Phénomènes karstiques fossiles et actuels au sein des formations métamorphiques silico-alumineuses de la nappe pan-africaine de Yaoundé (Sud-Cameroun)Fossil and present-time karstic phenomena in silico-aluminous metamorphic formations of the Pan-African nappe of Yaoundé (South-Cameroon)

Numerous karstic features have been recognised in the non-carbonaceous micaschists and gneisses of the Yaoundé Pan-African nappe, south of Cameroon. It is shown that their formation was controlled by the structural features of the rocks. The wells and the pipes in the bedrock outcrops point out a current karstification process, resulting from the plagioclase dissolution by the acid rain waters. Hill wall alveoli and caves, of pre-Miocene age, are exhumed features that were done by dissolution in the aquiferous underground. To cite this article: J.-P. Vicat et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 545–550.     

Magnetic activity inside the auroral zones and field-aligned currents

Big perturbations of the magnetic field (amplitudes larger than 250 nT) are simply detected by subtracting the values of a model from the measurements of CHAMP satellite. Taking a full year of CHAMP data and organizing them in four subsets of three months length (spring, summer, autumn, winter), it is found that: (a) the two domains where such big perturbations mainly exist are limited, in both hemispheres, by a parallel of high latitude of the corrected geomagnetic coordinates system; (b) a conspicuous seasonal (annual) variation affects the density of the perturbations and is opposite in the two hemispheres. We hold that these perturbations are linked to the midday magnetic activity within the auroral zone, long ago described by one of us (Mayaud, 1956). The source of the perturbations observed at the satellite altitude would be field-aligned currents resulting from the penetration of the solar wind into the magnetospheric cusps. To cite this article: J.-L. Le Mouël et al., C. R. Geoscience 335 (2003).     

Validation of Landslide Susceptibility Maps; Examples and Applications from a Case Study in Northern Spain

A procedure for validating landslide susceptibility maps wasapplied in a study area in northern Spain and the results obtained compared. Validationwas used to carry out sensitivity analysis for individual variables and combinationsof variables. The validity of different map-making methods was tested, as well as theutility of different types of Favourability Functions. The results obtained show thatvalidation is essential to determine the predictive value of susceptibility maps. Italso helps to better select the most suitable function and significant variables, thus improving the efficiency of the mapping process. Validation based on a temporal strategy makes it possible to derive hazard maps from susceptibility maps.     

Comparison of Cu and Zn cycling in eutrophic lakes with oxic and anoxic hypolimnion

Data on the cycling of Cu and Zn in two eutrophic lakes are presented: Lake Greifen that becomes seasonally anoxic in its hypolimnion and Lake Sempach that is aerated during winter and oxygenated during summer. They suggest that hypolimnetic oxygenation 1) enhances the release of copper from the sediment but 2) also accelerates the entrapment and deposition of Cu and Zn by freshly formed Mn- and Fe-oxides.     

The impact of hydrological changes on travertine deposits related to thermal springs in the Pamukkale area (SW Turkey)

Pamukkale thermal waters (35 °C), exhibiting calcium-bicarbonate-sulfate composition and high carbon dioxide concentration, are of a predominantly meteoric origin. The meteoric fluid, circulating through faults and fractures, is heated by magmatic intrusions at great depth, and ascends from deep reservoirs to the surface. Mixing with relatively cold groundwater in the near surface zone promotes different saturation conditions with respect to calcium carbonate that later precipitates at depth and/or the surface. Dissolution-deposition processes of calcium carbonate both at surface and depth environments may help to reconstruct past climate direction in the field. During wet climate conditions a high-rate of calcium carbonate accumulation would be expected to occur at the surface because thermal fluid would be under-saturated with respect to calcium carbonate at depth because of a relatively higher mixing ratio with cold groundwater. During dry climate conditions the thermal fluid would be super-saturated at depth because of the highly acidic environment. Hydrometeorological studies reveal that the annual precipitation at the Pamukkale hydrothermal field tends to decrease with time. This climatic change in the area was also detected from geological records. While humid climate conditions prevailed during the late Quaternary, the area has recently been affected by arid/semi-arid climate conditions, followed by some episodic transitions. This study has shown how the system has possibly reacted to different climate conditions since antiquity.     

Field and petrological evidence for a Late Palaeozoic (Upper Carboniferous–Permian) age of the Erfaulet orthogneiss (Gran Paradiso,western Alps)

In the Gran Paradiso massif (western Alps), the boundary between the Erfaulet orthogneiss and the overlying metasediments (Money Complex) is interpreted as a Late Palaeozoic intrusive contact. Major arguments in favour of this hypothesis are: (i) the obliquity of the sedimentary layering with respect to the contact; (ii) the presence of aplitic dykes within the Money Complex; (iii) the lack of a mylonitic zone; and (iv) rare relics of an early generation of garnet in the Money metasediments, interpreted as evidence of the contact metamorphism of the Erfaulet granite. To cite this article: B. Le Bayon, M. Ballèvre, C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

An automated salt‐tracing gauge for flow‐velocity measurement

This article introduces the SVG (salt‐velocity gauge), a novel automated technique for measuring flow velocity by means of salt tracing. SVG allows a high measuring rate (up to one every 2 seconds), short control section length (down to 10 cm), high accuracy (+[sol ]?1·5 cm s^?1), and unbiased calculation of the mean velocity in experimental conditions with turbulent, supercritical flow. A few cubic centimetres of saturated salt solution (NaCl) are injected into the flow at regular time intervals using a programmable solenoid valve. The tracer successively passes two conductivity probes placed a short distance downstream. The transformation of the signal between the two probes is modelled as a one‐dimensional diffusion wave equation. Model calibration gives an estimation of the mean velocity and the diffusion for each salt plume. Two implementations of the SVG technique are described. The first was an outdoors simulated rainfall experiment in Senegal (conductivity probes at 40 cm apart, 8 Hz measurement rate, salt injections at 10 second intervals). Mean velocity was estimated to range between 0·1 and 0·3 m s^?1. The second was a laboratory‐based flume experiment (conductivity probes at 10 cm apart, 32 Hz, salt injections at 2 second intervals). Another SVG with probes at 34 cm apart was used for comparison. An acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) was also used to give an independent assessment of velocity. Using the 10 cm salt gauge, estimated mean velocity ranged from 0·6 to 0·9 m s^?1 with a standard deviation of 1·5 cm s^?1. Comparisons between ADV, 10 cm SVG and 34 cm SVG were consistent and demonstrated that the salt‐tracing results were unbiased and independent of distance between probes. Most peaks were modelled with r² > 90 per cent. The SVG technology offers an alternative to the dye‐tracing technique, which has been severely criticized in the literature because of the wide interval of recommended values for the correction factor α to be applied to the timings. This article demonstrates that a fixed value of α is inappropriate, since the correction factor varies with velocity, diffusion and the length of the control section. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radiative Feedbacks and Monsoon Circulations: A View from Simplified Models

The modulation of radiative processes by changes in water vapor and cloudiness is at the origin of important feedbacks which control climate variability as well as climate changes. These feedbacks are especially active in the intertropical area, where it is possible to diagnose a combination of partially compensating positive and negative feedbacks. The characteristics and the strength of those feedbacks is closely associated with the dynamical regimes in which they develop. Reverse changes in dynamical patterns may cause a modulation of the radiative processes. A first approach to these problems is to distinguish between two ascending and subsiding circulation patterns. This bimodality of the circulation is well established in the tropical area, and favors the use of simplified models as an appropriate tool to carry out a first-order quantification of these processes. In particular, this combination of radiative and dynamical feedbacks characterizes the development of the monsoons and their variability. Simple conceptual models can thus serve to characterize some of the factors which will affect the intraseasonal variations of the monsoon.