Comptes Rendus Geoscience最新文献

In humid subtropical regions, baseflow is mainly governed by aquifer discharges and this dynamic is fed by groundwater recharge. To better comprehend the watershed groundwater recharge using a large-scale approach, two watersheds located over the Serra Geral Aquifer System (Southern South America) were studied. Three different groundwater recharge methods were utilized to study the baseflow: a simplified water budget, a hydrograph separation using the Eckhardt filter with different ways of obtaining the BFI_max parameter, and the MGB–IPH hydrological model, which is unprecedented in being used for this purpose. These methods showed a general mutual convergence, where recharge magnitude remained similar in most methods. The MGB–IPH model proved to be a useful tool for understanding the occurrence of groundwater recharge. Uncertainties associated with the representativity of interflow demonstrated by hydrograph separation and shown in the model may indicate that the groundwater recharge estimate could be lower than those obtained considering hydrograph numerical filters.

This study aims at mapping the sediment infill thickness in the Saint-Lary basin (Aure valley, French Pyrenees). For this purpose, we combine passive seismic and gravity surveys. The resonance frequencies of the sediment body are retrieved from seismic ambient measurements, while the gravimetric survey shows negative residual anomaly of about −3 mGal in the basin. Both methods reveal unexpected but consistent bedrock shape. The southern Saint-Lary basin appears deeper than its northern part, with maximal infill thickness of about 300 m and 150 m, respectively. Valley cross sections show regular and smooth “U”-shape in the southern Saint-Lary basin, in contrast to an irregular and asymmetric pattern in the northern basin. This basin shape may be related to Quaternary fluvio-glacial carving processes especially controlled by a regional fault (the Soulan fault), variations in bedrock hardness, and preferential ice flow paths.

In this paper, we focus on the southeastern coastal zone of the island of Samos (east-central Aegean Sea), in order to reconstruct the evolution of coastal landscapes and the relative sea-level changes during the late Holocene. We use geomorphological mapping, sedimentological and palaeontological proxies of late Holocene coastal deposits from two lagoon environments. We further compare our results with previously published sea-level data and we show that the southeastern part of Samos was characterized by a subsidence trend at least during the late Holocene, with RSL rise rates of ∼0.8 mm/yr. Our study additionally highlights that local-scale tectonics is responsible for the evolution of the coastal zone of Samos.

In Corsica, continental units (the Lower Units) affected by high-pressure metamorphism represent the remains of the European margin deformed during the Alpine orogeny. In order to document how Alpine deformation and metamorphism changed along the European margin involved in the Alpine subduction, we selected three key areas: the Corte, Cima Pedani, and Ghisoni transects. The three transects show a broadly similar lithostratigraphy. They are characterized by a Variscan basement intruded by Permo-Carboniferous metagranitoids, and by a sedimentary cover including Mesozoic carbonates and middle to late Eocene breccias and sandstones. The three transects recorded a similar deformation history with three deformation phases. Thermo-baric estimations, instead, reveal that each unit was exhumed along an independent retrograde path within the orogenic Alpine wedge. In particular, the lowest units of the Lower Units stack were exhumed along an isothermal path, whereas those located at upper structural levels experienced progressive heating.

Located in northern Niger, the NW–SE Téfidet trough is the western branch of the Ténéré rift megasystem.

Here we present a tectono-sedimentary analysis of the Téfidet trough, based on the combined use of satellite imagery, field observations and measures, and available literature. We use these data to analyse the sedimentary facies and the tectonic deformations (faults, folds, basins) in the Téfidet trough, and derive their relative chronology. Doing so, we characterize synrift and postrift deformations and their interactions with sedimentation.

Altogether our analyses suggest that the Téfidet trough was affected from the Cretaceous to the Paleogene by three major tectonic periods.

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  The first period was a rifting stage with extension and transtension during the Albian–Aptian times. The mean extension was ∼N60° and dominantly produced NW–SE-trending normal faults, a few strike-slip faults locally associated with small folds with sigmoidal axis and small reverse faults, and progressive unconformities.

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  the second period was also a rifting time, which prevailed during the Upper Cretaceous. The regime was marked by transtensional to extensional tectonics, under a ∼N130° shortening and a ∼N60° trending stretching. The end of this period saw the closure of the Téfidet trough.

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  the third period was a postrift stage. It was characterized by a ∼N70° extensional to transtensional regime during the Oligocene–Pliocene. It mainly produced post-sedimentary extensional faults and fractures and alkaline volcanism. We eventually discuss these deformation phases in relation with the Cretaceous Gondwana breakup and its related rifting events in West and North Africa, and with the subsequent Africa–Europe collision.

The morphometric analysis of alluvial drainage provides insights into its dynamics, erosion capacity, susceptibility to floods and possible genetic relations to tectonic faulting. In this study, we analysed the drainage system of Samos Island, located in the northern Aegean Sea. The results indicate a vulnerability to erosion and flooding events, and these intense phenomena concentrate mostly on third-order catchments. Two dissimilar drainage network systems are shown: an older drainage network system with a main NW–SE direction, which includes fourth- and fifth-order branches, and a recent drainage network system, which includes new, smaller order branches with a main NE–SW direction. The major tectonic fault orientations are NNW–SSE. The branches of the hydrographic network and faults present different directions, which indicates that the hydrographic pattern is not affected by tectonics.

We aimed to determine variations in stress regimes during the youngest Variscan deformations in the northern part of the Bohemian Massif. For this purpose, we calculated the orientation of the principal stress and strain axes for kink folds observed in the metamorphic envelope of the Karkonosze Granite, using two methods: 1) the traditional method, incorporating structural diagrams (for conjugate kink folds only), and 2) butterfly diagram analysis. The use of both methods enabled us to determine the stress regime, based not only on conjugate but also on monoclinal kink bands. The obtained results prove that butterfly diagram analysis, when applied to monoclinal kink folds, yields reliable results, especially when calibrated using the internal friction angle (Ф) calculated for the conjugate structures.

We identified two generations of kink folds: 1) an older one, developed under sublatitudinal shortening and most probably related to the Early Carboniferous terminal stages of the northwest-directed thrusting of the metamorphic units, and 2) a younger one; produced by north-south Variscan Carboniferous compression, and the emplacement and subsequent doming of the Karkonosze Granite. This is the first study on brittle-ductile structures observed commonly in the metamorphic units of the Bohemian Massif, showing their relation to the granitoid intrusion and complementing the tectonic models that usually omit kink folds.