New insight on the genus Nolaniceras Casey, 1961 (Ammonoidea,Cretaceous) and its consequences on the biostratigraphy of the Aptian Stage

Nolaniceras nolani ( Seunes, 1887) has been widely quoted in the Upper Aptian literature over the years. Re-examination of the holotype of the species shows that it has always been misidentified and that this taxon is represented by a single specimen, the holotype, of uncertain age. As a consequence, its use as an index species for the Upper Aptian should be reconsidered and abandoned.     

Warm‐temperate,marine, carbonate sedimentation in an Early Miocene,tide‐influenced,incised valley; Provence,south‐east France

The Saumane‐Venasque compound palaeovalley succession accumulated in a strongly tide‐influenced embayment or estuary. Warm‐temperate normal marine to brackish conditions led to deposition of extensive cross‐bedded biofragmental calcarenites. Echinoids, bryozoans, coralline algae, barnacles and benthic foraminifera were produced in seagrass meadows, on rocky substrates colonized by macroalgae and within subaqueous dune fields. There are two sequences, S1 and S2, the first of which contains three high‐frequency sequences (S1a, S1b and S1c). Sequence 1 is largely confined to the palaeovalley with its upper part covering interfluves. Each of these has a similar upward succession of deposits that includes: (i) a basal erosional surface that is bored and glauconitized; (ii) a discontinuous lagoonal lime mudstone or wackestone; (iii) a thin conglomerate generated by tidal ravinement; (iv) a transgressive systems tract series of cross‐bedded calcarenites; (v) a maximum flooding interval of argillaceous, muddy quartzose, open‐marine limestones; and (vi) a thin highstand systems tract of fine‐grained calcarenite. Tidal currents during stages S1a, S1b and S1c were accentuated by the constricted valley topography, whereas basin‐scale factors enhanced tidal currents during the deposition of S2. The upper part of the succession in all but S1c has been removed by later erosion. There is an overall upward temporal change with quartz, barnacles, encrusting corallines and epifaunal echinoids decreasing but bryozoans, articulated corallines and infaunal echinoids increasing. This trend is interpreted to be the result of changing oceanographic conditions as the valley was filled, bathymetric relief was reduced, rocky substrates were replaced as carbonate factories by seagrass meadows and subaqueous dunes, and the setting became progressively less confined and more open marine. These limestones are characteristic of a suite of similar cool‐water calcareous sand bodies in environments with little siliciclastic or fresh water input during times of high‐amplitude sea‐level change wherein complex inboard antecedent topography was flooded by a rising ocean.     

Progressive metamorphism in a crustal-scale shear zone: an example from the Léon region, north-west Brittany, France

This paper describes the progressive metamorphism and deformation of a series of metasediments, Le Conquet Schists and their higher grade equivalents, which occur as tectonically emplaced screens within a sequence of foliated gneisses, the Gneiss de Brest and Gneiss de Lesneven. The sequence exhibits a steep south to north increase in metamorphic grade from garnet-staurolite schist to sillimanite gneiss and sillimanite-K-feldspar migmatite. The relationship of mineral growth to foliation development has been established for individual screens. At least five phases of deformation (D1-D5) are preserved. Analysis of porphyroblast inclusion trails is used to demonstrate sequential mineral growth during the successive development of orthogonal foliations S1-S4. Porphyroblasts continued to grow during the subsequent development of C-S mylonite fabrics and extensional crenulation cleavages which are genetically related to a series of high-strain zones (D5). Mineral assemblages, phase relations and mineral chemistry are consistent with porphyroblast growth being the result of continuous reactions. Microstructure-porphyroblast relations are used to show that although mineral growth proceeded during continuous reactions, these only operated episodically. Phase relations, mineral chemistry and P-T estimates are used to constrain P-T trajectories and these are linked to the deformation histories within individual screens. A comparison between the resulting pressure-temperature-deformation paths is used to demonstrate that the metamorphic peak occurred progressively later and at successively lower pressures with increasing metamorphic grade. It is suggested that the early evolution of the belt is the result of crustal thickening by overthrusting. The subsequent history is one of progressive heating and unroofing of the higher grade rocks in a dextral strike-slip transtensional shear zone.     

Controls on P–T–t deformation path from amphibole zonation during progressive metamorphism of basic rocks (estuary of the River Vilaine, South Brittany, France)

Abstract Edenite/tremolite and edenite/magnesio-hornblende in equilibrium with plagioclase, chlorite, epidote, quartz and vapour involve several types of reactions for which K _D can be related to T and P. Thermodynamic calculation of these equilibria leads to isopleth systems. Given knowledge of the progressive changes of end-member activities in zoned Ca–Mg amphiboles (based on microprobe analyses), it is possible to construct precise pressure–temperature–time paths ( P–T–t paths) which have been followed by metabasites during polyphase metamorphism. When applied to basic rocks from the River Vilaine area, this method allows us to construct a P–T–t path that can be compared directly to the P–T–t path constructed from interbedded acid rocks (aluminous micaschists) in the same structural unit. Through time, both basic and acid rocks underwent the same complex deformation history that can be described conveniently in the L–S fabric system of Flinn. This allows us to construct a P–T–t deformation path for this structural unit.
These paths are interpreted in terms of an under/overthrusting continental collision belt (the Hercynian belt), and represent an illustration of the time delay caused by stacking of more than two crustal units.     

Mineralogy, petrology and P–T–t path of Ca–Na amphibole assemblages, Saint-Martin des Noyers formation, Vendée, France

Abstract The Saint-Martin des Noyers Formation is interpreted as a slice of an island-arc system of Lower to Middle Palaeozoic age, located in the internal part of the Variscan orogen in Vendée (Armorican Massif, France). Metamorphosed igneous rocks range in composition from ultramafic to rhyolitic. The regular increase in the FeO/(FeO+MgO) ratio, from mafic to silicic samples, results in a systematic variability in the nature and composition of the metamorphic phases. In basaltic samples, the occurrence of relict garnet-barroisite assemblages suggests relatively high-pressure conditions for the peak of metamorphism. During a subsequent retrograde evolution, the primary barroisitic hornblendes recrystallized to texturally complex mixtures of actinolite and hornblende. Despite this complication, it is possible to decipher a P–T-t path based on amphibole chemistry. The P–T trajectory deduced is dominated by the effect of pressure and consistent with early underthrusting and subsequent tectonic uplift of the ancient arc of Saint-Martin des Noyers.     

Relations entre production organique et apports terrigènes dans les sédiments fluviatiles holocènes : observations et conclusions hétérodoxes

Accumulation of organic matter in fens of fluvial valleys is often related to a low terrigenous matter delivery and to palaeoenvironmental conditions inducing low mechanical erosion. These assumptions come from the interpretation of contents in organic (MO) and mineral (MM) matters in sediments, expressed in percents, and then exactly anticorrelated. Calculation of mass accumulation rates of MO $(T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MO}}})$ and MM $(T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MM}}})$, expressed in g?m^?2?yr^?1, shows that $T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MO}}}$ and $T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MM}}}$ generally are not anticorrelated and that high values of $T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MO}}}$ and $T_{{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{MM}}}$ could appear simultaneously. That expression of MO and MM accumulation makes it possible to precise the climatic and human impact on sedimentation. To cite this article: J.-J. Macaire et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Henry Darcy in his own words

A recently published English translation of the Les Fontaines publiques de la ville de Dijon 1 provides access to Henry Darcy's own words on the importance of water for public sanitation and on questions engineers face in building water supply systems. Written near the end of Darcy's life, the book is a compendium of the water knowledge he had gained over decades and his opinions on these topics reveal his personality. In the 1840s, Darcy built a water supply system to provide water to 120 street fountains for domestic purposes, street washing and firefighting. Surrounded by poverty, Darcy insisted on free water for the poor and on sharing the spring water with towns located along the aqueduct that brought it to Dijon. In the preface to the book, Darcy introduces his experiment on water flow through sand with the modest words “to my knowledge, no one has experimentally demonstrated the laws of water flow through sand.” This article provides a sampling of the book's insights into the personality of this remarkable man.

Oxygen isotopes composition of sapphires from the French Massif Central: implications for the origin of gem corundum in basaltic fields

Alluvial and colluvial gem sapphires are common in the basaltic fields of the French Massif Central (FMC) but sapphire-bearing xenoliths are very rare, found only in the Menet trachytic cone in Cantal. The O-isotope composition of the sapphires ranges between 4.4 and 13.9‰. Two distinct groups have been defined: the first with a restricted isotopic range between 4.4 and 6.8‰ (n = 22; mean δ¹⁸O = 5.6 ± 0.7‰), falls within the worldwide range defined for blue-green-yellow sapphires related to basaltic gem fields (3.0 < δ¹⁸O < 8.2‰, n = 150), and overlaps the ranges defined for magmatic sapphires in syenite (4.4 < δ¹⁸O < 8.3‰, n = 29). A second group, with an isotopic range between 7.6 and 13.9‰ (n = 9), suggests a metamorphic sapphire source such as biotite schist in gneisses or skarns. The δ¹⁸O values of 4.4–4.5‰ for the blue sapphire-bearing anorthoclasite xenolith from Menet is lower than the δ¹⁸O values obtained for anorthoclase (7.7–7.9‰), but suggest that these sapphires were derived from an igneous reservoir in the subcontinental spinel lherzolitic mantle of the FMC. The presence of inclusions of columbite-group minerals, pyrochlore, Nb-bearing rutile, and thorite in these sapphires provides an additional argument for a magmatic origin. In the FMC lithospheric mantle, felsic melts crystallized to form anorthoclasites, the most evolved peraluminous variant of the alkaline basaltic melt. The O-isotopic compositions of the first group suggests that these sapphires crystallized from felsic magmas under upper mantle conditions. The second group of isotopic values, typified for example by the Le Bras sapphire with a δ¹⁸O of 13.9‰, indicates that metamorphic sapphires from granulites were transported to the surface by basaltic magma.