Will the river Irtysh survive the year 2030? Impact of long-term unsuitable land use and water management of the upper stretch of the river catchment (North Kazakhstan)

The Irtysh river basin all the way from river spring in China across Kazakhstan as far as the Russian part of Siberia is among the most ecologically endangered and affected regions on our planet. The study provides a summary of the historical reasons for anthropological interventions in this area, which began with the construction of plants of the military—industrial complexes in the forties of the last century during World War II. These plants have a major share in extreme high concentrations of heavy metals in surface as well in groundwaters locally. The Semipalatinsk nuclear polygon plays a specific role as a source of contamination of local waters. The release of top secret data enabled us to gain knowledge about serious problems related to high radioactivity of groundwaters, which should spread uncontrollably through a system of secondary fissures activated by nuclear blasts. Another serious problem in this region is the quantitative aspect of contamination. Model simulations of water balance indicate that large industrial development in the spring area in China and continuously increasing water consumption in Kazakhstan may lead to desiccation of the lower stretch of this large river in Siberia during the summer months of 2030.     

Datation UPb : âge de mise en place du magmatisme bimodal des Jebilet centrales (chaı̂ne Varisque,Maroc). Implications géodynamiques

The bimodal magmatism of central Jebilet is dated to 330.5^+0.68_?0.83 Ma by UPb dating on zircons. This age, similar to that of the syntectonic Jebilet cordierite-bearing granitoids, corresponds to the age of the local major tectonometamorphic event. The syntectonic plutonism of the Jebilet massif, composed of tholeiitic, alkaline, and peraluminous calc-alkaline series, is variegated. Magmas emplacement was favoured by the local extension induced by the motion along the western boundary of the Carboniferous basins of the Moroccan Meseta. The Jebilet massif exemplifies the activation of various magmas sources during an episode of continental convergence and crustal wrenching.     

Integrating isolated and riparian wetland modules in the PHYSITEL/HYDROTEL modelling platform: model performance and diagnosis

Mathematical modelling is a well‐accepted framework to evaluate the effects of wetlands on stream flow and watershed hydrology in general. Although the integration of wetland modules into a distributed hydrological model represents a cost‐effective way to make this assessment, the added value brought by landscape‐specific modules to a model's ability to replicate basic hydrograph characteristics remains unclear. The objectives of this paper were the following: (i) to present the adaptation of PHYSITEL (a geographic information system) to parameterize isolated and riparian wetlands; (ii) to describe the integration of specific isolated wetland and riparian wetland modules into HYDROTEL, a distributed hydrological model; and (iii) to evaluate the performance of the updated modelling platform with respect to the capacity of replicating various hydrograph characteristics. To achieve this, two sets of simulations were performed (with and without wetland modules), and the added value was assessed at three river segments of the Becancour River watershed, Quebec, Canada, using six general goodness‐of‐fit indicators and 14 water flow criteria. A sensitivity analysis of the wetland module parameters was performed to characterize their impact on stream flows of the modelled watershed. Results of this study indicate the following: (i) integration of specific wetland modules can slightly increase the capacity of HYDROTEL to replicate basic hydrograph characteristics; and (ii) the updated modelling platform allows for the explicit assessment of the impact of wetlands (e.g. typology and location) on watershed hydrology. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow dynamics at the origin of thin clayey sand lacustrine turbidites: Examples from Lake Hazar,Turkey

Turbidity currents and their deposits can be investigated using several methods, i.e. direct monitoring, physical and numerical modelling, sediment cores and outcrops. The present study focused on thin clayey sand turbidites found in Lake Hazar (Turkey) occurring in eleven clusters of closely spaced thin beds. Depositional processes and sources for three of those eleven clusters are studied at three coring sites. Bathymetrical data and seismic reflection profiles are used to understand the specific geomorphology of each site. X‐ray, thin sections and CT scan imagery combined with grain‐size, geochemical and mineralogical measurements on the cores allow characterization of the turbidites. Turbidites included in each cluster were produced by remobilization of surficial slope sediment, a process identified in very few studies worldwide. Three types of turbidites are distinguished and compared with deposits obtained in flume studies published in the literature. Type 1 is made of an ungraded clayey silt layer issued from a cohesive flow. Type 2 is composed of a partially graded clayey sand layer overlain by a mud cap, attributed to a transitional flow. Type 3 corresponds to a graded clayey sand layer overlain by a mud cap issued from a turbulence‐dominated flow. While the published experimental studies show that turbulence is damped by cohesion for low clay content, type 3 deposits of this study show evidence for a turbulence‐dominated mechanism despite their high clay content. This divergence may in part relate to input variables, such as water chemistry and clay mineralogy, that are not routinely considered in experimental studies. Furthermore, the large sedimentological variety observed in the turbidites from one coring site to another is related to the evolution of a sediment flow within a field‐scale basin made of a complex physiography that cannot be tackled by flume experiments.     

Detailed gravity study of the offshore structure of Piton de la Fournaise volcano,Reunion Island

We present an interpretation of gravity data acquired in 1984 by the French R/V Jean Charcot on the submarine part of the eastern flank of Piton de la Fournaise volcano. We comment on the Bouguer anomaly map and give a quantitative interpretation of three gravity profiles. The main results are that a gravity high over Grand Brûlé, the lower subaerial part of the eastern flank, does not extend far offshore and that an anomalous topographic feature, discovered in 1982 on the submarine eastern flank, is characterized by a large negative anomaly. We propose three hypotheses to explain the origin of this anomaly, i. e., it marks the site of a new volcano, or it is a consequence of lateral volcanism from a volcano older than Piton de la Fournaise, or more probably, it represents a great landslide deposit.     

Organic matter in the Soultz HDR granitic thermal exchanger (France): natural tracer of fluid circulations between the basement and its sedimentary cover

Organic matter has been observed in cores of the Soultz-sous-Forêts granite (Alsace, France) at depths between 2158 and 2160 m, in a highly fractured and altered zone. The granite is overlain by a 1400-m-thick sedimentary cover containing petroleum (Pechelbronn oil field). The Soultz area is devoted to Hot Dry Rock geothermics thanks to a high geothermal gradient (up to 100 °C/km). During drilling operations, an artesian source produced oil in a fractured zone of the sedimentary cover (Buntsandstein). Its gas-chromatography and mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed the presence of normal alkanes (n-alkanes, i.e. linear hydrocarbons) centered on C₁₇, branched alkanes with a major C₁₉ peak, and few unsaturated hydrocarbons. The aromatic fraction is present in small amounts. In the Soultz granite, where it is altered, organic matter is exclusively associated with tosudite (interstratified clay mineral) which crystallized in plagioclase sites during a hydrothermal alteration episode. Organic matter has been later displaced and concentrated along veinlets in which illite and carbonates have crystallized during another hydrothermal alteration stage. The soluble organic matter analyzed by GC-MS is composed of aliphatic acids, n-alkanes with a bimodal C₁₈ and C₂₄-C₂₅ centered distribution, alkylbenzenes and aromatic acids. Organic compounds in the granite would either originate from a single source (immature sediments) or from two sources (immature sediments and migration of the Pechelbronn oil). No real evidence was found to prove which hypothesis is the best one. The presence of organic matter in the granite shows the importance of fluid flows between the sedimentary cover and the granitic basement through major fractures. In addition, the impregnation of plagioclase pseudomorphs with organic matter is made possible due to their high interconnection degree and to the intergranular microfracturation of the granite. The succession of several hydrothermal events with different physico-chemical characteris- tics may also be inferred from the occurrence of organic matter found in association with neoformed clay minerals in the granite.     

Is geographical proximity necessary in the innovation networks in the era of global economy?

In the analysis of geographical spillovers, a commonly accepted hypothesis is that the different actors of innovation need to be physically closed to one another because the transfer of tacit knowledge implies frequent face-to-face relations. This hypothesis is put under closer examination in this paper. The first section analyses the need for economic agents to be closely located to develop research and innovative activities, starting with the analysis of their need for co-ordination and using some case studies. Based on the example of three French regions, the second section examines the importance given by the local development policies to geographical proximity in order to support the rapid development of local networks favouring innovation. In both sections, nonlocal relations appear as a key factor to develop innovation. As a conclusion, nonlocal relations should be encouraged by local development policies in the same way as local relations.     

Multi-scale aquifer characterization and groundwater flow model parameterization using direct push technologies

Direct push (DP) technologies are typically used for cost-effective geotechnical characterization of unconsolidated soils and sediments. In more recent developments, DP technologies have been used for efficient hydraulic conductivity (K) characterization along vertical profiles with sampling resolutions of up to a few centimetres. Until date, however, only a limited number of studies document high-resolution in situ DP data for three-dimensional conceptual hydrogeological model development and groundwater flow model parameterization. This study demonstrates how DP technologies improve building of a conceptual hydrogeological model. We further evaluate the degree to which the DP-derived hydrogeological parameter K, measured across different spatial scales, improves performance of a regional groundwater flow model. The study area covers an area of ~60 km² with two overlying, mainly unconsolidated sand aquifers separated by a 5–7 m thick highly heterogeneous clay layer (in north-eastern Belgium). The hydrostratigraphy was obtained from an analysis of cored boreholes and about 265 cone penetration tests (CPTs). The hydrogeological parameter K was derived from a combined analysis of core and CPT data and also from hydraulic direct push tests. A total of 50 three-dimensional realizations of K were generated using a non-stationary multivariate geostatistical approach. To preserve the measured K values in the stochastic realizations, the groundwater model K realizations were conditioned on the borehole and direct push data. Optimization was performed to select the best performing model parameterization out of the 50 realizations. This model outperformed a previously developed reference model with homogeneous K fields for all hydrogeological layers. Comparison of particle tracking simulations, based either on the optimal heterogeneous or reference homogeneous groundwater model flow fields, demonstrate the impact DP-derived subsurface heterogeneity in K can have on groundwater flow and solute transport. We demonstrated that DP technologies, especially when calibrated with site-specific data, provide high-resolution 3D subsurface data for building more reliable conceptual models and increasing groundwater flow model performance.     

Early Miocene adakite-like volcanism in the Balkuyumcu region, central Anatolia, Turkey: Petrology and geochemistry

The Balkuyumcu region, located in the southwestern part of Ankara in the Izmir-Ankara suture zone (central Anatolia, Turkey), consists of basic andesitic, andesitic, dacitic and rhyolitic rocks extruded during the Early Miocene (20–22 Ma) as a result of post-collisional volcanism. Balkuyumcu volcanic rocks can be divided into two groups on the basis of their mineralogy and composition: The basic andesitic (BA) and andesitic, dacitic and rhyolitic (ADR) groups. The ADR and BA group of rocks have adakite-like and calc-alkaline characteristics, respectively. The ADR group has higher SiO₂ content, Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios and low MgO, Mg#, Y and Yb contents than the BA group. Both groups have nearly the same Sr, Nd isotopic compositions and display similar normalized multi-element patterns with enrichments in LILE and LREE, depletions in Nb, Ti, Zr, P and a lack of Eu anomalies. Major, trace element and Sr, Nd isotopic data indicate that both groups of rocks were derived from the same source but affected by different magmatic processes during ascent. The adakite-like rocks may have been produced by partial melting of thickened lower continental crust. Fractional crystallization also played a major role in their formation. However, the BA group rocks were derived from partial melting of lower continental crust that was probably delaminated. These rocks appear to have had limited interaction with mantle peridodite during ascent to the surface.