The recent fault scarps of the Western Alps (France): Tectonic surface ruptures or gravitational sackung scarps? A combined mapping, geomorphic, levelling, and Be dating approach

In the Western Alps, some recent scarps were previously interpreted as surface ruptures of tectonic reverse and normal faults that agree with microseismicity and GPS measurements. Our analysis shows that in fact there are hundreds of recent scarps, up to 30 m high and 2.1 km long, with only pure normal motions. They share the same characteristics as typical sackung scarps. The scarps are mainly uphill facing, parallel to the ridge crests and the contour lines. They are relatively short (less than 2.1 km) with respect to tectonic fault ruptures, and organized in swarms. They cut screes and relict rock glaciers with a slow (commonly 1 mm/year) average slip rate. In the Aiguilles Grives massif these sackung scarps clearly express the gravitational toppling of sub-vertical bedding planes in hard rocks. In contrast, the Belledonne Outer Crystalline Massif exhibits scarps that stem from the gravitational reactivation of conjugate tectonic faults. The recent faults extend to about 1600 m beneath the Rognier ridge crest, but are always above the valley floor. The main scarp swarm is 9.2 km long and constitutes the largest sackung ever described in the Western Alps. ¹⁰Be dating of a scarp and offset surfaces shows that > 4 m slip may have occurred rapidly (in less than 3800 years) sometimes between the end of the glaciation and 8800 ± 1900 years ago. This dating, together with the location of some faults far from the deep glacial valleys, suggests that sagging might have been triggered by strong earthquakes during a post-glacial period of probably enhanced seismicity. The Belledonne and Synclinal Median faults (just beneath the Rognier sackung) could have been the sources of this seismicity.     

Experimental investigation of the kinetics of Ostwald ripening of quartz in silicic melts

To characterise the kinetics of Ostwald ripening of quartz, we conducted four series of experiments in systems consisting of quartz, with an initial grain size of ƹ.3 to 6 µm, in equilibrium with hydrous silicic liquids. Two series were performed with a haplogranitic liquid containing 6.5 wt% H₂O at 900 °C and 1 GPa. The third series was made in the quartz-anorthite system at water saturation, 900 °C, and 1 GPa. The last series was made in the quartz-albite system at water saturation, 800 °C, and 0.2 GPa. In all series, we observed a relatively small but systematic increase of the mean grain size of quartz, % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d , with increasing run duration, t. The largest increase was in the quartz-anorthite system: % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d increased by a factor of 4.3 after 326 h; the smallest increase was measured in the quartz-albite system: % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d increased by a factor of only ƹ.6 after 1,173 h. The experimental data yield very good linear fits in both ln t vs ln% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d and ln t vs % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d diagrams. The slopes in the ln t vs ln% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaaeaart1ev0aaatCvAUfKttLearuavTnhis1MBaeXatLxBI9gBae % bbnrfifHhDYfgasaacH8YjY-vipgYlH8Gipec8Eeeu0xXdbba9frFj % 0-OqFfea0dXdd9vqaq-JfrVkFHe9pgea0dXdar-Jb9hs0dXdbPYxe9 % vr0-vr0-vqpWqaaeaabiGaciaacaqabeaabaqaamaaaOqaaiqbdsga % Kzaaraaaaa!29AA! [`(d)] \bar d diagrams, between 1/5 and 1/7, are, however, much smaller than the value of 1/3 predicted by the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory for diffusion-controlled Ostwald ripening. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is that the diffusion-controlled regime in our experiments is only attained after a transient regime lasting from 20 h in series III to 100 h in series IV. A more straightforward explanation of the experimental results is that the rate-limiting mechanism for Ostwald ripening is quartz growth by surface nucleation not diffusion in the silicic liquid. Finally, we extrapolated our data to geological time scales to evaluate the importance of Ostwald ripening in natural quartz-bearing magmatic systems: (1) quartz cannot coarsen measurably by Ostwald ripening over reasonable time scales if the initial grain size is ƹ mm or more; and (2) Ostwald ripening may be very active at the end of nucleation events and result in the consumption of a significant proportion of crystalline nuclei.     

Disturbance versus preservation of U–Th–Pb ages in monazite during fluid–rock interaction: textural, chemical and isotopic in situ study in microgranites (Velay Dome, France)

Monazite is extensively used to date crustal processes and is usually considered to be resistant to diffusive Pb loss. Nevertheless, fluid-assisted recrystallisation is known to be capable of resetting the monazite chronometer. This study focuses on chemical and isotopic disturbances in monazite grains from two microgranite intrusions in the French Central Massif (Charron and Montasset). Petrologic data and oxygen isotopes suggest that both intrusions have interacted with alkali-bearing hydrothermal-magmatic fluids. In the Charron intrusion, regardless of their textural location, monazite grains are sub-euhedral and cover a large domain of compositions. U–Pb chronometers yield a lower intercept age of 297 ± 4 Ma. An inherited component at 320 Ma is responsible for the scattering of the U–Th–Pb ages. The Montasset intrusion was later affected by an additional F-rich crustal fluid with crystallisation of Ca-REE-fluorocarbonates, fluorite, calcite and chloritisation. Pristine monazite is chemically homogeneous and displays ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U concordant ages at 307 ± 2 Ma. By contrast, groundmass monazite shows dissolution-recrystallisation features associated with apatite and thorite precipitation (Th-silicate) and strong chemical reequilibration. ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th ages are disturbed and range between 270 and 690 Ma showing that the Th/Pb ratio is highly fractionated during the interaction with fluids. Apparent U–Pb ages are older due to common Pb incorporation yielding a lower intercept age at 312 ± 10 Ma, the age of the pristine monazite. These results show that F-rich fluids are responsible for Th mobility and incorporation of excess Pb, which thus strongly disturbed the U–Th–Pb chronometers in the monazite.     

Decadal fingerprints of freshwater discharge around Greenland in a multi-model ensemble

The recent increase in the rate of the Greenland ice sheet melting has raised with urgency the question of the impact of such a melting on the climate. As former model projections, based on a coarse representation of the melting, show very different sensitivity to this melting, it seems necessary to consider a multi-model ensemble to tackle this question. Here we use five coupled climate models and one ocean-only model to evaluate the impact of 0.1 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³/s) of freshwater equally distributed around the coast of Greenland during the historical era 1965–2004. The ocean-only model helps to discriminate between oceanic and coupled responses. In this idealized framework, we find similar fingerprints in the fourth decade of hosing among the models, with a general weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Initially, the additional freshwater spreads along the main currents of the subpolar gyre. Part of the anomaly crosses the Atlantic eastward and enters into the Canary Current constituting a freshwater leakage tapping the subpolar gyre system. As a consequence, we show that the AMOC weakening is smaller if the leakage is larger. We argue that the magnitude of the freshwater leakage is related to the asymmetry between the subpolar-subtropical gyres in the control simulations, which may ultimately be a primary cause for the diversity of AMOC responses to the hosing in the multi-model ensemble. Another important fingerprint concerns a warming in the Nordic Seas in response to the re-emergence of Atlantic subsurface waters capped by the freshwater in the subpolar gyre. This subsurface heat anomaly reaches the Arctic where it emerges and induces a positive upper ocean salinity anomaly by introducing more Atlantic waters. We found similar climatic impacts in all the coupled ocean–atmosphere models with an atmospheric cooling of the North Atlantic except in the region around the Nordic Seas and a slight warming south of the equator in the Atlantic. This meridional gradient of temperature is associated with a southward shift of the tropical rains. The free surface models also show similar sea-level fingerprints notably with a comma-shape of high sea-level rise following the Canary Current.     

Temperature-dependence of ultraviolet absorption cross-sections of alternative chlorofluoroethanes: 2. The 2-chloro-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoro ethane -HCFC-124

The temperature-dependent ultraviolet absorption cross-sections of CF₃-CHFCI (HCFC-124) have been measured between 170 and 230 nm for temperatures ranging from 295 to 210 K, with uncertainties between 2 and 4%. These results are compared with other available sets of determinations. Temperature effects are discussed and the photodissociation coefficients, presented with their temperature dependence, are calculated. Implication of the temperature dependences on the stratospheric chemistry is also discussed. Parametrical formulae are proposed to compute absorption crosssection values for wavelengths and temperatures useful in modelling calculations.     

UVolution, a photochemistry experiment in low earth orbit: Investigation of the photostability of carbonates exposed to martian-like UV radiation conditions

The detection and identification of carbonates on Mars are of prime importance to establish the evolution of its atmosphere, correlated to the history of the liquid water, or even to determine the existence of a possible ancient biological activity. Till date, no large deposits of carbonates have been found. In fact, their detection is specific to local areas and in very low amounts. The absence of such deposits is commonly attributed to the harsh environmental conditions at the surface of Mars. Additionally, the presence of UV radiation has been proposed to explain their photodecomposition and hence their absence. However, contradictory results from laboratory experiments mimicking Mars’ surface UV radiation did not resolve the behaviour of carbonates in such an environment, which is why we exposed, in low Earth orbit and in laboratory experiments, both abiotic and biotic calcium carbonates to UV radiation of wavelength above 200 nm, the same spectral distribution as the one reaching the surface of Mars. For low Earth orbit (LEO) exposure, this was done for the UVolution experiment on board the BIOPAN ESA module, which was set outside a Russian Foton automated capsule, and exposed to space conditions for 12 days in September 2007. The targeted carbonates are biominerals and abiotic samples. Our laboratory results mainly show that the exposed carbonates appear to be stable to UV radiation if directly exposed to it. The LEO experiment results tend to the same conclusion, but the integrated exposition time to Solar UV during the experiment is not sufficient to be conclusive. However, the stability of the biominerals derived from the laboratory experiment could strengthen the interest to explore deeper their potential as life records at Mars. Hence, they should be considered as primary targets for in situ analyses during future missions.