Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : This paper is the first presentation of a project called GHYRAF (Gravity and Hydrology in Africa) devoted to the detailed comparison between models and multidisciplinary observations (ground and satellite gravity, geodesy, hydrology, meteorology) of the variations of water storage in Africa from the Sahara and part to the monsoon equatorial part. We describe the various actions planned in this project. We first detail the actions planned in gravimetry which consist in two main surface gravity experiments: on the one hand the periodic repetition of absolute gravity measurements along a north-south monsoonal gradient of rainfall in West Africa, going from Tamanrasset (20 mm/year) in southern Algeria to Djougou (1200 mm/year) in central Benin; on the other hand the continuous measurements at Djougou (Benin) with a superconducting gravimeter to monitor with a higher sampling rate the gravity changes related to an extreme hydrological cycle. Another section describes the actions planned in GPS which will maintain and develop the present-day existing network in West Africa. The third type of actions deals with hydrology and we review the three sites that will be investigated in this joint hydrogeophysics project namely Wankama (near Niamey) and Bagara (near Diffa) in the Niger Sahelian zone and Nalohou (near Djougou) in the Benin monsoon zone. We also address the question of the ground truth of satellite-derived missions: in this context the GHYRAF project will lead to test the hydrology models by comparison both with in situ and satellite data such as GRACE, as well as to an important increase of our knowledge of the seasonal water cycle in Africa. We finally present preliminary results in GPS based on the analysis of the vertical motion of the Djougou site. The resulting absolute gravity changes related to the 2008 monsoon are finally given.
ISSN: 0264-3707

hal-00475660
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00475660
DOI : 10.1016/j.jog.2009.09.014

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer-Verlag
Résumé : We provide evidence for a plume-like upwelling beneath the Eifel hotspot, Western Germany, by using teleseismic shear-wave splitting to resolve the anisotropy associated with upwelling flow that is spreading laterally into the asthenosphere. The variation in fast-polarization azimuth we find across the Eifel hotspot is explained by a model of slowly upwelling material that is horizontally being deflected or sheared in a parabolic asthenospheric flow (PAF) pattern toward west-southwest, a direction that correlates with Eurasian absolute plate motion. We suggest that the lack of an age progression for Eifel volcanism, which is expected for a fixed-upwelling model, is a result of (1) sporadic volcanism due to a low excess plume temperature and/or varying crustal stresses that periodically relax and facilitate eruption, and (2) complex upwelling flow pathways and/or Late Tertiary changes in the slow Eurasian plate motion. The success of the PAF model in fitting the data is remarkable given the small number of parameters (four) and the consistency with the plate motion direction determined from geology and/or geodesy. This suggests that a predictable mantle-anisotropy pattern may exist also for other hotspots driven by plume-like upwellings, and that splitting can be a useful diagnostic to differentiate between plume-like and alternative sources for mantle hotspots.
Mantle plumes - a multidisciplinary approach

hal-00407986
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00407986
DOI : 10.1007/978-3-540-68046-8