Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Pb, Hf, Nd and Sr isotopes of basaltic lavas from the two Reunion Island volcanoes are reported in order to examine the origin of the sources feeding these volcanoes and to detect possible changes through time. Samples, chosen to cover the whole lifetime of the two volcanoes (from 2 Ma to present), yield a chemically restricted (compared to 0113 lavas) but complex distribution. Reunion plume isotopic characteristics have been defined on the basis of the composition of uncontaminated shield-building lavas from the Piton de la Fournaise volcano. The average epsilon(Nd), epsilon(Hf), Sr-87/Sr-86 and Pb-206/Pb-204, Pb-207/Pb-204, and Pb-208/Pb-204 isotope ratios calculated for this component are +4.4, +9.1, 0.70411, 18.97, 15.59 and 39.03, respectively. In Pb-Pb isotope space, each volcano defines a distinct linear trend but slight variation are also detected within the various volcanic sequences. The Piton des Neiges volcano yields a distinct and significantly more scattered isotopic distribution than Piton de la Fournaise for both Pb, Hf and Nd isotope tracers. A principal component analysis of the Pb isotope data from Piton de la Fournaise reveals a major contribution of the C and EM-1 components (with a clear Dupal flavor) as main components for the modem Reunion plume. The same components have been identified for Piton des Neiges but with a stronger participation of a depleted mantle component and a weaker EM-1 contribution. The compositional change of the lavas erupted by the Piton des Neiges and Piton de la Fournaise volcanoes is attributed to the impingement of two small-scale blobs of plume material at the base of the Reunion lithosphere. Compared to other hot-spots worldwide, in particular Hawaii and Kerguelen, magmas beneath Reunion are generated from a considerably more homogeneous, compositionally more primitive plume higher in Pb-206. Although shallow-level contamination processes have been locally detected they did not alter significantly the composition of the plume magmas. This is tentatively attributed to mantle dynamics producing small, high-velocity blobs that ascend rapidly through the lithosphere, and to the lack of a well-developed magma chamber at depth in the lithosphere.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00412196
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412196
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.11.018

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Debris avalanches derived from the flanks of volcanic islands are among the largest on Earth. Debris avalanches are rare, catastrophic destabilizations that still keep geologists debating about the mechanisms that initiate them and make them travel huge runout distances. To shed light on the trigger of such destabilizations, we studied the inland scar of a debris avalanche deposit cropping out at Piton des Neiges, a dormant and eroded basaltic volcano of La Réunion Island. The avalanche deposit rests on a pile of 50-70 sill intrusions with a shallow northward dip, i.e. toward the sea. We measured the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility in a transect across the uppermost sill of the pile in contact with the avalanche deposit. This transect reveals a strongly asymmetric magnetic fabric, consistent with a north-directed shear movement of the upper intrusion wall. This suggests that the upper sill induced a co-intrusive shear displacement of the volcano flank toward the sea. The upper sill margin in contact with the avalanche is striated, showing that this intrusion is older than the avalanche. Striae indicate a northward direction of avalanche runout. The upper sill margin also displays a magmatic lineation consistent with a magma flow in the intrusion toward the north. There is thus a striking kinematic consistency between the directions of intrusion propagation and avalanche runout, both oriented toward the sea. From the above results, we propose that repeated sill intrusions, such as observed on Piton des Neiges, increase the instability of a volcanic edifice. Each injection induces an incremental slip of the overlying rock mass, which may eventually end up into a landslide. Sill intrusions associated with seaward displacements of volcano flank, such as inferred for the April 2007 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise (also in La Réunion), should therefore be considered as a potential trigger of debris avalanches.
Fall meeting
San Francisco, United States

hal-01387002
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01387002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Piton des Neiges basaltic volcano (La Réunion) has been deeply dissected by erosion, exposing large volumes of debris avalanche deposits. To shed light on the factors that led to volcano flank destabilizations, we studied the structure, the crystallographic and magnetic fabrics of the substratum of a debris avalanche unit. This substratum is a complex of N50 seaward-dipping sills that has been exposed by the avalanche. Structural observations show that the sill plane in contact with the avalanche is one of the latest intrusions in the sill complex. In this uppermost sill, the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is correlated to the crystallographic preferred orientation of magmatic silicate minerals, allowing us to use AMS as a proxy to infer the magmatic flow. The AMS fabric across the intrusion is strongly asymmetric, which reveals that the contact sill was emplaced with a normal shear displacement of its hanging wall. The shear displacement and the magma flow in the intrusion are both directed toward the NNE, i.e. toward the sea, which is also the direction of the slope and of the debris avalanche runout. Because all the sills in the intrusion complex have a similar dip and dip direction, it is likely that several of them also underwent a cointrusive slip toward the NNE. We conclude that this cointrusive normal slip, repeated over many intrusions of the sill complex, increased the flank instability of the volcano. This incre-mental instability may have ended up into the observed debris avalanche deposit. At Piton de la Fournaise, the active volcano of La Réunion, sill intrusion and cointrusive flank displacement have been inferred from geophys-ical studies for the April 2007 eruption. By providing direct evidence of sheared sills, our study substantiates the idea that repeated sill intrusions may eventually trigger flank destabilizations in basaltic volcanoes.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01351758
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758/file/2016-Tectonopgysics-Berthod.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.02.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Volumes of magma intruded in and emitted by volcanoes through time can be estimated by reconstruction of vol-cano's morphology and time sequence. Classical approaches for quantifying magma volumes on active volcanoes are based on the difference between pre-and post-eruption digital elevation models (DEM), but this kind of approach needs the pre-eruptive surfaces to be available. For old and eroded volcanoes these surfaces are poorly constrained. However, because the geometrical form of many volcanic edifices exhibits a remarkable symmetry we propose, here, a new approach using primary volcanic landforms in order to estimate the amount of the both erupted and eroded material and to locate eruptive centers. A large fraction of composite volcanoes have near constant slope on their flanks and a form that is concave upwards near their summits. But many phenomena can lead to non-symetrical edifices and complex morphologies can result, for example from parasitic centers of volcanism on the flanks, from alternation of short effusive and explosive construction phases, from flank or caldera collapses, or from glacial and other types of erosion. In this study we propose that, on the first order approximation, complex morphologies can be modeled by piling regular cones. In this model, cones centers and slopes are derived by fitting primary volcanic landform with a linear function :elevation=f(distance from center). Such an approach allows to estimate both errors on location of the eruptive center and on the volume of the resulting cones. This model can then be used for quantifying volume of erupted and eroded material, and for quantifying catastrophic events as giant landslides or flank collapse. This approach is tested on four different active volcanoes : Mount Mayon (Philippines), Mount Fuji (Japan), Mount Etna (Sicily) and Mount Teide (Canary Island) to estimate errors in volume between modeled and actual edifices. It is then used on volcanoes of La Réunion hotspot to reconstruct the Piton des Neiges and Piton de la Fournaise volcanoes at its different stages of growing.
EGU 2014
Vienna, Austria

hal-01386609
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01386609

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study constitutes one of the few works conducted on the colonization of recent lava flows by fish communities in coral reef environment. It attempted to describe the mechanisms of colonization and environmental variables infuencing the structure of communities on the lava flows of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano at Reunion Island. It also proposed some hypotheses on the mechanisms of selection and speciation of endemic species of thesouthwestern Indian Ocean region, particularly diversified on the most recent lava flows of the Piton de la Fournaise, and provided a model of distribution of environmental and fish assemblage variables in four homogeneous patterns of colonization (landscapes) retained within the study area. The results showed fish community structure strongly related to measured environmental variables, of which depth, width of the island shelf, age of the lava flow and distance to the most recent lava flow were the most influential. It also appeared that the maximum endemic species richness was measured on the shallower stations, with narrow insular shelf, located on recent lava flows, near the lava flow from the eruption of 2007 (latest volcanic event). These characteristics define a harsh environment, to which endemic species seem well-adapted due in particular to their strong demographic and dietary flexibility. Finally, the patterns of colonization were characterized by significantly different environmental variables. The four homogeneous areas, defined by two geomorphological features, basalt blocks and drop-offs, nested within two locations, inside and outside the volcanic enclosure (current caldera), hosted fish communities whose dominant diets mainly depend on the nature, the abundance and the accessibility of available food resources. Overall, the study highlights that during early stages of ecological succession, site selection by fish communities is highly dependent on environmental constraints, specially of volcanic origin, but the physical habitat selection (geomorphology, substrate rugosity, percentage of soft substrate) seems to have littleimportance, while at least on the trophic structure and the distribution of endemic species.
ISSN: 0022-0981

hal-01253768
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253768
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253768/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01253768/file/Pinault%20et%20al.%20-%202014%20-%20Fish%20community%20structure%20in%20relation%20to%20environmen_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.jembe.2014.06.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The active selection of recent volcanic habitats by juvenile fish following a cyclone could explain the unusual mass-settlement of the Indian Ocean blacktip grouper Epinephelus oceanicus observed on 25 May 2006, few weeks after tropical storm Diwa on the latest lava flows of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano at Reunion Island. Following a cyclonic depression, shallow underwater habitats are devoid of resident fishes, including predators, favouring juvenile fish survival. Otherwise, the recent origin of the volcanic habitats, which vary in age, could facilitate the spatial segregation of adult and juvenile fish on the lava flows, reducing intraspecific competition and adult aggression toward juveniles. Regional characteristics of larval recruitment could also contribute to the infrequency of the described event; the isolated situation of the island would be expected to result in an average density of fish postlarvae 0.25 % to 1 % of that seen on some reefs in the Pacific. The supposed origin of juvenile groupers in the neighbouring island of Mauritius should encourage Reunionese managers to look beyond their own jurisdictions to adopt a collaborative approach to conservation of the entire connected network.
Environmental Biology of Fishes

hal-01306707
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01306707
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01306707/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01306707/file/Mass-settlement%20of%20the%20Indian%20ocean%20black-tip%20grouper_hal.pdf
DOI : 10.1007/s10641-014-0303-2

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Volcaniclastic successions are well-described in volcanic arc setting but rare in hotspot environments. The present work proposes a facies model of volcaniclastic sedimentation related to basaltic hotspot volcanoes as exemplified by the Piton de la Fournaise volcano (La Réunion Island). The facies model is based on a multi-scale approach combining high-resolution multibeam and backscatter data, deep-water photographs, side scan imagery and Kullenberg piston cores. Data show that a wide range of gravity flows and erosional features develop in the active volcaniclastic sedimentary system. Coastal and submarine instabilities are the main processes shaping the volcano's submarine morphology. Meanwhile, the evolution and dynamics of the sedimentary system are strongly linked with the morpho-structural evolution of the subaerial part of the volcano. The proposed model is characterized by a cyclic succession of stages: (1) a growing stage during which sedimentary activity is mainly restricted to proximal and mid-slope areas; (2) a collapse stage that entirely reshapes the morphology of the submarine slopes; and (3) an erosional stage related to a slow down of volcanic activity, enabling the development of large deep-sea fans.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2013-03 , Vol. 337 , P. 35-52

Droits : 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24798/22939.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.01.004
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24798/