Effects of the Little Ice Age on avalanche boulder tongues in the French Alps (Massif des Ecrins)

Lichens of the subspecies Rhizocarpon geographicum s.l were measured on 25 avalanche boulder tongues in the Massif des Ecrins to elucidate the Little Ice Age history of avalanche activity. Results show: (1) an increase of lichen size from the median to the distal zone of deposits, and a decrease from the edges to the centre; (2) three types of lichen settlement. From the uppermost to the median zone, lichens are absent, because avalanche activity is very active. Down‐slope, lichens occur in two different zones: the median zone is colonized by 5–20 mm size lichens on sides of blocks protected from the abrasional action of avalanches, while in the distal zone lichen diameters are largest (>30 mm) and occur on all sides of the blocks. The spatial distribution of the lichens and their size according to elevation make it possible to distinguish different phases during which avalanche activity has increased. At high elevation, the avalanche activity was at a maximum before ad 1650 and between ad 1730 and 1830. During these two periods avalanches had suf?cient magnitude to reach the basal zone of the deposits. At low elevation since ad 1650 the magnitude and frequency of avalanches have declined. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suivis temporels comparés de la structure thermique d'eaux côtières libanaises (Batroun) et françaises (Marseille) entre juin 1999 et octobre 2002

Vertical temperature profiles were recorded from June 1999 to October 2002 (at least once a month) at two Mediterranean sites, in the eastern basin (Batroun, Lebanon; 0–100 m) and in the northwestern basin (Marseilles, France; 0–55 m). At the two sites, the thermal seasonal evolution and the thermocline time dynamics are quite identical. But in the Lebanese waters, at comparable water depths, temperatures are currently 4 to 5?°C higher than in the French waters, the thermocline is longer (more than 6 months), permanent and deeper (40–50 m) than in Marseilles (20–30 m). The latter frequently disappears in summer due to northwest winds inducing cold waters. This is principally due to differences in prevailing wind regimes at each site. Such evaluation, coupled with long-term observations of temporal evolution of coastal water at the regional level of the Mediterranean basins, will shed light on temperature regime fluctuations and their consequences in the context of global warming of the Mediterranean. To cite this article: M. Abboud-Abi Saab et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Inverse modelling of elastic thickness by convolution method - the eastern Alps as a case example

An unconventional scheme is used to estimate the flexural rigidity, or equivalently the elastic thickness of the lithosphere, given the topography and gravity data. The flexural rigidity is the parameter that governs the flexural response of the lithosphere in the frame of the thin plate flexure model. The scheme is an alternative to the widely used calculation of admittance of topography (sea-floor or continental topography) and gravity, bearing some advantages which are explained in the paper. The scheme involves the inversion of the gravity data in order to formulate a model of the crust-mantle interface (CMI) undulations. In a second step the flexure parameter is then evaluated from the relation between topography and CMI variations. Instead of calculating the admittance function using a spectral analysis, a set of point-load response functions are used in order to retrieve the optimal flexure parameter. This has two main advantages: instabilities of the numerical admittance evaluation at wavenumbers with low spectral energy in the topography are overcome and the analysis can be made over an area which is not necessarily rectangular, as required for the spectral analysis. The proposed method allows a higher space resolution of elastic thickness than any spectral method. For validation, the numerical strategy is applied to the situation of a realistic synthetic model, where all inputs and outputs are known a priori. Finally the spatial variations of the elastic thickness are studied in an area across the Eastern Alps.     

Stalagmite from the Austrian Alps reveals Dansgaard-Oeschger events during isotope stage 3:: Implications for the absolute chronology of Greenland ice cores

A mass-spectrometric uranium-series dated stalagmite from the Central Alps of Austria provides unprecedented new insights into high-altitude climate change during the peak of isotope stage 3. The stalagmite formed continuously between 57 and 46 kyr before present. A series of ‘Hendy tests’ demonstrates that the outer parts of the sample show a progressive increase of both stable C and O isotope values. No such covariant increase was detected within the axial zone. This in conjunction with other observations suggests that the continuous stable oxygen isotope profile obtained from the axial zone of the stalagmite largely reflects the unaltered isotopic composition of the cave drip water. The δ¹⁸O record shows events of high δ¹⁸O values that correlate remarkably with Interstadials 15 (a and b), 14 and 12 identified in the Greenland ice cores. Interstadial 15b started rapidly at 55.6 kyr and lasted ∼300 yr only, Interstadial 15a peaked 54.9 kyr ago and was even of shorter duration (∼100 yr), and Interstadial 14 commenced 54.2 kyr ago and lasted ∼3000 yr. This stalagmite thus represents one of the first terrestrial archives outside the high latitudes which record precisely dated Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) events during isotope stage 3. Provided that rapid D/O warmings occurred synchronously in Greenland and the European Alps, the new data provide an independent tool to improve the GRIP and GISP2 chronologies.     

Short‐term changes in the plan shape of a sandy beach in response to sheltering by a nearshore mud bank,Cayenne, French Guiana

Montjoly is a headland‐bound embayed sandy beach in Cayenne, French Guiana, that shows long‐term plan shape equilibrium in spite of periodic changes in accretion and erosion that alternately affect either end of the beach. These changes are caused by mud banks that move alongshore from the Amazon. The mechanisms involved in changes in the plan shape of the beach in response to the passage of one of these mud banks were monitored between 1997 and 2000 from airborne video imagery and field work. The beach longshore drift to the northwest, driven by the incident easterly to northeasterly swell usually affecting this coast, became temporarily reversed as the mud bank, migrating from east to west, initially sheltered the southeastern end of the beach. The difference in exposure to waves engendered a negative wave height gradient alongshore towards the southeast, resulting in the setting up of a cell circulation and counter‐active longshore drift from the exposed northwestern sector to the southeast. Sand eroded from the exposed sector accumulated first in the southeastern, and then the central sectors of the beach. The effect of increasing beach sheltering by the mudbank moving west is highlighted on the videographs by an ‘arrested’ pattern of beach shoreline development. The videographs show hardly any changes in beach plan shape since January 1999, due to sheltering of the beach from wave attack by the mud bank. It is expected that the eroded sector will recover in the future as the mud bank passes, leading to re‐establishment of the northwesterly sand drift. This temporally phased bi‐directional drift within the confines of the bounding headlands results in a rare example of mud‐bank‐induced beach rotation, and probably explains the long‐term equilibrium plan shape of Montjoly beach. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Growth of myrmekite coronas by contact metamorphism of granitic mylonites in the aureole of Cima di Vila, Eastern Alps, Italy

In the contact aureole of the Oligocene granodiorite of Cima di Vila, granitic pegmatites of Variscan age were strongly deformed during eo‐Alpine regional metamorphism, with local development of ultramylonites. In the ultramylonite matrix, consisting of quartz, plagioclase, muscovite and biotite, microstructures show grain growth of quartz within quartz ribbons, and development of decussate arrangements of mica. These features indicate that dynamic recrystallization related to mylonite development was followed by extensive static growth during contact metamorphism. K‐feldspar porphyroclasts up to 1.5 cm are mantled by myrmekite that forms a continuous corona with thickness of about 1 mm. In both XZ and YZ sections, myrmekite tubules are undeformed, and symmetrically distributed in the corona, and oligoclase‐andesine hosts have random crystallographic orientation. Myrmekite development has been modelled from the P–T–t evolution of the ultramylonites, assuming that the development of the ultramylonites occurred during eo‐Alpine metamorphism at c. 450 °C, 7.5 kbar, followed by contact metamorphism at c. 530 °C, 2.75 kbar. Phase diagram pseudosections calculated from the measured bulk composition of granitic pegmatite protolith indicate that the equilibrium assemblage changes from Qtz–Phe–Ab ± Zo ± Cpx ± Kfs during the ultramylonite stage to Qtz–Pl(An_30–40)–Ms–Kfs–Bt(Ann₅₅) during the contact metamorphic stage. The thermodynamic prediction of increasing plagioclase mode and anorthite content, change of white mica composition and growth of biotite, occurring during the end of the heating path, are in agreement with the observed microstructures and analysed phase compositions of ultramylonites. Along with microstructural evidence, this supports the model that K‐feldspar replacement by myrmekite took place under static conditions, and was coeval with the static growth accompanying contact metamorphism. Myrmekite associated with muscovite can develop under prograde (up‐temperature) conditions in granites involved in polymetamorphism.     

The holocenic evolution of a stretch of an eastern italian alpine valley

The morphological evolution of a stretch of an alpine valley located in the Eastern Italian Alps is described. This has been conditioned by a great alluvial fan that was formed as a consequence of interconnected events, deriving from large rockfalls which occurred in the late glacial period at the head of the Missiaga–Bordina valley, on the left side of the Agordo basin. The aggradation of the alluvial fan blocked the Cordevole valley south of the Agordo basin and produced a lake that is documented by lacustrine sediments. Age determination by ¹⁴C techniques on wood remnants found in these sediments fixes the life of the lake at between approximately 5880 and 5300 years BP . This represents, indirectly, the age of the main phase of the development of the fan. After the building up of the alluvial fan, an erosional phase began, leading to the formation of the present landscape. A series of illustrations depicts the sequence of the fan's development.     

Contrasting thermomechanical evolutions in the Southalpine metamorphic basement of the Orobic Alps (Central Alps, Italy)

In the Southern Alps a progressive metamorphic zonation, with an increase in the geothermal gradient from NE to SW, has been widely proposed. However, recent investigations have shown that the greenschist metamorphic imprint of the low-grade zone corresponds to a metamorphic retrogression following amphibolite facies conditions. On the other hand, in the medium-grade zone, a later low-pressure, high-temperature (LPHT) metamorphic event has also been proposed. In an attempt to resolve these different interpretations, new petrological and partly new structural data have been obtained for two sectors of the Orobic Alps, traditionally attributed to different metamorphic zones. Thermobarometric determinations, supported by microstructural analysis, indicate the following different pressure-retrograde paths in each sector: (1) in the Val Vedello basement (VVB) rocks, a first metamorphic imprint characterized by P = 7–9 kbar and T = 570–610°C was followed by a greenschist retrogression ( P ≤ 4 kbar and T ≤ 500° C); (2) in the Lario basement (LB) rocks, the first detectable metamorphic stage, characterized by mineral assemblages indicating P = 7–9 kbar and T = 550–630° C, was followed by a LPHT event, synkinematic with F2 extensional deformation. A greenschist retrogression marks the final uplift of these rocks.
Reinterpretation of the available geochronological data indicates a diachronism for the two thermomechanical evolutions. In the light of these data, we interpret the retrograde P–T–t path of the VVB rocks as a pre-Permian post-thickening uplift and the retrograde P–T–t evolution of the LB rocks as a Permo-Mesozoic uplift related to the extensional tectonic regime of the Tethyan rifting.     

Radiometric ages of Alpine metamorphic rocks in the western and central Alps

Abstract The chronological characteristics of Alpine metamorphic rocks are described and Alpine metamorphic events are reinterpreted on the basis of chronological data for the western and central Alps from 1960 to 1992. Metamorphic rocks of the Lepontine, Gran San Bernardo, Piemonte, Internal Crystalline Massifs and Sesia-Lanzo mostly date Alpine metamorphic events, but some (along with granitoids and gneisses from the Helvetic and Southern Alps) result from the Variscan, Caledonian or older events and thus predate the Alpine events. Radiometric age data from the Lepontine area show systematic age relations: U-Pb monazite (23-29 Ma), Rb-Sr muscovite (15–40 Ma) and biotite (15–30 Ma), K-Ar biotite (10-30 Ma), muscovite (15–25 Ma) and hornblende (25-35 Ma), and FT zircon (10-20 Ma) and apatite (5-15 Ma), which can be explained by the different closure temperatures of the isotopic systems. A 121 Ma U-Pb zircon age for a coesite-bearing whiteschist (metaquartzite) from the Dora-Maira represents the peak of ultra-high pressure metamorphism. Coesite-free eclogites and blueschists related to ultra-high pressure rocks in the Penninic crystalline massifs yield an ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar plateau age of about 100 Ma for phengites, interpreted as the cooling age. From about 50 Ma, eclogites and glaucophane schists have also been reported from the Piemonte ophiolites and calcschists, suggesting the existence of a second high P/T metamorphic event. Alpine rocks therefore record three major metamorphic events: (i) ultra-high and related high P/T metamorphism in the early Cretaceous, which is well preserved in continental material such as the Sesia-Lanzo and the Penninic Internal Crystalline Massifs; (ii) a second high P/T metamorphic event in the Eocene, which is recognized in the ophiolites and calcschists of the Mesozoic Tethys; and (iii) medium P/T metamorphism, in which both types of high P/T metamorphic rocks were variably reset by Oligocene thermal events. Due to the mixture of minerals formed in the three metamorphic events, there is a possibility that almost all geochronological data reported from the Alpine metamorphic belt show mixed ages. Early Cretaceous subduction of a Tethyan mid-ocean ridge and Eocene continental collision triggered off the exhumation of the high pressure rocks.