Ten-year observation of the Gironde tributary fluvial system: fluxes of suspended matter, particulate organic carbon and cadmium

A program of long-term observation of suspended solids (TSS), particulate organic carbon (POC) and cadmium transported into the Gironde estuary (France) by its major tributaries has been carried out between 1990 and 1999. This decade included contrasting hydrologic cycles and appears representative of a much longer period (1959–1999). The Garonne and the Dordogne river systems are the main tributaries of the Gironde estuary and derive their waters from drainage basins with different geological, industrial and agricultural features. To better understand their respective contributions, they have been observed separately and compared. Water and TSS fluxes of the Garonne River show greater temporal variations and discharge is more related to the hydrology of the drainage basin (e.g. wet/dry years, local flood events etc.). As POC and particulate Cd concentrations in suspended matter are much less variable than turbidity, their fluxes are mainly controlled by the TSS transport. A major part of annual fluxes of TSS and associated pollutants may occur within few flood days (depending on various parameters, e.g. intensity, duration, season, etc.), and also the succession of dry and wet years has an important influence on annual fluxes. The presented data allow calculating fluvial inputs into the Gironde as the sum of fluxes transported by its major tributaries, the Garonne and the Dordogne river systems. Mean annual fluxes into the Gironde observed in 1990–1999 are about 34×10⁹ m³ year⁻¹ for river water, 3.24×10⁶ t year⁻¹ for suspended solids (TSS) and 9.88×10⁹ mol year⁻¹ for particulate organic carbon (POC). Generally, these fluxes are dominated by the contributions of the Garonne River. However, in dry years, the mean contribution of the Dordogne river system (including Dronne and Isle rivers) to the POC input into the estuary exceeded that of the Garonne. This reflects significant differences in vegetation and soil due to natural properties and land management of the basins. Mean Cd fluxes into the estuary are about 110×10³ mol year⁻¹ of which 19.6×10³ mol year⁻¹ are transported in the dissolved and 90.8×10³ mol year⁻¹ in the particulate phases, respectively. In 1991 (dry year), the net (dissolved) Cd flux towards the ocean exceeded the gross fluvial input of total Cd, suggesting the release of Cd from an important stock in the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ) or the fluid mud of the Gironde estuary.     

Climate change, patch choice, and intensification at Pont d'Ambon (Dordogne, France) during the Younger Dryas

This paper considers the impact of the Younger Dryas on the prehistoric inhabitants of Pont d'Ambon, a site in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, through an examination of the zooarchaeological remains from this site. An investigation of patch choice indicates that patch choice evenness declines during the Younger Dryas due to increasing local dominance of the grassland patch. Analyses of demographic composition, cutmark frequency, and marrow processing in the wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) assemblage suggest intensified rabbit use during this period. This study thus supports the hypothesis that changing climate had significant impacts on the prehistoric inhabitants of Pont d'Ambon. However, the traditional climate hypothesis—that changing climate negatively impacted the availability of larger fauna, forcing a switch to smaller, lower-ranked prey items—is not supported here. The inhabitants of Pont d'Ambon seem to have adapted to changing climate by efficiently exploiting the new species available to them, and possibly, during the Younger Dryas, by intensifying their use of one of these new species, the European rabbit.     

Genesis of the Dordogne (France) high-purity silica placers

This article describes the formation of the principal French high-purity silica placer (source for electrometallurgy of silicon and ferrosilicon), the Boudeau deposit in Dordogne, and of one of its subordinate deposits, the Pays Brûlé deposit. Boudeau has always been considered to be a colluvial deposit, formed in a trap produced by extensional tectonism. The present work suggests a new genetic interpretation, based on a combined study of the deposits and their underlying rocks. It shows that the quartz gravel deposits, laid down by stream flow within braided channels, were reworked by karstic progressive sinking, and that the mechanism responsible for the increase in the thickness of the economic formations is cryptokarstic corrosion. This undercovers weathering process, which involves dissolution of karstifiable rocks (oolitic and bioclastic limestones) at their interface with a permeable, non-karstifiable cover composed of chemically pure quartz gravels in a sandy-argillaceous matrix. A typological study of the gravels provides a basis for tackling the problem of their origin and their purity. They seem to be derived mainly from the synmetamorphic quartz mobilisates of the stripped metamorphic units (the lower and upper gneiss units forming the western edge of the Massif Central). Lastly, a dynamic model is suggested for the genesis of the high-purity silica deposits of Dordogne.     

Les placers à silice ultrapure français : étude gîtologique comparative

The comparative study of two French high-purity silica placers of European class suitable for the electrometallurgy of silicon and ferrosilicon, located at Boudeau and Thédirac, in the Dordogne and Lot departments respectively, indicates strong similarities as regards the sources and the transportation of quartz, as well as a same process of undercover karstification as a determining factor in the formation of the deposits. The main difference lies in the number of the stages necessary to the formation of the trap. This comparative study allows the constitution of dynamic models for the genesis of these economic quartz concentrations. To cite this article: L. Désindes et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).