Effects of fungal infection on lipid extract composition of higher plant remains: comparison of shoots of a Cenomanian conifer, uninfected and infected by extinct fungi

The lipid fraction extracted from uninfected shoots of a fossil conifer, Frenelopsis alata, was analysed by gas-chromatography–mass-spectrometry, and compared with shoots of the same conifer infected by extinct epiphyllous fungi, so as to study the effects of fungal infection on the chemical composition of extracts from higher plant remains. The extracts from the uninfected shoots appeared to be composed of (i) common constituents of higher plant lipids such as n-alkanes and fatty acids, (ii) elemental sulphur, and (iii) substantial amounts of terpenoids characteristic of conifers, such as cadalene, beyerane, dehydroabietane and related compounds. Comparison of this extract with that of fungal-infected shoots revealed, in addition to the aforementioned compounds, the presence of substantial amounts of hydroxysuccinic acid and functionalised benzoic compounds that were interpreted as degradation products of lignin by fungi. This study afforded preliminary indications of the composition of extracts from higher plant remains infected by fungi.     

Contribution de l'aeromagnetisme a l'etude du golfe de Valence (Mediterranee occidentale)

We present an aeromagnetic survey of the Gulf of Valencia and the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean). A total field anomaly map and a map of the anomalies reduced to the pole have been obtained. From these maps, it is apparent that there are two regions of opposing magnetic style: the Balearic archipelago which is magnetically very smooth, and the north Balearic basin (or Gulf of Valencia) where anomalies are in places very intense. From a comparison of these two domains, we conclude that the Valencian basin was created during an extensional tectonic phase.     

The South Marmara Fault

We use about 800 km of multichannel exploration seismic reflection profiles of the seventies as well as the results of three drill holes that penetrated the sedimentary cover down to the Upper Cretaceous basement to describe a continuous gently curvilinear, south-concave zone of deformation about 10 km wide that extended over the whole southern shelf of the Sea of Marmara from the Gulf of Gemlik to the Dardanelles Straits in Lower Pliocene time, about 4 Ma. We call this zone of deformation the South Marmara Fault (SMF) system and propose that the SMF was then a branch of the dextral North Anatolian Fault. This branch passed to the north of the Marmara Island Eocene block and thus had a south-facing concavity. This curvature resulted in a significant component of shortening in the western part of the fault. The SMF was deactivated at the end of Lower Pliocene, about 3.5 Ma, except for its easternmost branch between the Gulf of Gemlik and ?mral? Island where about 5 mm/year of dextral motion is still occurring today.     

Compressibility and permeability of sand–kaolin mixtures. Experiments versus non‐linear homogenization schemes

This study deals with the behaviour of mixtures of sand and saturated kaolin paste considered as composite materials made of permeable and deformable (with non‐linear behaviour) matrix (the kaolin paste) with rigid and impervious inclusions (the sand grains). Oedometric and permeability tests highlight the key role of the state of the clay paste, and show the existence of a threshold of sand grain concentration above which a structuring effect influences both compressibility and permeability. At the light of these experiments two homogenization schemes (with simplifying assumptions to make the problem manageable) are considered to model these two parameters. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons with experimental data point out their respective domain of interest and limitations: a tangent homogenization scheme is shown to be sufficient to describe the macroscopic properties for dilute sand concentration; above the concentration threshold, the structuring effect is captured by the new homogenization scheme developed in this paper. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

La chaine hercynienne d'amerique du sud structure et evolution d'un orogene intracratonique

Résumé Une chaîne hercynienne, remaniant des noyaux précambriens, forme le substratum de la chaîne des Andes centrales depuis le Nord du Pérou jusqu'en Argentine moyenne. L'évolution préorogénique de cette chaîne s'amorce, dès la fin du Précambrien, par une fracturation sur la bordure ouest de l'actuelle plaque sud-américaine. Au Paléozoïque inférieur s'individualise un vaste sillon coudé, sur croûte amincie, où s'accumulent 8000 à 15 000 m de sédiments marins essentiellement detritiques. Ce sillon intracratonique est bordé, à l'Est, par le Bouclier brésilien et, à l'Ouest, par une aire continentale: le massif précambrien d'Arequipa que prolongeait, vers l'ouest, le »Paléocontinent sud-est pacifique«. Deux phases tectoniques: la phase majeure éohercynienne (350-330 Ma) puis la phase tardihercynienne (265-260 Ma), sont responsables de la formation de la chaîne hercynienne laquelle résulte du serrage, du sillon paléozoïque entre les deux blocs précambriens rigides.C'est une chaîne intracontinentale apparemment simple, d'allure symétrique, à structures généralement verticales. Le métamorphisme est épizonal sauf dans certaines zones très localisées où la montée de granites syntectoniques s'accompagne d'un métamorphisme méso-à catazonal intermediaire de basse pression.En conclusion et dans une optique de tectonique globale, il est proposé une hypothèse sur l'évolution paléogéodynamique de la chaîne hercynienne sud-américaine des Andes centrales, en mettant l'accent sur les mécanismes particuliers de sa formation; mécanismes où la compression se traduit par du plissement associé à des décrochements.

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A Hercynian Foldbelt, reworking elements of Precambrian, constitues the basement of the Central Andes that extend from the northern Peru to the central Argentina. The preorogenic evolution of the belt initiate after the end of the Upper Precambrian with continental fracturation on the western boundary of the actual South American Plate. During the Paleozoïc a great elbowed trough, lying on thinned crust, was filled by 8000 to 15000 m of essentially detritic marine sediments. That intracratonic trough was bounded to the East by the Brasilian Shield and also to the West by an other continental area that acted during the Lower Paleozoïc as an important sediment source area: the Precambrian Massif of Arequipa that extend toward the West with the South-East Pasific Paleocontinent. The Hercynian Foldbelt resulted from the compression of the paleozoïc basin between that rigid precambrian blocs. Two main compression stages are distinguished: an Eochercynian Phase (350-330 My) that is the most important and a Tardi hercynian Phase (265-260 My). That Hercynian intracontinental Foldbelt of the Central Andes is obviously simple with symetrical aspect and subvertical structures. The metamorphism is epizonal except in very limited areas where syntectonic granits are associated with meso-and catazonal metamorphism of low-pressure type.To conclude a paleogeodynamic evolution model of the south american hercynian foldbelt is proposed in terms of global tectonic, with emphasis on the mecanism of its formation, mechanism where folding is associated with strike-slip faulting.

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Zusammenfassung Ein variskischer Faltengürtel, der auch einige präkambrische Elemente umfaßt, bildet die Basis der Zentralanden, die sich von Nordperu bis Zentralargentinien erstrecken. Die präorogene Entwicklung dieses Gürtels beginnt am Ende des oberen Präkambriums mit einem Kontinentalbruch an der westlichen Grenze der heutigen südamerikanischen Platte. Während des Paläzoikums wurde eine große Senke, die auf einer dünnen Kruste lag, mit 8000–15 000 m ditritischen, marinen Sedimenten gefüllt. Die intrakratonische Senke war auf der östlichen Seite durch den brasilianischen Schild begrenzt und auf der westlichen Seite durch eine Kontinentalfläche, die während des unteren Paläozoikums als ein wichtiges Liefergebiet für Sedimente diente. Dieser westliche Kontinent setzte sich aus dem präkambrischen Massiv von Arequipa und dem südostpazifischen Kontinent zusammen. Die Entwicklung des variskischen Faltengürtels kann auf die Kompression des paläozoischen Beckens zwischen den regiden präkambrischen Blöcken zurückgeführt werden. Hier unterscheidet man zwei Hauptkompressionsphasen: eine wichtigere frühvarskische Phase (350–330 mJ) und eine spätvariskische Phase (265–260 mJ). Es ist aber deutlich, daß der variskische interkontinentale Faltengürtel der Zentralanden einfach symmetrisch aufgebaut ist und von subvertikalen Strukturen bestimmt wird. Die Metamorphose ist epizonal mit Ausnahme von sehr begrenzten Gebieten, wo die syntektonischen Granite mit einer mezobis catazonalen Druckmetamorphosen verbunden sind.In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein geodynamisches Entwicklungsmodell für den südamerikanischen variskischen Faltengürtel vorgeschlagen, das im Sinne einer Globaltektonik die Faltung mit Blocktektonik erklärt.

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Le mécanisme de la précipitation du Co3 Ca et la Détermination de L'épaisseur du Dépôt annuel de la vase dans le lac de Neuchâtel

Sans résumé     

Characterization of the glide planes of the [001] screw dislocations in olivine using electron tomography

A San Carlos olivine polycrystal has been deformed under uppermost mantle conditions, by compression at 900 °C, at a strain rate of 1.1 × 10^?5 s^?1, under a confining pressure of 300 MPa, using the Paterson press. Transmission electron tomography of dislocations has been performed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, by conventional transmission electron microscopy using the weak-beam dark-field technique, associated with precession or not, in order to determine the glide planes of [001] screw dislocations. This recent technique is the most suitable one since most [001] dislocations exhibit straight screw segments due to the high lattice friction on this character at low temperature. We find that [001] dislocations glide in (100), (010) and {110} as already reported, but also more unexpectedly in {120} and {130}. We show that at 900 °C, [001] {110} glide is dominant in polycrystals. We have, however, noted and characterized numerous cross-slip events in the specimen.     

Electron microprobe U–Th–Pb monazite dating of the Transamazonian metamorphic overprint on Archean rocks from the Amapá Block, southeastern Guiana Shield, Northern Brazil

The Amapá Block, southeastern Guiana Shield, represents an Archean block involved in a large Paleoproterozoic belt, with evolution related to the Transamazonian orogenic cycle (2.26 to 1.95 Ga). High spatial resolution dating using an electron-probe microanalyzer (EPMA) was employed to obtain U–Th–Pb chemical ages in monazite of seven rock samples of the Archean basement from that tectonic block, which underwent granulite- and amphibolite-facies metamorphism. Pb–Pb zircon dating was also performed on one sample.Monazite and zircon ages demonstrate that the metamorphic overprinting of the Archean basement occurred during the Transamazonian orogenesis, and two main tectono-thermal events were recorded. The first one is revealed by monazite ages of 2096 ± 6, 2093 ± 8, 2088 ± 8, 2087 ± 3 and 2086 ± 8 Ma, and by the zircon age of 2091 ± 5 Ma, obtained in granulitic rocks. These concordant ages provided a reliable estimate of the time of the granulite-facies metamorphism in the southwest of the Amapá Block and, coupled with petro-structural data, suggest that it was contemporaneous to the development of a thrusting system associated to the collisional stage of the Transamazonian orogenesis, at about 2.10–2.08 Ga.The later event, under amphibolite-facies conditions, is recorded by monazite ages of 2056 ± 7 and 2038 ± 6 Ma, and is consistent with a post-collisional stage, marked by granite emplacement and coeval migmatization of the Archean basement along strike-slip shear zones.     

A study of the formation and history of a piece of continental crust by 87Rb-87Sr method: The case of the French oriental Pyrénées

Rb-Sr whole rock data for gneisses and granites from the oriental Pyrénées yield cadomian ages for the basement gneisses and hercynian ages for the granites. Granites occur in two generations. An alkaline granite dated at 335±15 m.y. is syn.—or slightly post-tectonic, and a later calcalkaline granite dated at 275±12 m.y, is clearly intrusive and marks the end of hercynian tectono-metamorphism. Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the granites put limits on the proportion of juvenile contribution from the mantle to their formation. Petrogenetic models are tested using Rb and Sr as tracers.     

Suspended sediment and dissolved load budgets of two Amazonian rivers from the Guiana Shield: Maroni River at Langa Tabiki and Oyapock River at Saut Maripa (French Guiana)

This study presents the data collected within the framework of an Observatory of Research in Environment on the Amazonian Basin—the ORE HYBAM. It relates to the dissolved and solid loads of the two main rivers of French Guiana, the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, running on the Guiana Shield and draining respectively 64 230 and 24 630 km². The low coefficient of variation of the average annual flows of the two rivers indicates an inter‐annual hydrological stability probably related to the immediate vicinity of the Atlantic Ocean. The sedimentary load is mainly composed of quartz and kaolinite. The total suspended solid (TSS) concentrations are among the world's lowest values; they range from 1 to 130 mg l⁻¹ during the hydrological cycle, with averages of 22 and 12 mg l⁻¹, for the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, respectively. The seasonal variability of these values is significantly higher than that of hydrologic flows, but without simple relationship with the discharge. Water chemical composition of the two rivers indicates a very weak mineralization, very similar to that found in the Amazonian rivers running on the Brazilian and Guianese shields, and in the Congo River and its tributaries in the Central African Shield. Seasonal variations are observed in both basins; they correspond to higher concentrations during low water stage (from October to February) and to more diluted water during the flood, from April to July. A signature enriched in Cl⁻ is present at the Saut Maripa station on the Oyapock River indicating a more marked influence of the trade winds in this basin. The computation of atmospheric contributions to ions budget indicated a weak contribution for Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, which originates mainly from water‐rock interactions in both stations, while more than half of Na⁺ is derived from atmospheric inputs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.