Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD E Schweizerbart Science Publishers
Résumé : International audience
Mass balance calculations have been performed through a comparison of published graphical and statistical approaches applied to two contrasted geological settings: (i) the development of a greenschist-facies ductile shear-zone that recorded a weak volume change but significant mass transfers, and (ii) the formation of exoskarns in metacarbonate xenoliths that recorded a large volume decrease related to huge mass transfers. The comparison of the four mass-balance approaches shows that, if uncertainties are ignored, (1) they yield similar results concerning the mobile vs immobile behaviour of many components; (2) they yield similar mass-change values on bulk rock and on individual chemical elements (bulk-rock mass-change values differ by a maximum of ca. 15 % between graphical and statistical treatments of the metacarbonate xenolith evolution). The main difference concerns the uncertainties on mass changes (for bulk rocks and individual elements), which are much larger with the graphical than with the statistical approaches when uncertainties on chemical elements are taken into account, as they should be.The main advantage of the graphical methods is their rapid implementation and the clarity of the diagrams. Their main disadvantages are that uncertainties on each chemical element and bulk compositions are not taken into account and the difficulty in choosing an accurate immobility field to precisely define errors. Graphical methods need to be completed by a statistical treatment that gives absolute mass transfer results. The statistical approaches have the advantage of taking into account the chemical heterogeneities of the compared populations, in conjunction to a precise data treatment. The statistical treatment is an important and necessary step to decipher and to be pertinent in interpreting mobility/immobility of chemical elements, and, thus, in the absolute quantification of mass and volume changes.
ISSN: 0935-1221

hal-01260258
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01260258
DOI : 10.1127/ejm/2015/0027-2475

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Observations from deep boreholes at several locations worldwide, laboratory measurements of frictional strength on quartzo-feldspathic materials, and earthquake focal mechanisms indicate that crustal faults are strong (apparent friction μ ≥ 0.6). However, friction experiments on phyllosilicate-rich rocks and some geophysical data have demonstrated that some major faults are considerably weaker. This weakness is commonly considered to be characteristic of mature faults in which rocks are altered by prolonged deformation and fluid-rock interaction (i.e., San Andreas, Zuccale, and Nankai Faults). In contrast, in this study we document fault weakening occurring along a marly shear zone in its infancy (<30 m displacement). Geochemical mass balance calculation and microstructural data show that a massive calcite departure (up to 50 vol %) from the fault rocks facilitated the concentration and reorganization of weak phyllosilicate minerals along the shear surfaces. Friction experiments carried out on intact foliated samples of host marls and fault rocks demonstrated that this structural reorganization lead to a significant fault weakening and that the incipient structure has strength and slip behavior comparable to that of the major weak faults previously documented. These results indicate that some faults, especially those nucleating in lithologies rich of both clays and high-solubility minerals (such as calcite), might experience rapid mineralogical and structural alteration and become weak even in the early stages of their activity.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01211481
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01211481
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003716

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Mechanisms controlling the transfer and retention of silicon (Si) along continental margins are poorly understood, but play a major role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems and the oceanic biological pump of carbon. Deep-sea fans are well recognized as carbon sink spots, but we lack knowledge about the importance of the fans in the global Si cycle. Here, we provide a first estimate of the role played by the Congo deep-sea fan, one of the biggest in the world, in the Si cycle. Sediment cores sampled in the deep-sea fan were analyzed to build a Si mass balance. An exceptionally high accumulation rate of amorphous silica aSiO(2) (2.29 +/- 0.58 mol Si m(-2) y(-1)) was found, due to a high sedimentation rate and the presence of aluminum in the sediments. Although favored by bioirrigation, recycling fluxes remained low (0.3 mol Si m(-2) y(-1)) and reconstructed input fluxes could only be explained by lateral inputs coming from the canyon. Preliminary calculations show that the rapid transport of aSiO(2) through the canyon and the excellent preservation efficiency in the sediments imply that 50% of aSiO(2) river inputs from the Congo River accumulate annually in the deep-sea fan. Si:C ratios in deep-sea fan sediments were very low (0.2) and only three times as high as those measured in the river itself, which suggests that material from the river and the continental shelf was delivered directly through the canyon, with very little time for Si and C cycle decoupling to take place.
Journal Of Marine Systems (0924-7963) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2015-01 , Vol. 141 , P. 71-79

Droits : 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00251/36242/35797.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.07.010
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00251/36242/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : The distribution and speciation of mercury (Hg) in the water column, the inputs (wet deposition and tributaries) and the outputs (atmospheric evasion and outlet) of an artificial partially anoxic tropical lake (Petit-Sa-Lit reservoir, French Guiana) were investigated oil a seasonal basis in order to appraise the cycling and transformations of this metal. The total mercury (HgT) concentrations in the oxygenated epilimnetic waters averaged 5 +/- 3 pmol L-1 in the unfiltered samples (HgTUNF) and 4 +/- 2 pmol L-1 in the dissolved (HgTD) phase (< 0.45 mu m). On average, the monomethylmercury (MMHg) constituted 8%, 40%, and 18% of the HgT in the dissolved phase, tile particulate suspended matter and in tile unfiltered samples, respectively. Covariant elevated concentrations of particulate MMHg and chlorophyll a in the epilimnion suggest that phytoplankton is ail active component for the MMHg transfer in tile lake. In the anoxic hypolimnion the HgTUNF averages 13 +/- 6 pmol L-1 and tile HgTD 8 +/- 4 pmol L-1. The averages of MMHgP and MMHgD in hypolimnetic waters were two and three times the corresponding values of the epilimnion, 170 +/- 90 pmol g(-1) and 0.9 +/- 0.5 pmol L-1, respectively. In the long dry and wet seasons, at the flooded forest and upstream dam sampling stations, the vertical profiles of MMHgD concentrations accounted for two distinct maxima: one just below the oxycline and the other near the benthic interface. Direct wet atmospheric deposition accounted for 14 moles yr(-1) HgTUNF, with 0.7 moles yr(-1) as MMHgUNF, while circa 76 moles yr(-1) of HgTUNF, with 4.7 moles yr(-1) as MMHgUNF, coming from tributaries. Circa 78 moles (similar to 17% as MMHg) are annually exported through tile dam, while 23 moles yr(-1) of Hg-0 evolve in the atmosphere. A mass balance calculation suggests that the endogenic production of MMHgUNF attained 8.1 moles yr(-1), corresponding to a methylation rate of 0.06% d(-1). As a result, tile Petit-Saut reservoir is a large man-made reactor that has extensively altered mercury speciation in favor of methylated species.
Applied Geochemistry (0883-2927) (Elsevier), 2008-05 , Vol. 23 , N. 5 , P. 1101-1126

Droits : 2008 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2008/publication-4198.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2007.11.006
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4198/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Mass balances are often used to calculate sediment fluxes in foreland basins and denudation rates in adjacent mountain ranges on intermediate to long timescales (from a few tens of thousand to a million years). Here, we study the simple Quaternary catchment-alluvial fan system of the Kuitun River, in northern Tian Shan, to discuss some ideas about sediment storage, release, and bypass in relatively short (100 km long) sediment routing systems. This study shows that the Kuitun catchment and piedmont areas clearly present evidence of a significant and temporary storage of sediments during the Pleistocene. These sediments were then excavated and delivered farther into the foreland basin during the Holocene. The difference between the volumes of materials released from the catchment and piedmont areas (5.5 ± 1.7 km3) and the volume stored in a contemporaneous fan downstream (2.6 ± 0.6 km3) indicates that the latter did not trap the whole sediment load transported by the river. The alluvial fan was bypassed by 27 to 78% of this load toward its distal alluvial plain. If this value is well estimated, it implies a major volumetric partitioning of the deposits between the fan and the alluvial plain, with a very high sedimentation rate in the fan (1.97 ± 0.52 mm*y− 1) and a much lower one downstream (0.11 ± 0.11 mm*y− 1). However, this volumetric partitioning might only occur during periods with a very specific hydrological regime such as the Holocene deglaciation. Eventually, the peculiar sediment storage and release pattern within the Kuitun catchment and piedmont areas during the Pleistocene and Holocene complicates the calculation of mean paleodenudation rates using either sediment budgets or in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides.
ISSN: 0169-555X

insu-00985283
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00985283
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00985283/document
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00985283/file/jolivet-et_al-2014_HAL.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.01.024

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Carbon is transported from Earth's surface into its interior at subduction zones. Carbonates in sediments overlying hydrothermally altered rocks (including serpentinites) within the subducted slab are the main carriers of this carbon1. Part of the carbon is recycled back to the surface by volcanism, but some is transferred to the deep Earth1, 2. Redox transformations during shallow subduction control the transfer and long-term fate of carbon, but are poorly explored1, 3. Here we use carbon stable isotopes and Raman spectroscopy to analyse the reduction of carbonate in an exhumed serpentinite-sediment contact in Alpine Corsica, France. We find that highly crystalline graphite was formed during subduction metamorphism and was concentrated in the sediment, within a reaction zone in direct contact with the serpentinite. The graphite in this reaction zone has a carbon isotopic signature (δ13C) of up to 0.8±0.1‰, similar to that of the original calcite that composed the sediments, and is texturally associated with the calcium-bearing mineral wollastonite that is also formed in the process. We use mass-balance calculations to show that about 9% of the total carbonaceous matter in the sedimentary unit results from complete calcite reduction in the reaction zone. We conclude that graphite formation, under reducing and low-temperature conditions, provides a mechanism to retain carbon in a subducting slab, aiding transport of carbon into the deeper Earth.
ISSN: 1752-0894

hal-00903464
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903464
DOI : 10.1038/NGEO1827

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report new data on the geochemical evolution, metasomatic and deformation processes in the lower layers of cratonic lithospheric mantle based on a detailed study of extraordinarily fresh and large deformed peridotite xenoliths from the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe, Siberia. Based on our T-P estimates, the deformed peridotites are localized in a depth range of 170 to 220 km near the base of cratonic mantle. The degree of deformation is not correlated with the depth and equilibration temperatures of the xenoliths. The deformed peridotites are depleted in magmaphile major elements indicating their residual nature, but are enriched in incompatible trace elements, Fe and K. The deformed peridotites experienced a complex evolution, i.e., they were formed initially as high-degree melt extraction residues and later were subjected to three main stages of metasomatic modification. (1) An old, mostly cryptic metasomatism by melt/fluid of carbonatitic composition, which formed garnets with sinusoidal REE patterns (Smn/Ern > 1). (2) Silicate metasomatism, which led to the most significant changes in mineralogical and chemical composition of the deformed peridotites. (3) Fe and Ti metasomatism just before the entrainment of the deformed rocks into kimberlite magma. Enrichment of the peridotites in large-ion lithophile elements (K, Rb, Ba) is related to the formation of kelyphitic rims around garnet. The nature of the metasomatic agent of silicate metasomatism was evaluated from mass-balance of measured and calculated whole-rock compositions, ratios of highly incompatible elements (D < 0.1) and fractional crystallization modeling. All this evidence indicates that the agent of silicate metasomatism had a composition intermediate between that of kimberlites and HIMU OIB. The metasomatic processes responsible for the formation of deformed peridotites and precipitation of megacryst suites cannot be widespread at the base of the cratonic mantle. Rather, they are local features only existing in the cratonic mantle below kimberlite fields and localized along the metasomatic vein system.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00941010
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00941010
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.11.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
A reactive percolation experiment was conducted by injecting seawater into a permeable olivine aggregate at 190 °C and 19 MPa to explore the relationships between hydration reactions and hydrodynamic properties during the onset of serpentinization in the ultramafic lithosphere exposed at mid-ocean ridges. The experiment was stopped after 23 days when the sample became impermeable. The initial flow rate was 0.2 mL/h and then was decreased down to 0.06 mL/h after 8 days. Permeability decreased continuously throughout the experiment. The analyses of fluid chemistry time series and of the mineralogy and structure of the reacted sample showed olivine dissolution and precipitation of proto-serpentine, brucite and Fe-oxides. These reactions are controlled by coupled hydrodynamic and chemical processes interacting at different time and spatial scales. Their first characteristic is the production of silica rich outlet fluids in disequilibrium with the observed reacted mineral assemblages. These compositions are interpreted as resulting from a suite of coupled dissolution-precipitation reactions, controlled at the pore scale by surface kinetic processes, that rapidly reaches steady-state (constant fluid composition independent of fluid flux). Hence, the effective rate of serpentinization was controlled, to the first order, by the transport of reactants during the experiment. Mass balance calculations show that the rate of olivine conversion was fast (0.2-0.5 wt%/day), yet only ∼8 wt% of the olivine sample reacted, because the permeability drop limited fluid circulation. Porosity varied little during the experiment compared to permeability changes: the decrease of permeability was explained by the structure of the newly formed serpentine favouring the clogging of fluid paths. The rate at which permeability decreased was the fastest at low flux conditions. This suggests that permeability changes were not controlled simply by the kinetics of the serpentinization reactions, but mainly reflected the development of low Peclet pore scale zones forming micro-environments that control the serpentinization reaction-paths. These results outline the need to take into account the coupling of hydrodynamic and chemical processes when modelling the effects of reactive transport within the hydrating oceanic lithosphere.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00855043
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00855043
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.03.052

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Spinel lherzolite xenoliths from Mont Briancon, French Massif Central, retain evidence for multiple episodes of melt depletion and melt/fluid infiltration (metasomatism). Evidence for primary melt depletion is still preserved in the co-variation of bulk-rock major elements (MgO 38.7-46.1 wt.%; CaO 0.9-3.6 wt.%), and many samples yield unradiogenic bulk-rock Os isotope ratios (Os-187/Os-188 = 0.11541-0.12626). However, many individual xenoliths contain interstitial glasses and melt inclusions that are not in equilibrium with the major primary minerals. Incompatible trace element mass balance calculations demonstrate that metasomatic components comprise a significant proportion of the bulk-rock budget for these elements in some rocks, ranging to as much as 25%, of Nd and 40% of Sr Critically, for Re-Os geochronology, melt/fluid infiltration is accompanied by the mobilisation of Sulfide. Consequently, bulk-rock isotope measurements, whether using lithophile (e.g. Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd) or siderophile (Re-Os) based isotope systems, may only yield a perturbed and/or homogenised average of these multiple events.;Osmium mass balance calculations demonstrate that bulk-rock Os in peridotite is dominated by contributions from two populations of sulfide grain: (i) interstitial, metasomatic Sulfide with low [Os] and radiogenic Os-187/Os-188, and (ii) primary sulfides with high [Os] and unradiogenic Os-187/Os-188, which have been preserved within host silicate grains and shielded from interaction with transient melts and fluid. The latter can account for >97% of bulk-rock Os and preserve geochronological information of the melt from which they originally precipitated as an immiscible liquid. The Re-depletion model ages of individual primary sulfide grains preserve evidence for melt depletion beneath the Massif Central from at least 1.8 Gyr ago despite the more recent metasomatic event(s). (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0016-7037

hal-00454537
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00454537
DOI : 10.1016/j.gca.2009.09.031

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : National audience
Mass balances are often used to calculate sediment fluxes in sedimentary basins and denudationrates in adjacent topographies on intermediate to long timescales (from a few tens ofthousand to a million years). In this study, we focus on simple Quaternary catchment–alluvial fansystems in the northern Tian Shan Range and its foreland basin to discuss some ideas about sedimentproduction, storage, release, and bypass in relatively short (100 km long) sediment routing systems.Based on a geometrical reconstruction of the fans, we estimated the volumes of sediments exportedout of the range and deposited in its alluvial piedmont during the Middle- Late Pleistocene andthe Holocene. This work shows that the two areas clearly present evidence of a temporary butsignificant storage of sediments during the Pleistocene. These sediments were then excavated anddelivered farther into the foreland basin during the Holocene. The difference between the volumesof materials released from the range and piedmont areas and the volume stored in thecontemporaneous fans downstream indicates that the latter did not trap the whole sediment loadtransported by the rivers. The alluvial fans were bypassed by 27 to 78% of this load toward thedownstream alluvial plain. It implies a major volumetric partitioning of the deposits between thefans and the alluvial plain, with a sedimentation rate about twenty times higher in the fans thanin the plain. However, this volumetric partitioning might only occur during periods with a veryspecific hydrological regime such as the Holocene deglaciation. Eventually, the peculiar sedimentstorage and release pattern within the range and piedmont areas during the Pleistocene and Holocenecomplicates the calculation of mean paleodenudation rates using either sediment budgets or in situproduced cosmogenic nuclides.
Association des Sédimentologistes Français. 15ème congrès français de sédimentologie
Chambéry, France

hal-01252100
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01252100

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Mass balances are often used to calculate sediment fluxes in sedimentary basins and denudationrates in adjacent topographies on intermediate to long timescales (from a few tens ofthousand to a million years). In this study, we focus on simple Quaternary catchment–alluvialfan systems in the northern Tian Shan Range and its foreland basin to discuss some ideasabout sediment production, storage, release, and bypass in relatively short (100 km long) sedimentrouting systems. Based on a geometrical reconstruction of the fans, we estimated thevolumes of sediments exported out of the range and deposited in its alluvial piedmont duringthe Middle-Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. This work shows that the two areas clearlypresent evidence of a temporary but significant storage of sediments during the Pleistocene.These sediments were then excavated and delivered farther into the foreland basin during theHolocene. The difference between the volumes of materials released from the range and piedmontareas and the volume stored in the contemporaneous fans downstream indicates thatthe latter did not trap the whole sediment load transported by the rivers. The alluvial fans werebypassed by 27 to 78% of this load toward the downstream alluvial plain. It implies a majorvolumetric partitioning of the deposits between the fans and the alluvial plain, with a sedimentationrate about twenty times higher in the fans than in the plain. However, this volumetricpartitioning might only occur during periods with a very specific hydrological regime suchas the Holocene deglaciation. Eventually, the peculiar sediment storage and release patternwithin the range and piedmont areas during the Pleistocene and Holocene complicates thecalculation of mean paleodenudation rates using either sediment budgets or in situ producedcosmogenic nuclides.
Source to Sink: a long term perspective of sediment budgets and sources characterization, Abstracts
Rennes, France

insu-01406440
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01406440