Provenance record of late Maastrichtian–late Palaeocene Andean Mountain building in the Amazonian retroarc foreland basin (Madre de Dios basin,Peru)

Biostratigraphic, sedimentological and provenance analyses suggest that a proto‐Andean Cordillera already existed in southern Peru by late Maastrichtian–late Palaeocene times. A 270‐m‐thick stratigraphic section shows changes in depositional environments from shallow marine (early Maastrichtian) to non‐marine (late Maastrichtian) then back to estuarine (late Palaeocene) conditions. An erosional surface separates lower Maastrichtian from upper Maastrichtian deposits. Above this surface, the late Maastrichtian unit exhibits moderately developed palaeosols and syn‐sedimentary normal faults. The sedimentary evolution is accompanied by a decrease in sedimentation rate and by changes in provenance. Shallow marine lower Maastrichtian deposits have a cratonic provenance as shown by their low εNd(0) values (?15 to ?16) and the presence of Precambrian inherited zircon grains. The upper Maastrichtian deposits have a mixed Andean and cratonic origin with εNd(0) values of ~12.6 and yield the first Cretaceous and Permo‐Triassic zircon grains. Estuarine to shallow marine upper Palaeocene deposits have an Andean dominant source as attested by higher εNd(0) values (?6 to ?10) and by the presence of Palaeozoic and Late Cretaceous zircon grains. The changes in depositional environments and sedimentation rates, as well as the shift in detrital provenance, are consistent with a late Maastrichtian–late Palaeocene period of Andean mountain building. In agreement with recently published studies, our data suggest that an Andean retroarc foreland basin was active by late Maastrichtian–late Palaeocene times.     

Towards a better understanding of changes in wintertime cold extremes over Europe: a pilot study with CNRM and IPSL atmospheric models

Recent winter seasons have evidenced that global warming does not exclude the occurrence of exceptionally cold and/or snowy episodes in the Northern mid-latitudes. The expected rarefaction of such events is likely to exacerbate both their societal and environmental impacts. This paper therefore aims to evaluate model uncertainties underlying the fate of wintertime cold extremes over Europe. Understanding why climate models (1) still show deficiencies in simulating present-day features and (2) differ in their responses under future scenarios for the twentyfirst century indeed constitutes a crucial challenge. Here we propose a weather-regime approach in order to separate the contributions of large-scale circulation and non-dynamical processes to biases or changes in the simulated mean and extreme temperatures. We illustrate our methodology from the wintertime occurrence of extremely cold days in idealized atmosphere-only experiments performed with two of the CMIP5 climate models (CNRM-CM5 and IPSL-CM5A-LR). First we find that most of the present-day temperature biases are due to systematic errors in non-dynamical processes, while the main features of the large-scale dynamics are well captured in such experiments driven by observed sea-surface temperatures, with the exception of a generalized underestimation of blocking episodes. Then we show that uncertainties associated with changes in large-scale circulation modulate the depletion in cold extremes under an idealized scenario for the late twentyfirst century. These preliminary results suggest that the original methodology proposed in this paper can be helpful for understanding spreads of larger model-ensembles when simulating the response of temperature extremes to climate change.     

Slingram EMI prospection: Are vertical orientated devices a suitable solution in archaeological and pedological prospection?

Electromagnetic induction (EMI) is one of the geophysical techniques widely used in soil studies, the slingram devices being held horizontally over the soil surface, i.e. with the coils located at the same height above the ground surface. Our study aims assessing the abilities of slingram devices when held vertically. 1D and 3D modelling have been achieved in order to compare the theoretical responses of vertical devices to the horizontal ones. Some comparative surveys were also undertaken in archaeological contexts to confirm the reliability of theoretical conclusions. Both approaches show that vertical slingram devices are suitable for survey and can constitute an alternative to the usual horizontal orientation. We give a table in Appendix A which contains the calibration coefficient allowing transforming of the values given by some of commercially available devices which would be advantageous to use in vertical orientation     

The M<Subscript>W</Subscript> 4.5 Vallorcine (French Alps) earthquake of 8 September 2005 and its complex aftershock sequence

On 8 September 2005 a moderate M_W 4.5 earthquake occurred in the north-western Alps midway between Chamonix (France) and Martigny (Switzerland). The focal mechanism corresponds to a right-lateral strike-slip on a N60°E fault plane. The foreshock–mainshock–aftershock sequence is investigated on the basis of data recorded by a temporary network of 28 stations deployed for 1 month just after the mainshock, and data from permanent, regional seismic networks. Absolute and relative locations of more than 400 events are obtained with a mean uncertainty of approximately 0.2 km. Small foreshocks, the mainshock, and early and late aftershocks are located relative to the main aftershock set. The seismic sequence exhibits a surprisingly complex structure, with at least five clusters on distinct fault planes. The main elongated cluster agrees with the location of the mainshock, its hypocenter being 4.3 km below sea level. We discuss the relationship between the right-lateral fault beneath the Loriaz peak (the source of the Vallorcine event), the nearby normal Remuaz fault, and the regional seismotectonic stress field.     

Melting of Fe–Ni–Si and Fe–Ni–S alloys at megabar pressures: implications for the core–mantle boundary temperature

High pressure melting behavior of three Fe-alloys containing 5 wt% Ni and (1) 10 wt% Si, (2) 15 wt% Si or (3) 12 wt% S was investigated up to megabar pressures by in situ X-ray diffraction and laser-heated diamond anvil cell techniques. We observe a decrease in melting temperature with increasing Si content over the entire investigated pressure range. This trend is used to discuss the melting curve of pure Fe. Moreover, our measurements of eutectic melting in the Fe–Fe₃S system show a change in slope around 50 GPa concomitant with the fcc–hcp phase transition in pure solid iron. Extrapolations of our melting curve up to the core–mantle boundary pressure yield values of 3,600–3,750 K for the freezing temperature of plausible outer core compositions.     

Constraining a Flow Model with Field Measurements to Assess Water Transit Time Through a Vadose Zone

The modeling of thick vadose zones is particularly challenging because of difficulties in collecting a variety of measured sediment properties, which are required for parameterizing the model. Some models rely on synthetic data, whereas others are simplified by running as homogeneous sediment domains and relying on a single set of sediment properties. Few studies have simulated flow processes through a thick vadose zone using real and comprehensive data sets comprising multiple measurements. Here, we develop a flow model for a 7-m-thick vadose zone. This model, combining the numerical codes CTRAN/W with SEEP/W, includes the measured sediment hydraulic properties of the investigated vadose zone and incorporates the actual climate and subsurface conditions of the study site (precipitations, water-table elevations, and stable isotope data). The model is calibrated by fitting the simulated and measured vertical profiles of water content. Our flow model calculates a transit time of 1 year for the travel of water through the 7-m vadose zone; this estimate matches stable isotope-based results obtained previously for this site. A homogeneous sediment domain flow model, which considers only a single set of sediment properties, produces a transit time that is approximately half the duration of that of the heterogeneous flow model. This difference highlights the importance of assuming heterogeneous material within models of thick vadose zones and testifies to the advantage gained when using real sediment hydraulic properties to parametrize a flow model.     

Parallel Multiple-Point Statistics Algorithm Based on List and Tree Structures

Multiple-point statistics are widely used for the simulation of categorical variables because the method allows for integrating a conceptual model via a training image and then simulating complex heterogeneous fields. The multiple-point statistics inferred from the training image can be stored in several ways. The tree structure used in classical implementations has the advantage of being efficient in terms of CPU time, but is very RAM demanding and then implies limitations on the size of the template, which serves to make a proper reproduction of complex structures difficult. Another technique consists in storing the multiple-point statistics in lists. This alternative requires much less memory and allows for a straightforward parallel algorithm. Nevertheless, the list structure does not benefit from the shortcuts given by the branches of the tree for retrieving the multiple-point statistics. Hence, a serial algorithm based on list structure is generally slower than a tree-based algorithm. In this paper, a new approach using both list and tree structures is proposed. The idea is to index the lists by trees of reduced size: the leaves of the tree correspond to distinct sublists that constitute a partition of the entire list. The size of the indexing tree can be controlled, and then the resulting algorithm keeps memory requirements low while efficiency in terms of CPU time is significantly improved. Moreover, this new method benefits from the parallelization of the list approach.     

Commuting behaviour and urban form: a longitudinal study of a polycentric urban region in Denmark

This paper is an empirical investigation of the relation between urban form and commuting behaviour in a polycentric urban region. It explores to what extent urban form and location variables help to explain commuting time, distance and mode based on an empirical case, East Jutland, which is a polycentric urban region in Denmark. Data from the National Transport Survey of Denmark were used for this quantitative analysis and two time periods were selected to highlight any potential changes over time. Empirical findings indicate that urban form and location variables help to explain the three selected aspects of commuting. However, urban form variables have greater explanatory power in explaining commuting modes than commuting time and commuting distance. No general trends in commuting were detectable from the data. Finally, the empirical findings revealed specificities of the case study. For instance, two of the important findings are that the distance to the closest urban centre is an important factor which affects the three selected aspects of commuting, while the distance from the residence to the closest large city (i.e. second-ranked city) is associated with a relatively short commuting distance in East Jutland.