Le magmatisme basique filonien néoprotérozoïque de la boutonnière de Zenaga, Anti-Atlas central, Maroc: pétrologie, géochimie et signification géodynamique

Before the Pan-African Orogeny, the Palæoproterozoic basement and its Neoproterozoic cover (limestones and quartzites) of the Zenaga Inlier were cross-cut by a swarm of doleritic dykes. They are more or less altered. The primary mineral assemblage consists of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, very rare orthopyroxene, ilmenite, apatite, micropegmatite and sometimes hornblende and biotite. Mineralogical and geochemical studies indicate that the dolerites are continental tholeiites. Two groups of dykes have been distinguished. Accordingly, rare earth elements, P₂O₅, Zr, Th, Ba and Sr contents are higher in group I than in group II, which is richer in V. Group I comprises the north-south and northwest-southeast swarms, while group II corresponds to northeast-southwest and east-west swarms, which were emplaced later. These geochemical variations may be explained by a higher degree of melting of the mantle source for the later group II. Doleritic dykes of Zenaga had been emplaced during an extensional episode, prior to Pan-African folding.     

The mechanical behaviour of synthetic, poorly consolidated granular rock under uniaxial compression

In order to isolate the effect of grain size and cementation on the mechanical behaviour of poorly consolidated granular rock, we prepared synthetic rock samples in which these two parameters were varied independently. Various proportions of sand, Portland cement and water were mixed and cast in a mold. The mixture was left pressure-free during curing, thus ensuring that the final material was poorly consolidated. We used two natural well-sorted sands with grain sizes of 0.22 and 0.8 mm. The samples were mechanically tested in a uniaxial press. Static Young's modulus was measured during the tests by performing small stress excursions at discrete intervals along the stress–strain curves. All the samples exhibited nonlinear elasticity, i.e., Young's modulus increased with stress. As expected, we found that the uniaxial compressive strength increased with increasing cement content. Furthermore, we observed a transition from grain size sensitivity of strength at cement content less than 20–30% to grain size independence above this value. The measured values of Young's modulus are well explained by models based on rigid inclusions embedded in a soft matrix, at high cement content, and on cemented grain-to-grain contacts, at low cement content. Both models predict grain size independence in well-sorted cemented sands. The observed grain size sensitivity at low cement content is probably due to microstructural differences between fine- and coarse-grained materials caused by small differences in grain sorting quality.     

Modélisation magnétique de la suture ophiolitique de Bou Azzer–El Graara (Anti-Atlas central,Maroc). Implications sur la reconstitution géodynamique panafricaine

Aeromagnetic data of the Anti-Atlas Mountains show an important magnetic anomaly along the ‘Major Anti-Atlas Fault’, produced by different mafic and ultramafic rocks of a Neoproterozoic ophiolite complex. The magnetic modelling of Bou Azzer–El Graara ophiolitic suture shows a deep-seated anomaly through the upper continental crust corresponding to a north-dipping subduction. The polarity of the Pan-African subduction in the Anti-Atlas is therefore compatible with the contemporaneous Pan-African orogenic belts, where polarity of subduction dipped away from the West African Craton during the amalgamation of Western Gondwana. To cite this article: A. Soulaimani et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

辽宁长历时强降水的环境特征分析

利用NCEP 1°×1°格点再分析、FY-2E相当黑体亮温TBB和地面加密自动气象站等资料,分析了辽宁3次典型长历时强降水TBB值与降水强度的关系、中尺度环境场特征及维持机制,并初步建立了辽宁长历时强降水概念预报模型。结果表明:在副热带高压的形态、位置和强度有利于辽宁产生强降水的大尺度形势下,副热带高压西侧低空急流持续输送的充沛暖湿空气与高空干冷空气在同一地点长时间相互作用,为强降水的发生和维持提供了有利的环境背景条件。强降水持续时间与其上空的强垂直速度持续时间有很好的对应关系,强降水持续时高空一般为弱的不稳定或中性层结。强降水不仅可出现在对流云团发展旺盛的冷云区内部或边缘,也可发生在TBB值较小的暖云区内。TBB值的大小与降水强度没有必然的关系,但TBB值的快速减小都预示强降水即将发生。这些结论有利于深化认识辽宁地区长历时强降水的成因并为预报提供线索。     

Structural context of meso-scale and cartographical duplex structure genesis in thrusting tectonics: role of tear faults. Zaghouan thrust belt. Case of Bir M'Cherga-Ain Asker area

Bir M'Cherga-Ain Asker area, situated in the hinterland of Zaghouan thrust (Tunisian dorsal), was the land example treated with metric and cartographic scale in order to identify duplex genesis criteria and to include thrusting tectonics associated with tear faults, which are in fact the directory response generating duplex structures identified in outcrop for the first time through Tunisia in this case. Given its geological location between the "dôme" and the "dorsal" zone of Tunisia, this area was the most exposed to a highly paleostress history expressed by a huge fault system remobilization and reactivation through several tectonic events from NE–SW middle Cretaceous distension to a NW–SE and NNW–SSE Paleogene compression. Regarding fault planes generated analysis, they show numerous streak generation of normal, strike-slip, and reverse faults that go with geodynamic and paleostress evolution of the studied area; we note that each streak generation is perfectly matching with one of the tectonic event (mentioned before) affecting the area. In this paper, we analyze duplex structure elaboration scenarios to assess the involved kinematics and their geometrical recognition criterious. We propose to discuss the causes of duplex structures installation in a thrust belt system and the predictable geometrical styles after its installation on foreland or backland. Using the geometrical criteria acquired through this analysis, we will show that such, however, exceptionable structures exist on the land, and that they record the mechanisms of their genesis linked to the tear faults acting in this case. We describe "tear faults" as the sliding breaks which disunite two compartments during deformation, allowing them to undergo different independent deformations in their drawing and their width (for example more or less stretched folds). These types of faults differ from that of the true stick-slip faults, which slice and shift preformed structures (it's even this shift which makes it possible to highlight them); here, there are no shift but dissimilarity of the structures on both sides of the fault; therefore, deformations are the direct results of displacements; they are expressed in thrust belts by ramp folds, intense internal deformations, and even by complex duplex structures. A duplex feature that is not mainly studied is made up by tilted imbricate sedimentary sequences (or horses), separated by link thrusts and underlined respectively at their tops and bottoms by roof and floor thrusts. Imbrications cause a shortening, a thickening, or a thinning of stratigraphic columns and even its crushing and inverting. In thrust belts, duplexes are usually set up following two or even more deformational events; those structures start typically with decollement and imbricate sedimentary unit ones which are made cover by a roof thrust sometimes visible at outcrop. Through this paper, we suggest to discuss geometrical duplex criteria, and we will try a zooming through different scales, from regional to local one in order to show how the shape (expression) of the deformation differs.     

Geodetic and GIS tools for dam safety: case of Sidi Salem dam (northern Tunisia)

The dams are one of the important engineering structures used for water supply and different other important purposes. In order to provide safety, well-planned and implemented geodetic monitoring is very essential for such engineering structures, which constitute the aim of this study. In fact, micro-geodetic data can be exploited and used to survey the displacement of dam by measuring the horizontal and vertical coordinates at different dates from fixed positions (pillars) to other positions (targets). As a result, the superposition of the geodetic auscultation charts and the factors which can affect the stability of dams such as water level, hydrostatic pressure, and seismic state show a net correlation between these parameters and the auscultation variation at different periods. Geographical information system (GIS) techniques are used for mapping spatial variation of auscultation measures. These synthetic documents can help managers and decision makers in hydraulic management and water system protection.     

Interplay between detrital and diagenetic processes since the last glacial maximum on the northwest Iberian continental shelf

Integrated analyses of magnetic, geochemical and textural data on six cores from the northwestern Iberian continental shelf allowed the reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental evolution of this area since the last glacial maximum (LGM). Four sedimentary units were identified, representing a succession from fluvial and subaerial settings to high and finally low-energy marine deposits subsequent to the post-LGM sea-level rise. The uppermost unit was deposited during the Holocene and its magnetic properties were controlled by the interplay between detrital input and early diagenetic reductive dissolution of magnetic minerals. Identification of a primary steady-state early diagenetic signal allowed the recognition of periods of increased detrital input, bounded by intervals of lower detrital input and intensified reductive diagenesis related to intensified upwelling in the area. These paleoenvironmental alternations are consistent with the climatic evolution of the late Holocene. During the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Warm Period, the combined effect of greater humidity and intense agricultural and mining activities led to a greater erosion and transport of detrital sediments to the shelf. In contrast, enhanced diagenetic reduction intervals, caused by upwelling intensification, were roughly coincident with the colder Dark Ages and the Little Ice Age.     

Spatial and temporal analysis of the drought vulnerability and risks over eight decades in a semi-arid region (Tensift basin: Morocco)

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The multiple downscaled scenario products allow us to assess the uncertainty of the variations of precipitation and temperature in the current and future...     

Continental accretion of the Iran Block to Eurasia as seen from Late Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous subsidence curves

Abstract

Subsidence analysis is used here to get a better understanding of the Eo-Cimmerian continental accretion to Eurasia of a block (the Iran Block) of Gondwanian origin. The drift of the block from Gondwana to Eurasia is classically considered as a late Triassic event but the lack of unquestionable age evidence leads to investigate the whole Permian to Jurassic history. Indeed, the subsequent Alpine deformation along the proposed suture that should mark the Eo-Cimmerian collision forbids to characterize the collisional event without ambiguity. Moreover, the Iran block is presently represented by different continental slivers that are disconnected from each other, being in places separated by Cretaceous ophiolites, and it makes unclear if one or several blocks should be taken into account. Subsidence analysis is introduced to solve the problem, in the hope that the sedimentary history in any part of the slivers has registered important crustal events such as breakup and collision and that the few well-preserved stratigraphic sections bear the corresponding subsidence signals. Subsidence analysis is thus applied to geologically disconnected objects in a manner that departs from its traditional use in basin analysis. However, as it introduces quantified data on the behaviour of the crust in response to tectonics, it was shown to be an efficient tool in sorting out the major events amongst various local evidences for crustal unstability. Major results are: – dating the breakup as Early Permian and collision as Middle Triassic; – showing that the accretion of the Iran Block to Eurasia was accompanied by a new breakup that formed a passive margin in Nayband to the Southeast, in contrast to the new active margin that was established along the Abadeh, south-western side; – emphasising the tectonic instability that controlled the continental Jurassic deposits upon the new continent before stabilisation was reached during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous times.