A history of tourism at the Mer de Glace: Adaptations of glacier tourism to glacier fluctuations since 1741

Climate change induces profound changes in mountain territories that affect the activities pursued there. Tourism is one activity that is strongly impacted by these changes. Most research on tourism in mountain regions has focused on winter sports tourism, but glacier tourism, a summer activity, is also severely affected by climate change-induced phenomena, including glacier retreat and other geomorphological processes. Given that Alpine glacier tourism has been pursued since the 18 th century and glaciers have been changing throughout this period, this article aims to examine the adaptations implemented by glacier tourism operators since the activity's beginnings. Through analysis of historical documents, glaciological surveys and semi-structured interviews, this paper reveals how tourism activities around the Mer de Glace(the largest French glacier) have been impacted by glacier fluctuations since the first visit to the area in 1741. The study reveals that these developments have mainly been driven by glacier retreat and associated paraglacial dynamics. More recently, the shortening of the period of snow cover on the glacier has also impacted tourism activities. Most of the adaptation strategies implemented by tourism operators during the period in question are found to be reactive, consisting in the installation of safety equipment, the renovation of access points or the building of new structures to allow tourist activities to continue despite the consequences of glacier retreat. Other strategies, such as the adoption of new activities by workers previously specialised in another, are identified that could be considered transformative strategies, although these were only adopted by workers when their activity was no longer feasible. The analysis of materials from 1741 to the present also reveals that the recent impacts of climate change on glacier tourism are much more significant and diverse than those produced by past fluctuations. Therefore, it is important that stakeholders take suitable measures to ensure the sustainable future of the Mer de Glace and other glacier tourism destinations.     

The initiation of pull‐apart basins and transform continental margins: results from numerical experiments of kinematic partitioning in divergent settings

We present a set of numerical models to investigate how transform faults initiate in pull‐apart basins or transform continental margins. The model represents an elastic plate with three aligned weak spots. Applying strain on the edge of the model firstly propagates extensional cracks from the pre‐existing damaged spots. The subsequent evolution depends on the angle (obliquity) between the applied strain and the alignment of the damaged spots. For obliquity <50°, transform faults form to connect en‐échelon divergent cracks; for obliquity >60°, transtensional transfer zones connect the divergent cracks and no transform fault forms. These experiments suggest that pull‐apart basins do not form as previously assumed by connection of overlapping transform faults, but that transform faults form as connections of extensional areas.     

Geochronological arguments for a close relationship between surficial formation profiles and environmental crisis (c. 3000–2000 BP) in Gabon (Central Africa)

We present new ¹⁴C data on charcoal fragments recovered from the lower (coarse-grained Stone Line) and upper (fine-grained Cover Horizon) portions of surficial formation profiles in Gabon. These data and others compiled from the literature enable a reconstruction of the Upper Holocene geological regional history of Gabon. The connection between the geological events recorded in the surficial formations and the Upper Holocene environmental crisis is discussed and a scenario connecting geological events with climatic and environmental changes is proposed. Such a scenario suggests that following the climatic crisis, the reconstitution of soils by aeolian sedimentation could have been an important factor of Bantu expansion.     

Vulnerability and resilience of remote rural communities to shocks and global changes: Empirical analysis from Solomon Islands

Successful management of socio-ecological systems not only requires the development and field-testing of robust and measurable indices of vulnerability and resilience but also improved understanding of the contextual factors that influence societal capacity to adapt to change. We present the results of an analysis conducted in three coastal communities in Solomon Islands. An integrated assessment map was used to systematically scan the communities’ multiple dimensions of vulnerability and to identify factors affecting households’ perception about their capacity to cope with shocks (resilience). A multivariate probit approach was used to explore relationships amongst factors. Social processes such as community cohesion, good leadership, and individual support to collective action were critical factors influencing the perception that people had about their community's ability to build resilience and cope with change. The analysis also suggests a growing concern for a combination of local (internal) and more global (external) contingencies and shocks, such as the erosion of social values and fear of climate change.     

Fully coupled poromechanical back analysis of the pulse test by inverse method

In this paper, we investigate the pulse test, which is usually considered as efficient for measuring the permeability of weakly permeable porous media. The pulse is first analyzed and we show that it is a fully poromechanical coupled problem. Owing to those couplings, the problem is 2D‐axisymmetrical, rather than 1D as is usually considered to be the case. As a consequence, the 1D solutions, for example under constant mean stress hypothesis, although giving good approximates of permeability and storage coefficient, are not rigorous and an enhanced back analysis of the test requires 2D solutions. Therefore, no analytical solution exists, and the problem has to be solved using 2D‐axisymmetrical numerical modelings of the pulse test. The finite element method is considered in this paper. We then proceed to formulate the pulse test back analysis as a parameter identification problem, and we focus on intrinsic permeability, Biot coefficient, drained Young's modulus and reservoir compressibility levels. This parameter identification problem is solved by an inverse method consisting of the minimization of a cost‐functional, through a gradient‐based algorithm. This new method of interpretation of the pulse test is finally applied to laboratory tests on Meuse/Haute–Marne argillite and is shown to give encouraging results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cadmium isotopic constraints on metal sources in the Huize Zn-Pb deposit,SW China

The Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou(SYG)Zn-Pb metallogenic zone in SW China contains＞400 carbonate-hosted hydrothermal Zn-Pb deposits.Some of these,such as the Huize,Tianbaoshan,and Daliangzi deposits,are super-large deposits with significant reserves of Cd,Ge,and Ag.However,the sources of these metals remain controversial.This study investigated the Cd isotopic geochemistry of the Huize deposit,the largest Zn-Pb deposit in the SYG area.Sphalerites formed at three stages in the deposit have different colors:black or dark brown(Stage Ⅰ),red(Stage Ⅱ),and light-yellow(Stage Ⅲ).The δ114/110Cd values of the sphalerites are in the order Stage Ⅲ＜Stage Ⅰ＜Stage Ⅱ.Kinetic isotopic fractionation is likely the key factor causing the lower δ114/110Cd values in the early formed Stage Ⅰ sphalerites than in later-formed Stage Ⅱ sphalerites,with cooling of ore-forming fluids being responsible for the still lower values of the Stage Ⅲ sphalerites.In galena,the δ114/110Cd values are inversely correlated with Cd contents and tend to be higher in high-Zn galena.We speculate that Cd isotopic fractionation was significant during the precipitation of sphalerite and galena,with light Cd isotopes being enriched in galena rather than sphalerite.Comparison of the Cd isotopic signatures and Zn/Cd ratios of different endmembers suggests that the δ114/110Cd values and Zn/Cd ratios of sphalerite from the Huize deposit,as well as other large-scale deposits from the SYG area,are lie in those range of Emeishan basalts and sedimentary rocks and the mean δ114/110Cd values of these deposits show good negative correlation with 1/Cd,suggesting that the ore-forming materials of these deposits were derived from the mixing of Emeishan basalts and sed-imentary rocks.This study demonstrates that Cd isotopes can be useful proxies in elucidating ore genesis in large Zn-Pb deposits.     

Measurement of 34S/32S Ratios of NBS 120c and BCR 32 Phosphorites Using Purge and Trap EA‐IRMS Technology

Measurements of sulfur stable isotope ratios (³⁴S/³²S) have suffered from technical difficulties in analysing low‐S materials reducing their use despite their undeniable scientific interest. The measurement of ³⁴S/³²S ratios is a powerful tool for deciphering problems such as determining the sources of environmental pollutants, to detect adulteration, tracking the evolution of the redox state of the oceans and quantifying the role of the bacterial activity in sulfide minerals genesis. We have used a high‐precision method of sulfur isotope determination using a new type of elemental analyser based on ‘purge and trap’ technology. This new technique demonstrates the high quality of ³⁴S/³²S measurements for samples with S concentrations lower than 1% m/m. International calibrated references of diverse sulfur‐bearing materials were used to calibrate two low (< 1%) S‐bearing phosphorites used as compositional reference material for future use as isotopic references: BCR 32 and NBS 120c. δ³⁴S_CDT values of, respectively, 18.2‰ (1s = 0.3; n = 23) and 18.3‰ (1s = 0.4; n = 20) are proposed for these. Calibration of both phosphorites with international reference materials led to calculation of a mean standard error close to 0.4‰. The demonstration of a capability to reliably measure S isotope ratios in low‐S phosphate minerals or rocks opens up new fields of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.     

Spaceborne ultraviolet 251–384 nm spectroscopy of a meteor during the 1997 Leonid shower

Abstract— We used the ultraviolet to visible spectrometers onboard the midcourse space experiment to obtain the first ultraviolet spectral measurements of a bright meteor during the 1997 Leonid shower. The meteor was most likely a Leonid with a brightness of about‐2 magnitude at 100 km altitude. In the region between 251 and 310 nm, the two strongest emission lines are from neutral and ionized magnesium. Ionized Ca lines, indicative of a hot T ? 10 000 K plasma, are not detected. The Mg and Mg+ line intensity ratio alone does not yield the ionization temperature, which can be determined only by assuming the electron density. A typical air plasma temperature of T = 4400 K would imply a very high electron density: n_e = 2.2 times 10¹⁸ m‐³, but at chondritic abundances of Fe/Mg and Si/Mg ? 1. For a more reasonable local‐thermodynamic‐equilibrium (LTE) air plasma electron density, the Mg and Mg+ line ratio implies a less than chondritic Fe/Mg = 0.06 abundance ratio and a cool non‐LTE T = 2830 K ionization temperature for the ablation vapor plasma. The present observations do not permit a choice between these alternatives. The new data provide also the first spectral confirmation of the presence of molecular OH and NO emission in meteor spectra.     

7000 years of paleostorm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea in response to Holocene climate events

A high-resolution record of paleostorm events along the French Mediterranean coast over the past 7000 years was established from a lagoonal sediment core in the Gulf of Lions. Integrating grain size, faunal analysis, clay mineralogy and geochemistry data with a chronology derived from radiocarbon dating, we recorded seven periods of increased storm activity at 6300–6100, 5650–5400, 4400–4050, 3650–3200, 2800–2600, 1950–1400 and 400–50 cal yr BP (in the Little Ice Age). In contrast, our results show that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1150–650 cal yr BP) was characterised by low storm activity.The evidence for high storm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea is in agreement with the changes in coastal hydrodynamics observed over the Eastern North Atlantic and seems to correspond to Holocene cooling in the North Atlantic. Periods of low SSTs there may have led to a stronger meridional temperature gradient and a southward migration of the westerlies. We hypothesise that the increase in storm activity during Holocene cold events over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean regions was probably due to an increase in the thermal gradient that led to an enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic–European domain.     

Use of inhibitors for coastal bacteria and phytoplankton: Application to nitrogen uptake measurement

For several decades, prokaryotic and eukaryotic inhibitors have been used to exclude bacteria from microalgal cultures and for investigating prey-predator relationships. Recently there has been considerable interest in using specific inhibitors for studying the interactions between bacteria and phytoplankton, by selective repression of either organism’s activity. The effectiveness of chemical inhibitors must be tested before applying them to natural communities to partition metabolic activities between functional groups. Six different antibiotics selected from the most commonly reported in the literature were tested, at concentrations varying from 12.5 to 100 mg L⁻¹, for their effect on bacterial growth and functional diversity of natural communities from Mediterranean coastal waters. Penicillin and streptomycin each at a final concentration of 100 mg L⁻¹ significantly reduced bacterial growth within 2 h. There was a greater impact on bacterial functional diversity when both antibiotics were mixed together. This mixture did not have any significant effect on the growth of selected cultured phytoplankton strains, whereas the eukaryote inhibitor cycloheximide at 100 mg L⁻¹ reduced growth within 2 h of incubation. The penicillin–streptomycin mixture and cycloheximide alone successfully partitioned NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ uptake between bacteria and phytoplankton bi-weekly sampled in a coastal lagoon in Autumn, where bacterial contribution to total NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ uptake averaged 46 and 41%, respectively. The use of specific inhibitors may be a valuable method for studying interactions, such as competition and mutualism, or lack of interaction between the different components of microbial communities and could be used to study their relative importance in biogeochemical fluxes.