity and the S concentration in the melt (e.g., pre-eruptive sulfur concentration in melts). The presence of either sulfide or sulfate in silicate melt indicates that the predominant dissolved sulfur species in the melt are S2− or S6+, respectively. Typically one of these species is dominant, but there are conditions where S2− ...
ISSN: 1529-6466

hal-00644580
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644580
DOI : 10.2138/rmg.2011.73.10

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD [London] : Nature Pub. Group Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The deeply eroded West Gondwana Orogen is a major continental collision zone that exposes numerous occurrences of deeply subducted rocks, such as eclogites. The position of these eclogites marks the suture zone between colliding cratons, and the age of metamorphism constrains the transition from subduction-dominated tectonics to continental collision and mountain building. Here we investigate the metamorphic conditions and age of high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure eclogites from Mali, Togo and NE-Brazil and demonstrate that continental subduction occurred within 20 million years over at least a 2,500-km-long section of the orogen during the Ediacaran. We consider this to be the earliest evidence of large-scale deep-continental subduction and consequent appearance of Himalayan-scale mountains in the geological record. The rise and subsequent erosion of such mountains in the Late Ediacaran is perfectly timed to deliver sediments and nutrients that are thought to have been necessary for the subsequent evolution of sustainable life on Earth.
ISSN: 2041-1723

hal-01122789
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01122789
DOI : 10.1038/ncomms6198

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Mineralogical Society of America
Résumé : International audience
To test if hydrogen incorporation by ionic diffusion can occur between a volatile-rich kimberlitic liquid and forsterite, results of high-pressure and high-temperature experiments using a piston-cylinder apparatus at 1200–1300 °C and 1 GPa for durations of 1 min, 5 h, and 23 h, are reported here. Kimberlitic liquid in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-CO2-H2O and synthetic forsterite single crystals were chosen as a first simplification of the complex natural kimberlite composition. Unpolarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to quantify the concentrations of OH in the crystallographically oriented forsterite. Scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction, electron microprobe analyses, and transmission electron microscopy were performed to identify the run products. After 5 and 23 h, a forsterite overgrowth crystallized with the same orientation as the initial forsterite single crystal. The kimberlitic liquid has crystallized as micrometer-scale euhedral forsterite neocrystals with random crystallographic orientations, as well as a nanoscale aluminous phase and a calcic phase. Despite theoretical water-saturation of the system and long duration, none of the initial forsterite single crystals display signs of hydration such as hydrogen diffusion profile from the border toward the center of the crystal. Most likely, the presence of CO2 in the system has lowered the H2O fugacity to such an extent that there is no significant hydration of the starting forsterite single crystal or its overgrowth. Also, the presence of CO2 enhances rapid forsterite crystal growth. Forsterite growth rate is around 2 × 108 μm3/h at 1250 °C. These experimental results suggest a deep mantle origin of the high OH content found in natural mantle-derived xenoliths transported in kimberlites, as reported from the Kaapvaal craton. In agreement with previous studies, it also points out to the fact that significant hydration must take place in a CO2-poor environment.
ISSN: 0003-004X

hal-01217157
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01217157
DOI : 10.2138/am-2015-5200

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report microstructural evidence for fluid-assisted ductile strain localization in a ≤ 50 m-wide mylonitic–ultramylonitic shear zone in the Ronda Peridotite massif, Southern Spain. Strain localization occurred at relatively low pressure (< 0.8 GPa) and moderate temperature (750–1000 °C). Initial deformation by dislocation creep resulted in formation of mylonites. Focusing of aqueous fluids in the shear zone favored the activation of dissolution–precipitation creep, resulting in further strain localization. This process is recorded by two generations of ultramylonitic bands composed of fine-grained, well-mixed olivine–orthopyroxene aggregates. Microstructural observations in the ultramylonites suggest alternating dissolution and precipitation of olivine and orthopyroxene, which may be explained by local changes in silica molality of the percolating fluid (disequilibrium and mass transfer at scales > mm). In the mylonites, olivine shows a crystal preferred orientation (CPO) coherent with dominant (001)[100] glide, probably due to the presence of interstitial fluids during deformation. In the ultramylonites, olivine CPO is weak to very weak, consistently with a decreasing contribution of dislocation creep to deformation. In contrast, fine-grained orthopyroxene in both mylonites and ultramylonites displays a clear CPO characterized by a [001] maximum normal to the foliation, which is not consistent with dislocation glide in any known slip system for orthopyroxene. We interpret this CPO as formed by oriented crystallization during dissolution–precipitation. In the present study, dissolution–precipitation creep predominates only in small-scale ultramylonite bands due to limited fluid availability and localized dynamic permeability. However, this process may be important in intermediate temperature domains of subduction zones, where it may lead to a feedback between strain localization and fluid transport.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01395122
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01395122
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2016.07.038

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Heletz sandstone (Israel) reactivity is studied by means of CO2-rich brine percolation experiments and modeling. Experiments are performed at in situ temperature and pressure conditions with two distinctly different injection flow rates and for two different brine compositions: the genuine Heletz brine and a similar brine but in equilibrium with gypsum. The Heletz sandstone is composed of quartz, dolomite, ankerite, K-feldspar, clay minerals and minor amounts of gypsum and pyrite. The main reaction is the dissolution of the carbonates which is fastest for the highest flow rate injection and for the genuine Heletz brine. Permeability increases during the five percolation experiments, regardless of flow rate and brine type. This increase in permeability is associated to a decrease in porosity during the gypsum-equilibrated brine experiments due to gypsum precipitation. The precipitation of secondary minerals (kaolinite, muscovite and smectite) is mainly controlled by the dissolution of K-feldspar and largest at low flow rate injection, indicating that these precipitation processes are diffusion-controlled and localized in immobile zones where favorable chemical micro-environments exist. These processes are quantified by means of a reactive transport model. These results indicated that the CO2 injection at the Heletz site should trigger both permeability increase in interface between brine and CO2, which may extend over a large extension and where mixing processes are very active, especially near the well under intermittent injection conditions.
ISSN: 1750-5836

hal-01356329
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356329
DOI : 10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.10.023

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Semantic web standards, tools, ontologies and related technologies have considerably matured in the recent years. Nowadays, accessing a wide catalogue of biological, social, environmental, and ecological data sources helps stakeholders working on biodiversity to answer their complex questions. Will the real time access to web resources effectively support the definition of strategies to conserve and manage biodiversity? How might semantic web technologies help us to handle the complex and heterogeneous big data related to biodiversity? The workshop aims to identify the key challenges faced by the bioinformatics community, discuss potential solutions and identify the opportunities emerging from the trans-disciplinary interactions between Plant Science and Informatics experts. Therefore, we expect the bioinformatics experts to explain how they apply semantic web standards and tools to their scientific topic, from biology, agriculture, agro-ecology, genomics, environmental studies, to social sciences, citizen sciences. Research papers presenting various aspects of semantic web technologies applied to biodiversity data, ranging from position papers to implemented systems descriptions and their evaluation, will be selected. We are particularly interested in the use of the semantic technologies to design and develop systems that supports research on agricultural and wild biodiversity conservation and management for food security. Examples may include strategies for resilience to climate change pressures, sustainability of productive ecosystems, ecosystems services monitoring or territories management, rather than systems supporting only research on climate patterns or soil erosion.
http://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00831757

lirmm-00831757
http://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00831757
http://hal-lirmm.ccsd.cnrs.fr/lirmm-00831757/document

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Aegean extension is a process driven by slab rollback that since 45 Ma shows a two-stage evolution. From 45 to13 Ma it is accommodated by localized deformation leading to i) the exhumation of high-pressure metamorphicrocks from mantle to crustal depths, ii) the exhumation of high-temperature rocks in core complexes and iii) thedeposition of Paleogene sedimentary basins. Since 13 Ma, extension is distributed over the whole Aegean domaingiving a widespread development of onshore and offshore Neogene sedimentary basins. The 3D reconstruction atAegean scale of this two-stage evolution shows that the rate of trench retreat was around 0.6 cm/y during the first30 My and then accelerated up to 3.2 cm/y during the last 13 My. Using available tomographic evidence, timingof metamorphic and sedimentary processes, paleomagnetic data and geometry and kinematics of deformation, wepropose that the sharp transition in trench retreat and deformation mode, localized vs distributed, at 13 Ma wascontrolled to slab tearing. Moreover, the development of dextral NE-SW strike-slip faults and related pull-apartbasins in the North Aegean domain, from the Cyclades to the Rhodope, strongly suggests that this sharp transitionalso corresponds to the onset of Anatolia westward escape.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01137631
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01137631

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The minerals constituting the Earth's upper mantle are nominally anhydrous silicates (NAMs). However they do contain hydrogen as a trace element, decorating point defects in their crystalline structure. Experimental petrology and mineralogy have quantified the maximum concentration under several compositional and thermodynamic conditions, but systematic studies on the hydrogen concentration in minerals from mantle-derived rocks have only recently been carried out. Here, we have compiled the distribution of hydrogen in upper mantle peridotite xenoliths, from which several conclusions can be drawn. NAMs from peridotite xenoliths contain a few ppm wt. H2O in their structure. From the current database, the hydrogen concentrations in olivine regularly increase with increasing depth. The amount of hydrogen in NAMs from peridotite xenoliths from subduction contexts is not higher than in other geological context for similar temperature and pressure conditions. The highest hydrogen concentrations is found in peridotitic olivines from cratonic mantle, and are likely due to the depth of origin. The increasing hydrogen concentration in olivine with increasing depth is likely controlled by the increase of H partitioning into olivine at the expense of orthopyroxene as imposed by a decrease in Al content in opx with depth. However, the sparse data could also indicate that the bulk hydrogen concentration slightly increases with depth > 150 km. In this case, it would suggest, locally (Udachnaya for example), a possible increase in water fugacity due to fluid saturation. Even if the most abundant mineral in mantle rocks is olivine, the bulk hydrogen concentration in peridotites is controlled by the amount of hydrogen stored in pyroxenes. However, hydrogen concentration in olivine remains crucial for consequences on physical properties such as rheology and electrical conductivity. Kinetics of hydrogen transport is reviewed and hydrous melt/fluid percolation appears necessary to homogenize the hydrogen distribution at km-scale. Sampling of natural rock specimens is currently biased (e.g., in favor of optically attractive samples) and needs improvement, which will be achieved by increasing sample diversity (all type of grain sizes, lithologies, geological settings) and size of rock samples, as well as advances in analytical techniques. Acquisition of high quality data will be achieved by studying the co-existing minerals in mantle specimens, exploring each sample by linear and mapping measurements, and using appropriate FTIR calibrations for polarized and unpolarized radiation.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01306676
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306676
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2015.11.012

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
In south China the Lushan massif forms a topographic high of the South China Block south of the Qinling-Dabie belt. The Lushan massif consists of two main lithotectonic units separated by a major tectonic contact: a Neoproterozoic (upper Sinian)-Paleozoic unit comprising primarily unmetamorphosed sandstones overlies a Paleoproterozoic unit mainly composed of low-pressure, high-temperature gneisses and micaschists. Both units are cut by Cretaceous granitic intrusions. Three primary tectono-metamorphic and magmatic events are recognized. The eastern part of the Lushan massif is cut by a NNE-SSW trending ductile normal fault (D3 deformation) coeval to the emplacement of a 100-110 Ma leucogranite dated by 40Ar/39Ar laserprobe on biotite and muscovite. D2 deformation is responsible for the formation of a decakilometer-scale NE-SW trending upright anticline characterized by NE-SW stretching and NW-SE shortening. The age of this folding event is defined by a 127±1 (2σ) Ma U/Pb titanite date obtained for a syntectonic granodiorite and 40Ar/39Ar ages of 133 Ma for amphibole. This Cretaceous age also corresponds to the 40Ar/39Ar ages of 126 Ma found on syntectonic muscovites at the base of the Sinian unit. An older deformation event, D1, characterized by a top-to-the-NW extensional decollement of the Sinian-Paleozoic series above Proterozoic metamorphic rocks is related to the Triassic tectonics of the Dabieshan. Lastly, in the lower part of Sinian rocks, the occurrence of kyanite cataclased during D1 documents an older, poorly preserved, late Paleozoic-early Mesozoic tectonometamorphic event (Dx) related to a blind thrust in the continental crust of the South China Block in the southern foreland of the Dabieshan.
ISSN: 0278-7407

insu-00717721
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00717721
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00717721/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00717721/file/Lin-Tectonics-2000.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2000TC900009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The Timétrine massif exposed west of the Pan-African suture zone in northeastern Mali belongs to the passive margin of the West African craton facing to the east intra-oceanic arc assemblages and 730 Ma old pre-collisional calc-alkaline plutons. The Timétrine lithologic succession includes from the base to the top Mesoproterozoic cratonic to passive margin formations overlain by deep-sea Fe-Mg schists. Submarine metabasalts and two ultramafic massifs of serpentinized mantle peridotites are inserted as olistoliths towards the top whereas turbidites of continental origin represent the younger unit. Field and petrological data have revealed a distinct metasedimentary sequence attached to the serpentinized peridotites. It essentially consists of impure carbonates, Fe jaspers and polymictic breccias containing altered blocks of mantle peridotites, most rocks being enriched in detrital chromite. This association is interpreted as reworked chemical and detrital sediments derived from the alteration of mafic-ultramafic rocks. It is argued that mantle exhumation above sea floor took place during the Neoproterozoic rifting and crustal thinning period under possible tropical conditions, as suggested by the large volume of silicified serpentinites. In spite of greenschist facies metamorphic overprint characterized by widespread Fe-rich blue amphiboles that are not diagnostic of high-pressure conditions, it is possible to reconstruct a former ocean-continent transition similar to that evidenced for the Mesozoic period, followed by the deposition of syn-to post rift terrigeneous turbidites roughly coeval with ocean spreading some time before 800 Ma. It is concluded that the serpentinite massifs were tectonically emplaced first in an extensional setting, then incorporated within deep-sea sediments as olistoliths and finally transported westward during late Neoproterozoic collisional tectonics onto the West African craton.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-00985586
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00985586
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.11.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Justafterthereefcolonization,fishspeciescouldusetheacousticcuetosettleondifferentsuitablehabitats.Inthepresent study, we used the auditory evoked potential (AEP) technique to measure and compare the detectionabilities in five coral reef fish species, with some of these species that are found in the same habitat. We also ex-aminedtheeffectoffishsizeonsensitivityatthespecieslevel.Allstudiedspeciesexceptoneshowedsize-relatedchangesinsensitivitycharacterizedbyeitheradecrease(i.e.higherAEPthresholds)oranincrease(i.e.lowerAEPthresholds) in detection abilities with increasing size. The interspecific comparison of audiograms revealed thatsome species are more sensitive than others in terms of sound pressure level and frequency detection.Overall,thisstudy indicatesthattheAEPthresholdandthefrequencybandwidthatearlylifestagesmay vary be-tween andwithin fish species.Thedetectionabilities aredifferent infish species thatarenotphylogeneticallyre-lated, which might suggest that the establishment of their capabilities is not necessarily related to the reefconquest.
ISSN: 0022-0981

hal-01391589
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01391589

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The present research work is a part of the KUNSHEN Franco-Taiwanese research project which aims at investigating the hydro/morphodynamics of barrier islands driven by typhoon events. This study focuses on the impact of the Talim tropical storm on the Wan-tzu-liao sand barrier (Taiwan) in terms of water level rising and watertable overheight. In-situ measurements are provided by a cross-shore network of pressure sensors extended from the intertidal zone to the top of the barrier. Extreme offshore wave conditions are encountered during Talim, with significant wave height greater than 10m at the storm peak. It is shown that measured setups are smaller than those predicted by usual empirical parameterization. Groundwater dynamics is strongly affected by the storm, with watertable overheight of the order of one meter under the barrier top. Watertable dynamics is influenced by waves, tides and rainfalls.
Coastal Dynamics 2013

hal-00831573
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00831573

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Intraplate deformation is most often linked to major stress applied on plate margins. When such intraplate events are accompanied by magmatism, the use of several dating methods integrated within a multidisciplinary approach can bring constraints on the age, nature and source mobilized for generating the magma and in turn on the nature of the intraplate deformation. This study focuses on the large gabbro Arrikine sill (35 km in extension) emplaced within the Silurian sediments of the western margin of the Murzuq cratonic basin in southeastern Algeria. Its emplacement is dated during the early Devonian (415-400 Ma) through the determination of a reliable paleomagnetic pole by comparison with the Gondwana Apparent Polar Wander Path (APWP). This age can be correlated with deep phreatic eruptions before Pragian time thought to be at the origin of sand injections and associated circular structures in Algeria and Libya. For the sill, the K–Ar age of 325.6 ± 7.7 Ma is related to a K-rich aplitic phase that has K-enriched by more than 20% the Devonian gabbro. Laser-ICP-MS U–Pb method dates only inherited zircons mostly at c. 2030 Ma with additional ages at c. 2700 Ma and younger ones in the 766-598 Ma age range. The Arrikine sill is a high-Ti alkaline gabbro having the geochemical composition of a hawaiite akin to several intraplate continental and oceanic provinces, including the contemporaneous Aïr ring complexes province in Niger, but also to the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. This peculiar composition akin to that of the contemporaneous Aïr province is in agreement with a lower Devonian age for the Arrikine sill.The lower Devonian Arrikine sill emplacement is related to a “Caledonian” transtensive reactivation of the western metacratonic boundary of the Murzuq craton. This event also generated in the Saharan platform the so-called “Caledonian unconformity” of regional extension, the Aïr ring complexes and magmatic rocks that produced sand injections. It could be related to rifting of the Hun terranes that occurred at the plate margin to the north (Stampfli and Borel, 2002, Blackey, 2008 and references therein). The mid-Carboniferous (c. 326 Ma) reactivation corresponds to Variscan compression on NW Africa generating aplitic fluids, but also to the major “Hercynian unconformity” of regional extension. The generation of the Arrikine magma is attributed to partial melting through adiabatic pressure release of uprising asthenosphere along tectonically reactivated mega-shear zones, here bordering the relictual Murzuq craton enclosed in the Saharan metacraton.
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01306637
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01306637
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.11.019

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 American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
The aim of this study is to bring new information on water storage dynamics in karst systems from tiltmeter measurements. Newly developed long-base hydrostatic tiltmeters are installed at two sites on the Larzac plateau (France) in a karst aquifer of similar to 100 km(2) recharge area. Each site is located within a karst cave where two tilt directions are monitored. Significant reversible tilt deformation reaching amplitudes of 10(-6) to 10(-5) rad was observed at both sites following heavy precipitation. Elastic parameters were determined with an experiment in which a tiltmeter site was loaded by up to 25 t of weight at strategic locations at the ground surface. Mechanisms responsible for the observed tilt were then examined by means of finite element modeling. Deformation induced by water pressure changes in fractures is our preferred interpretation as the most plausible mechanism. Within this scope, we used the tiltmeter responses to extract time constants using lumped parameter modeling. Time constants are interpreted to be associated with the filling and emptying of fractures nearby the tiltmeters. These instruments therefore appear as useful tools to study the local dynamics of water infiltration in karst systems.
ISSN: 0043-1397

hal-00534461
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534461
DOI : 10.1029/2009WR008082