Recent developments of infrared array cameras in France

We describe three recent infrared cameras, developed in France and based on mosaïcs of infrared detectors. They are optimized for ground-based observations in the 1–5 m or 5–17 m ranges. The results already obtained, emphasize the interest of studying the sky in that domain.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

Fracture analysis in the south-western Corinth rift (Greece) and implications on fault hydraulic behavior

This paper reviews the data concerning the fracture network and the hydraulic characteristics of faults in an active zone of the Gulf of Corinth. Pressure gap measured through fault planes shows that in this area the active normal faults (Aigion, Helike) act, at least temporarily and locally, as transversal seal. The analysis of the carbonate cements in the fractures on both the hangingwall and the footwall of the faults also suggests that they have acted as local seals during the whole fault zone evolution. However, the pressure and the characteristics of the water samples measured in the wells indicate that meteoric water circulates from the highest part of the relief to the coast, which means it goes through the fault zones. Field quantitative analysis and core studies from the AIG-10 well have been performed to define both regional and fault-related fracture networks. Then laboratory thin section observations have been done to recognize the different fault rocks characterizing the fault zone components. These two kinds of approach give information on the permeability characteristics of the fault zone. To synthesize the data, a schematic conceptual 3D fluid flow modeling has been performed taking into account fault zone permeability architecture, sedimentation, fluid flow, fault vertical offset and meteoric water influx, as well as compaction water flow. This modeling allows us to fit all the data with a model where the fault segments act as a seal whereas the relays between these segments allow for the regional flow from the Peloponnese topographic highs to the coast.     

3D geological modelling of the Renard 2 kimberlite pipe,Québec,Canada: from exploration to extraction

The Renard 2 kimberlite pipe is one of nine diamondiferous kimberlite pipes that form a cluster in the south-eastern portion of the Superior Province, Québec, Canada and is presently being extracted at the Renard Mine. It is interpreted as a diatreme-zone kimberlite consisting of two Kimberley-type pyroclastic units and related country rock breccias, all cross-cut by coherent kimberlite dykes and irregular intrusives. Renard 2 has been the subject of numerous diamond drilling campaigns since its discovery in 2001. The first two geological models modelled kimberlite and country rock breccia units separately. A change in modelling philosophy in 2009, which incorporated the emplacement envelope and history, modelled the entire intrusive event and projected the pipe shape to depth allowing for more targeted deep drilling where kimberlite had not yet been discovered. This targeted 2009 drilling resulted in a > 400% increase in the volume of the Indicated Resource. Modelling only the kimberlite units resulted in a significant underestimation of the pipe shape. Current open pit and underground mapping of the pipe shape corresponds well to the final 2015 geological model and contact changes observed are within the expected level of confidence for an Indicated Resource. This study demonstrates that a sound understanding of the geological emplacement is key to developing a reliable 3D geological and resource model that can be used for targeted delineation drilling, feasibility studies and during the initial stages of mining.

     

Spatiotemporal changes in cadmium contamination in the Seine estuary (France)

Cadmium (Cd) is among the major contaminants in the Seine estuary. In the biota, the RNO (Réseau National d’Observation, the French Mussel-Watch) has shown that Cd concentrations in mussels living at the mouth of the estuary are related to changes in inputs to this area of phosphogypsum, a calcium sulphate that is a by-product of the phosphoric acid naturally enriched with Cd. In the water column, Cd concentrations at several key estuary sites show a very marked trend toward decreased contamination in the particles as well as in the dissolved phase. The behavior of Cd in the estuary has been studied between 1991 and 1998 in the framework of the scientific program Seine-Aval. This program has highlighted punctual Cd inputs in the estuarine water column. The partition of Cd between the dissolved and the particulate phase, previously described in various estuaries, is characterized by an intense phenomenon of solubilization in the mixing zone freshwater-seawater, but the colloidal Cd fraction remains low along the whole salinity gradient, about 5% to 10% of the apparent dissolved fraction. Although the decrease of inputs induced a fall of Cd concentrations in the water column, laboratory experiments show that the estuarine particles are far from being exhausted in Cd. Despite continuous efforts to reduce the urban and industrial inputs into the estuarine and coastal waters, the Seine estuary still remains very contaminated by Cd.     

Instability structures, synsedimentary faults and turbidites, witnesses of a Liassic seismotectonic activity in the Dauphiné Zone (French Alps): A case example in the Lower Pliensbachian at Saint-Michel-en-Beaumont

Instability structures, synsedimentary faults and turbidites have been studied in the Lower Pliensbachian succession of Saint-Michel-en-Beaumont, belonging to the Taillefer block, an ancient half-graben emplaced during the Liassic Tethyan rifting. Geometrical and mechanical analyses demonstrate that the instability structures occurred thanks to movements along spineless synsedimentary normal faults, when the turbiditic and limestone layers were already case-hardened and partly fractured by tension gashes even when the mudstones were still unlithified. Both the tension gashes and the synsedimentary faults are homogeneous in strike with the major regional faults and are in good agreement with the regional direction of extension for this period. The characters of the turbiditic beds, with erosive base, graded bedding, and incomplete Bouma sequence, are in favour of a seismic origin. Instability structures, spineless synsedimentary faults and turbiditic inflows are thus considered as seismites and interpreted as the result of high seismicity periods including some events with M > 5 in the general extensive ambiance of the Liassic Tethyan rifting. The analysis of the geometrical relationships between all these sedimentary features allows to distinguish the successive stage of occurrence of an instability structure, from the sedimentation of alternating marls and limestones, and sudden turbiditic inflows, then early case-hardening of the turbidites, until the important seismotectonic event generating the spineless normal faults, themselves triggering the fall of indurated blocks and locally the forming of breccias. The Ornon Fault, which constitutes the border of the Taillefer block, 15 km eastward, played a major role during the Liassic sedimentation and may represent the major seismic fault related to the seismites occurrence in the Beaumont basin.     

海带(Laminaria japonica)幼孢子体生长和光合作用的N需求

根据室内和围隔实验中海带幼孢子体在不同硝态氮浓度下的生长情况和光合作用速率(Pmax),分析了幼孢子体的N需求,得到其最大生长率(μm)为0.12d-1,维持生存的最低组织N含量(NQ)为16.8μg/mgDW,以最大生长率生长所必需组织N的临界值(NC)为20.4μg/mgDW,每天以最大速率生长的N需求(Nreq)为2.45μg/mgDWd-1。同时,不同处理组的初始NO3-N浓度越高,海带幼孢子体吸收速率和组织N的累加速率越高,且呈明显的线性相关关系(R2分别为0.8393和0.7793,P<0.05)。现场围隔实验中,叶绿素a含量(R2=0.7907,P<0.05)和组织N含量(R2=0.9147,P<0.01)与Pmax也呈明显的线性相关关系。同时,根据海带幼孢子体N的需求和营养吸收状况,分析认为,海带幼孢子体存在受到N限制的风险,但凭其营养吸收能力有适应N限制的能力。还根据海带的这种生理特征,探讨了大型海藻的养殖对富营养化海水的生态调控。     

Petrology,geochemistry and U–Pb geochronology of magmatic rocks from the high-sulfidation epithermal Au–Cu Chelopech deposit,Srednogorie zone,Bulgaria

The Chelopech deposit is one of the largest European gold deposits and is located 60 km east of Sofia, within the northern part of the Panagyurishte mineral district. It lies within the Banat–Srednegorie metallogenic belt, which extends from Romania through Serbia to Bulgaria. The magmatic rocks define a typical calc-alkaline suite. The magmatic rocks surrounding the Chelopech deposit have been affected by propylitic, quartz–sericite, and advanced argillic alteration, but the igneous textures have been preserved. Alteration processes have resulted in leaching of Na₂O, CaO, P₂O₅, and Sr and enrichment in K₂O and Rb. Trace element variation diagrams are typical of subduction-related volcanism, with negative anomalies in high field strength elements (HFSE) and light element, lithophile elements. HFSE and rare earth elements were relatively immobile during the hydrothermal alteration related to ore formation. Based on immobile element classification diagrams, the magmatic rocks are andesitic to dacitic in compositions. Single zircon grains, from three different magmatic rocks spanning the time of the Chelopech magmatism, were dated by high-precision U–Pb geochronology. Zircons of an altered andesitic body, which has been thrust over the deposit, yield a concordant ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 92.21 ± 0.21 Ma. This age is interpreted as the crystallization age and the maximum age for magmatism at Chelopech. Zircon analyses of a dacitic dome-like body, which crops out to the north of the Chelopech deposit, give a mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 91.95 ± 0.28 Ma. Zircons of the andesitic hypabyssal body hosting the high-sulfidation mineralization and overprinted by hydrothermal alteration give a concordant ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 91.45 ± 0.15 Ma. This age is interpreted as the intrusion age of the andesite and as the maximum age of the Chelopech epithermal high-sulfidation deposit. ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf isotope ratios of zircons from the Chelopech magmatic rocks, together with published data on the Chelopech area and the about 92-Ma-old Elatsite porphyry–Cu deposit, suggest two different magma sources in the Chelopech–Elatsite magmatic area. Magmatic rocks associated with the Elatsite porphyry–Cu deposit and the dacitic dome-like body north of Chelopech are characterized by zircons with ɛHf_T90 values of ∼5, which suggest an important input of mantle-derived magma. Some zircons display lower ɛHf_T90 values, as low as −6, and correlate with increasing ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages up to about 350 Ma, suggesting assimilation of basement rocks during magmatism. In contrast, zircon grains in andesitic rocks from Chelopech are characterized by homogeneous ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf isotope ratios with ɛHf_T90 values of ∼1 and suggest a homogeneous mixed crust–mantle magma source. We conclude that the Elatsite porphyry–Cu and the Chelopech high-sulfidation epithermal deposits were formed within a very short time span and could be partly contemporaneous. However, they are related to two distinct upper crustal magmatic reservoirs, and they cannot be considered as a genetically paired porphyry–Cu and high-sulfidation epithermal related to a single magmatic–hydrothermal system centered on the same intrusion.     

XMCD at Fe L<Subscript>2,3</Subscript> edges,Fe and S K edges on Fe<Subscript>7</Subscript>S<Subscript>8</Subscript>

Pyrrhotite (Fe₇S₈) is a natural iron sulphide that can participate in rock magnetisation. Its electronic structure is not yet surely described. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at Fe L_2,3 edges on Fe₇S₈, coupled with multiplet calculations, shows that iron is present only as Fe²⁺ in this magnetic iron sulphide. It reveals a strong magnetic orbital moment. XMCD at Fe and S K edges shows the quite strong polarization of both Fe and S in Fe₇S₈.