The information system of the French Peatland Observation Service: Service National d'Observation Tourbières – A valuable tool to assess the impact of global changes on the hydrology and biogeochemistry of temperate peatlands through long term monitoring

Mitigating and adapting to global changes requires a better understanding of the response of the Biosphere to these environmental variations. Human disturbances and their effects act in the long term (decades to centuries) and consequently, a similar time frame is needed to fully understand the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of a natural system. To this end, the ‘Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique’ (CNRS) promotes and certifies long-term monitoring tools called national observation services or ‘Service National d'Observation’ (SNO) in a large range of hydrological and biogeochemical systems (e.g., cryosphere, catchments, aquifers). The SNO investigating peatlands, the SNO ‘Tourbières’, was certified in 2011 ( https://www.sno-tourbieres.cnrs.fr/ ). Peatlands are mostly found in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere and French peatlands are located in the southern part of this area. Thus, they are located in environmental conditions that will occur in northern peatlands in coming decades or centuries and can be considered as sentinels. The SNO Tourbières is composed of four peatlands: La Guette (lowland central France), Landemarais (lowland oceanic western France), Frasne (upland continental eastern France) and Bernadouze (upland southern France). Thirty target variables are monitored to study the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of the sites. They are grouped into four datasets: hydrology, fluvial export of organic matter, greenhouse gas fluxes and meteorology/soil physics. The data from all sites follow a common processing chain from the sensors to the public repository. The raw data are stored on an FTP server. After operator or automatic processing, data are stored in a database, from which a web application extracts the data to make them available ( https://data-snot.cnrs.fr/data-access/ ). Each year at least, an archive of each dataset is stored in Zenodo, with a digital object identifier (DOI) attribution ( https://zenodo.org/communities/sno_tourbieres_data/ ).     

Tectono-sedimentary evolution of Jurassic–Cretaceous diapiric structures: Miravete anticline,Maestrat Basin,Spain

Integration of extensive fieldwork, remote sensing mapping and 3D models from high-quality drone photographs relates tectonics and sedimentation to define the Jurassic–early Albian diapiric evolution of the N–S Miravete anticline, the NW-SE Castel de Cabra anticline and the NW-SE Cañada Vellida ridge in the Maestrat Basin (Iberian Ranges, Spain). The pre shortening diapiric structures are defined by well-exposed and unambiguous halokinetic geometries such as hooks and flaps, salt walls and collapse normal faults. These were developed on Triassic salt-bearing deposits, previously misinterpreted because they were hidden and overprinted by the Alpine shortening. The Miravete anticline grew during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and was rejuvenated during Cenozoic shortening. Its evolution is separated into four halokinetic stages, including the latest Alpine compression. Regionally, the well-exposed Castel de Cabra salt anticline and Cañada Vellida salt wall confirm the widespread Jurassic and Early Cretaceous diapiric evolution of the Maestrat Basin. The NE flank of the Cañada Vellida salt wall is characterized by hook patterns and by a 500-m-long thin Upper Jurassic carbonates defining an upturned flap, inferred as the roof of the salt wall before NE-directed salt extrusion. A regional E-W cross section through the Ababuj, Miravete and Cañada-Benatanduz anticlines shows typical geometries of salt-related rift basins, partly decoupled from basement faults. These structures could form a broader diapiric region still to be investigated. In this section, the Camarillas and Fortanete minibasins displayed well-developed bowl geometries at the onset of shortening. The most active period of diapiric growth in the Maestrat Basin occurred during the Early Cretaceous, which is also recorded in the Eastern Betics, Asturias and Basque-Cantabrian basins. This period coincides with the peak of eastward drift of the Iberian microplate, with speeds of 20 mm/year. The transtensional regime is interpreted to have played a role in diapiric development.     

Effects of the geometry of two‐dimensional fractures on their hydraulic aperture and on the validity of the local cubic law

Flow through rough fractures is investigated numerically in order to assess the validity of the local cubic law for different fracture geometries. Two‐dimensional channels with sinusoidal walls having different geometrical properties defined by the aperture, the amplitude, and the wavelength of the walls' corrugations, the corrugations asymmetry, and the phase shift between the two walls are considered to represent different fracture geometries. First, it is analytically shown that the hydraulic aperture clearly deviates from the mean aperture when the walls' roughness, the phase shift, and/or the asymmetry between the fracture walls are relatively high. The continuity and the Navier–Stokes equations are then solved by means of the finite element method and the numerical solutions compared to the theoretical predictions of the local cubic law. Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.066 to 66.66 are investigated so as to focus more particularly on the effect of flow inertial effects on the validity of the local cubic law. For low Reynolds number, typically less than 15, the local cubic law properly describes the fracture flow, especially when the fracture walls have small corrugation amplitudes. For Reynolds numbers higher than 15, the local cubic law is valid under the conditions that the fracture presents a low aspect ratio, small corrugation amplitudes, and a moderate phase lag between its walls.     

Estimating average shock pressures recorded by impactite samples based on universal stage investigations of planar deformation features in quartz—Sources of error and recommendations

Planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz are the most widely used indicator of shock metamorphism in terrestrial rocks. They can also be used for estimating average shock pressures that quartz-bearing rocks have been subjected to. Here we report on a number of observations and problems that we have encountered when performing universal stage measurements and crystallographically indexing of PDF orientations in quartz. These include a comparison between manual and automated methods of indexing PDFs, an evaluation of the new stereographic projection template, and observations regarding the PDF statistics related to the c-axis position and rhombohedral plane symmetry. We further discuss the implications that our findings have for shock barometry studies. Our study shows that the currently used stereographic projection template for indexing PDFs in quartz might induce an overestimation of rhombohedral planes with low Miller–Bravais indices. We suggest, based on a comparison of different shock barometry methods, that a unified method of assigning shock pressures to samples based on PDFs in quartz is necessary to allow comparison of data sets. This method needs to take into account not only the average number of PDF sets/grain but also the number of high Miller–Bravais index planes, both of which are important factors according to our study. Finally, we present a suggestion for such a method (which is valid for nonporous quartz-bearing rock types), which consists of assigning quartz grains into types (A–E) based on the PDF orientation pattern, and then calculation of a mean shock pressure for each sample.     

Fluid flow and pore pressure development throughout the evolution of a trough mouth fan,western Barents Sea

Using a combination of geophysical and geotechnical data from Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan off southern Svalbard, we investigate the hydrogeology of the continental margin and how this is affected by Quaternary glacial advances and retreats over the continental shelf. The geotechnical results show that plumites, deposited during the deglaciation, have high porosities, permeabilities and compressibilities with respect to glacigenic debris flows and tills. These results together with margin stratigraphic models obtained from seismic reflection data were used as input for numerical finite element models to understand focusing of interstitial fluids on glaciated continental margins. The modelled evolution of the Storfjorden TMF shows that tills formed on the shelf following the onset of glacial sedimentation (ca. 1.5 Ma) acted as aquitards and therefore played a significant role in decreasing the vertical fluid flow towards the sea floor and diverting it towards the slope. The model shows that high overpressure ratios (up to λ ca. 0.6) developed below the shelf edge and on the middle slope. A more detailed model for the last 220 kyrs accounting for ice loading during glacial maxima shows that the formation of these aquitards on the shelf focused fluid flow towards the most permeable plumite sediments on the slope. The less permeable glacigenic debris flows that were deposited during glacial maxima on the slope hinder fluid evacuation from plumites allowing high overpressure ratios (up to λ ca. 0.7) to develop in the shallowest plumite layers. These high overpressures likely persist to the Present and are a critical precondition for submarine slope failure.     

Early Mars volcanic sulfur storage in the upper cryosphere and formation of transient SO2‐rich atmospheres during the Hesperian

In a previous paper (Chassefière et al. 2013 ), we have shown that most volcanic sulfur released to the early Mars atmosphere could have been trapped in the upper cryosphere under the form of CO₂‐SO₂ clathrates. Huge amounts of sulfur, up to the equivalent of an ~1 bar atmosphere of SO₂, would have been stored in the Noachian upper cryosphere, then massively released to the atmosphere during the Hesperian due to rapidly decreasing CO₂ pressure. It could have resulted in the formation of the large sulfate deposits observed mainly in Hesperian terrains, whereas no or little sulfates are found at the Noachian. In the present paper, we first clarify some aspects of our previous work. We discuss the possibility of a smaller cooling effect of sulfur particles, or even of a net warming effect. We point out the fact that CO₂‐SO₂ clathrates formed through a progressive enrichment of a pre‐existing reservoir of CO₂ clathrates and discuss processes potentially involved in the slow formation of a SO₂‐rich upper cryosphere. We show that episodes of sudden destabilization at the Hesperian may generate 1000 ppmv of SO₂ in the atmosphere and contribute to maintaining the surface temperature above the water freezing point.