A new mammalian fauna from the earliest Eocene (Ilerdian) of the Corbières (Southern France): palaeobiogeographical implications

A new mammal fauna from the earliest Eocene of Le Clot (Corbières, Southern France) is described. Some taxa identified there, such as Corbarimys hottingeri and Paschatherium plaziati, allow a correlation with the previously described Corbières fauna of Fordones. Moreover, the presence at Le Clot of Lessnessina praecipuus, which is defined in Palette (Provence, Southern France) allows correlating both localities. All three of these localities are referred to the MP7 reference level, even if a direct correlation with the type locality of MP7 (Dormaal, Belgium) is not ascertained. A Southern Europe biochronological sequence is proposed for the beginning of the Eocene: Silveirinha, Fordones/Palette/Le Clot, Rians/Fournes. The diagnosis of a new species of a neoplagiaulacid multituberculate (?Ectypodus riansensis nov. sp.) is proposed. From a compilation of data concerning the earliest Eocene faunas from both Northern Europe and Southern Europe, we conclude that two faunas corresponding to two distinct palaeobiogeographical provinces existed in Western Europe. This faunal disparity, probably related to climatic differences, makes correlations particularly difficult between the two provinces.     

Coexisting alkali feldspars in felsic members of the Cauro-Bastelica ring complex,Corsica

The granodioritic and gneissic Hercynian basement in Corsica was intruded, in the Triassic, by non-orogenic ring complexes in which the association early rhyolite-hypersolvus granite-granophyre-late subsolvus granite is clearly developed. The association of low albite and maximum microcline in mesoperthites cannot be attributed to Alpine low-grade metamorphism, restricted to fault zones. On a number of lines of evidence, the development of ordered, almost pure K-feldspar in this rapidly cooled complex appears related to an episode of mild reheating attending emplacement of late subsolvus granites, rocks formed from melts enriched, perhaps even saturated in aqueous fluids.     

Statistical analysis of isotopic ratios in MORB: the mantle blob cluster model and the convective regime of the mantle

A statistical examination of isotopic distributions for MORB from various ocean ridges leads to the “blob cluster model”, in which the oceanic crust accreting at ridges results from the mixing of two components within the ascending mantle. These are (1) upper mantle material and (2) discrete rising blobs of more radiogenic material. The blobs are fractionated to a variable degree and are distributed in the upper mantle circulation in a manner that is related to the spreading rate.(1) Themean values of the isotopic distributions allow us to calculate the probabilities of the two types of material within the mantle. The results show that theproportion of asthenospheric material in the mixtureincreases with the spreading rate, in agreement with the hypothesis of blob dilution within the upper mantle convection.Mass fluxes can be estimated for the rising blobs from these probabilities, which depend on the respective concentrations in the sources of the two types of material. If the blobs originate in the lower mantle, this flux estimation would suggest that a significant part of the lower mantle has been injected into the upper mantle during earth history.(2) Thestandard deviations of the distributions depend on the “efficiency” of the mixing process:the more imbricated are the asthenospheric and blob materials in the mixture,the smaller is theisotopic spread. This efficiency parameter is shown to increase with the spreading rate, as already suggested by previous comparisons between the East Pacific Rise and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Moreover, this feature may also be correlated with other data such as ridge bathymetric variations.     

On the Power in the Legendre Modes of the Solar Radial Magnetic Field

The power in the different modes of an expansion of the solar radial magnetic field at the surface in terms of Legendre polynomials,P , is calculated with the help of a solar dynamo model studied earlier. The model is of the Babcock–Leighton type, i.e., the surface eruptions of the toroidal magnetic field – through the tilt angle, , formed by the magnetic axis of a bipolar magnetic region with the east-west line – are the sources for the poloidal field. In this paper it is assumed that the tilt angle is subject to fluctuations of the form, = ()+ <> where <> is the average value and () is a random normal fluctuation with standard deviation which is taken from Howard's observations of the distribution of tilt angles. For numerical considerations, negative values of were not allowed. If this occurred, was recalculated. The numerical integrations were started with a toroidal magnetic field antisymmetric across the equator, large enough to generate eruptions, and a negligible poloidal field. The fluctuations in the tilt angle destroy the antisymmetry as time increases. The power of the antisymmetric modes across the equator (i.e., odd values of ) is concentrated in frequencies, _p, corresponding to the cycle period. The maximum power lies in the =3 mode with considerable power in the =5 mode, in broad agreement with Stenflo's results who finds a maximum power at =5. For the symmetric modes, there is considerable power in frequencies larger than _p, again in broad agreement with Stenflo's power spectrum.     

New UV-source catalogs,UV spectral database,UV variables and science tools from the GALEX surveys

We present a new, expanded and improved catalog of Ultraviolet (UV) sources from the GALEX All-Sky Imaging survey: GUVcat_AIS (Bianchi et al. in Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 230:24, 2017). The catalog includes 83 million unique sources (duplicate measurements and rim artifacts are removed) measured in far-UV and near-UV. With respect to previous versions (Bianchi et al. in Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 411:2770 2011a, Adv. Space Res. 53:900–991, 2014), GUVcat_AIS covers a slightly larger area, 24,790 square degrees, and includes critical corrections and improvements, as well as new tags, in particular to identify sources in the footprint of extended objects, where pipeline source detection may fail and custom-photometry may be necessary. The UV unique-source catalog facilitates studies of density of sources, and matching of the UV samples with databases at other wavelengths.We also present first results from two ongoing projects, addressing respectively UV variability searches on time scales from seconds to years by mining the GALEX photon archive, and the construction of a database of ～120,000 GALEX UV spectra (range ～1300–3000 Å), including quality and calibration assessment and classification of the grism, hence serendipitous, spectral sources.     

A CME mass distribution derived from SOLWIND coronagraph observations

Using estimates of the masses of nearly 1000 CMEs observed by SOLWIND from Howardet al. (1985), we re-plot the numbers of CMEs as a function of CME mass on a log-linear plot. The plot is significant in that it shows a linear trend over more than a decade of CME masses. The plot indicates a simple form for the distribution of the CME masses and allows an easy determination of the total mass ejected into the solar wind in the form of CMEs. We find that approximately 16% of the solar wind at solar maximum can be comprised of CME mass. There is no indication that the numbers of low-mass CMEs increase in number above the trend set by the more massive ones. Specifically, there is no increase in the numbers of small CMEs such that the whole of the solar wind can be comprised of them.     

Late Tertiary tectonic evolution of northern Iran: A case for simple crustal folding

Here we present a crustal folding or buckling mechanism to explain the rootless 3–5 km high Alborz Mountains in northern Iran as well as  10 km of Late Miocene to recent subsidence in the south Caspian basin and  3–6 km of subsidence in the central Iranian basin in the context of the middle Miocene to recent Arabia–Eurasia collision. A key element of the mechanism is the presence of lateral and vertical lithospheric strength contrasts between the north Iranian continental and south Caspian oceanic crusts: when compression from the collision is applied across the region, the strong south Caspian oceanic crust, buried under > 10 km of premiddle Miocene sediment, interacts with the bottom of the mechanically strong continental upper crust of northern Iran, resulting in upward buckling of the continental crust and downward buckling of the oceanic crust. We test this mechanism using a finite-element numerical model with a Maxwell rheology and obtain results that are consistent with the geological and geophysical observations. The observations compiled here and the model results demonstrate the potential for using this region as a natural laboratory for studying the early stages of continent–oceanic collision, including processes like basin inversion, fault localization and, potentially, subduction initiation.     

Runoff-generated debris flows: Observation of initiation conditions and erosion–deposition dynamics along the channel at Cancia (eastern Italian Alps)

In the Dolomitic region, abundant coarse hillslope sediment is commonly found at the toe of rocky cliffs. Ephemeral channels originate where lower permeability bedrock surfaces concentrate surface runoff. Debris flows initiate along such channels following intense rainfall and determine the progressive erosion and deepening of the channels. Sediment recharge mechanisms include rock fall, dry ravel processes and channel-bank failures. Here we document debris flow activity that took place in an active debris flow basin during the year 2015. The Cancia basin is located on the southwestern slope of Mount Antelao (3264 m a.s.l.) in the dolomitic region of the eastern Italian Alps. The 2.5 km² basin is incised in dolomitic limestone rocks. The data consist of repeated topographic surveys, distributed rainfall measurements, time-lapse (2 s) videos of two events and pore pressure measurements in the channel bed. During July and August 2015, two debris flow events occurred, following similarly intense rainstorms. We compared rainfall data to existing rainfall triggering thresholds and simulated the hydrological response of the headwater catchment with a distributed model in order to estimate the total and peak water discharge. Our data clearly illustrate how debris entrainment along the channel is the main contributor to the overall mobilized volume and that erosion is dominant when the channel slope exceeds 16°. Further downstream, sediment accumulation and depletion occurred alternately for the two successive events, indicating that sediment availability along the channel also influences the flow behaviour along the prevailing-transport reach. The comparison between monitoring data, topographical analysis and hydrological simulation allows the estimation of the average solid concentration of the two events and suggests that debris availability has a significant influence on the debris flow volume. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Post‐orogenic sediment drape in the Northern Pyrenees explained using a box model

The transition to a post‐orogenic state in mountain ranges has been identified by a change from active subsidence to isostatic rebound of the foreland basin. However, the nature of the interplay between isostatic rebound and sediment supply, and their impact on the topographic evolution of a range and foreland basin during this transition, has not been fully investigated. Here, we use a box model to explore the syn‐ to post‐orogenic evolution of foreland basin/thrust wedge systems. Using a set of parameter values that approximate the northern Pyrenees and the neighbouring Aquitaine foreland basin, we evaluate the controls on sediment drape over the frontal parts of the retro‐wedge following cessation of crustal thickening. Conglomerates preserved at approximately 600‐m elevation, which is ~ 300 m above the present mountain front in the northern Pyrenees are ca. 12 Ma, approximately 10 Myrs younger than the last evidence of crustal thickening in the wedge. Using the model, this post‐orogenic sediment drape is explained by the combination of a sustained, high sediment influx from the range into the basin relative to the efflux out of the basin, combined with cessation of the generation of accommodation space through basin subsidence. Post‐orogenic sediment drape is considered a generic process that is likely to be responsible for elevated low‐gradient surfaces and preserved remnants of continental sedimentation draping the outer margins of the northern Pyrenean thrust wedge.