Chemical characterization of porewaters in an intertidal mudflat of the Seine estuary: relationship to erosion-deposition cycles

A seasonal field study was carried out in the Seine estuary to determine the chemistry of sediment porewaters using the 'peeper' technique and changes in the elevation of the mudflats using the 'Altus' technique. This approach allowed us to evaluate the release of nutrients and to link these releases to the sediment hydrodynamics. Our results show that nutrient and organic matter cycling in a Seine estuary mudflat exhibits a seasonal behaviour, which is mainly influenced by variations in hydrodynamics. Sediments, rich organic matter, were input during floods and they were mineralized during summer and autumn, releasing nutrients and dissolved organic carbon into the sediment porewaters. The nutrient release, including ammonium, is mainly linked to the mineralization of organic matter, while the release of phosphate is delayed. The delay could be the result of phosphate association with organic matter and/or its co-precipitation with calcium and iron.     

Correlations and sequence stratigraphic model for Messinian carbonate platforms of the western and central Mediterranean

Distance correlations of Late Tortonian–Messinian littoral carbonate complexes are proposed from the study of eight platforms in the western and central Mediterranean. Correlations are based on the identification of two major biological sedimentary cycles and of two index surfaces. Surface A is a maximum flooding surface during cycle 1 at around 6.7 Ma. Surface B is a regional marine planation surface at around 5.95 Ma, at the base of cycle 2 (Terminal Carbonate Complex). A general sedimentary model is proposed for the 7–5.6-Ma time-span. The boundary between cycles 1 and 2 is coincident with the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and appears to be related to major environmental–paleo-oceanographic changes in the Mediterranean, rather than to a major sea-level drop or to climatic change.     

Monitoring coastal evolution and associated littoral hazards of French Guiana shoreline with radar images

This paper aims at illustrating different case examples of monitoring active coastal evolutions using remote sensing synthetic aperture radar images (ERS 1–2 and Envisat) in humid tropical areas. Effectively, the radar satellite images may be acquired under most climate conditions, especially in cloudy tropical areas. As case examples, we studied herein French Guiana shoreline and its fast evolution under the combined influences of sea currents, sediments and swells. We focused on two aspects of French Guiana littoral evolution: (1) sedimentation and erosion processes linked to mud banks displacements around Kourou City, and (2) around Iracoubo village. Lastly, we compared this short-term sedimentation balance with long-term data showing the discrepancies of short- and long-term littoral evolutions on whole French Guiana. To conclude, this work demonstrates the importance of SAR imagery to provide high-quality and high-frequency update geographic information for coastal management and littoral hazards especially in such tropical humid and cloudy areas. To cite this article: H. Trebossen et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Comparative research on integrated development of large river basins: a case study of the Yangtze and the Rhone

Since 2001, the French and Chinese researchers have done a cooperative research on the comparison of integrated development of large river basins. The Yangtze River was chosen as a crux of this research and linked with other older river experiments like the Rhone, the Nile and the Mississippi. This research includes not only the environmental issues but also economic and social issues. One special issue journal has been published in French for our research results. Other two collective and comparative books in French and Chinese will be finished at the end of this year. In the future, the comparison should be widened to Italy (the Po), Egypt (the Nile development planning) and the United States (the Mississippi Basin) and we would like to enlarge our research group and want to link up different teams and research projects, in order to get a global understanding of large river regions phenomenon.     

The alkaline–peralkaline granitic post-collisional Tin Zebane dyke swarm (Pan-African Tuareg shield, Algeria): prevalent mantle signature and late agpaitic differentiation

The Tin Zebane dyke swarm was emplaced at the end of the Pan-African orogeny along a mega-shear zone separating two contrasting terranes of the Tuareg shield. It is located along the western boundary of the Archaean In Ouzzal rigid terrane, but inside the adjacent Tassendjanet terrane, strongly remobilized at the end of the Precambrian. The Tin Zebane swarm was emplaced during post-collisional sinistral movements along the shear zone at 592.2±5.8 Ma (19WR Rb–Sr isochron). It is a dyke-on-dyke system consisting of dykes and stocks of gabbros and dykes of metaluminous and peralkaline granites. All rock types have Sr and Nd isotopic initial ratios (Sr_i=0.7028 and _Nd=+6.2) typical of a depleted mantle source, similar to the prevalent mantle (PREMA) at that period. No crustal contamination occurred in the genesis of the Tin Zebane swarm. Even the samples showing evidence of fluid interaction (essentially alkali mobility) have the same isotopic signature. The peralkaline granites have peculiar geochemical characteristics that mimic subduction-related granites: this geochemical signature is interpreted in terms of extensive differentiation effects due to late cumulates comprising aegirine, zircon, titanite, allanite and possibly fergusonite, separated from the liquid in the swarm itself due to magmatic flow turbulence. The Tin Zebane dyke swarm is thus of paramount importance for constraining the differentiation of mantle products to generate highly evolved alkaline granites without continental crust participation, in a post-collisional setting.     

Channel metamorphosis, floodplain disturbance, and vegetation development: Ain River, France

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain channel metamorphosis of the Ain River in east-central France and the effects of this metamorphosis on floodplain disturbance and vegetation development. The Ain River is a 195 km long stream originating in the Jura Mountains which flows into the Rhône River between Lyon, France, and Geneva, Switzerland. The lower 40 km of the Ain River, beyond the mountain front, are situated in a valley of outwash deposits where the floodplain is 0.2 to 1.2 km wide. A complex mosaic of floodplain landscape units has developed. Maps dating back to 1766 and six sets of aerial photographs dated between 1945 and 1991 were used to document changes in channel pattern. Aerial photos and field surveys were used to compile maps of landscape units based on dominant vegetation life-forms, species, and substrate. Six maps dated between 1945 and 1991 were digitized in ARC/INFO and an overlay was generated to determine the changes in landscape units as related to channel disturbance. Change from a braided to a single-thread meandering channel probably took place in the period 1930–1950. The process of river entrenchment has occurred throughout the Holocene but has accelerated in the present century due to shortening of the river course, construction of lateral embankments, and vegetation encroachment following reservoir construction and cessation of wood-cutting and grazing. The increase in horizontal channel stability coupled with channel entrenchment have decreased floodplain disturbance and lowered the water table by approximately one meter. Pioneer and disturbance-dependent landscape units have experienced a more terrestrial-like succession to an alluvial forest. Abandoned channels have also been replaced by alluvial forests. On poorly drained soils, shrub-swamp communities of willow and hydrophytic herbaceous plants have been replaced by mixed forests of ash, alder, black poplar, and oak. On well drained alluvial soils, ash and oak dominated hardwood forests have declined in favor of mesophytic stands of black poplar. All types of vegetation, but particularly dry grasslands-shrublands, have been cleared for mines, campgrounds, agriculture, and other types of development. Using several measures, landscape diversity decreased between 1945 and 1991.     

A generalized combination equation derived from a multi-layer micrometeorological model

The discrete multi-layer model originally devised by Waggoner and Reifsnyder (1968) is used as a theoretical basis to describe the vegetation-atmosphere interaction. Mathematical development of the basic equations yields Ohm's law-type formulae for sensible and latent heat fluxes from which it is possible to derive a combination equation very close in form to Penman-Monteith's equation. A bulk aerodynamic resistance and a bulk stomatal resistance can be defined and expressed in terms of the elementary resistances of the multi-layer model. This new combination equation offers an alternative to the attempts undertaken by Shuttleworth (1976) to unify multi-layer and single-layer approaches.