0000000001279012
AUTHOR
Jean-françois Buoncristiani
Quaternary Glaciations in the French Alps and Jura
During last glacial maximum, the pre-existing relief of the Alps and the Jura Mountains controlled glacier development. The Jura massive morphology, only slightly dissected by valleys, resulted in a wide ice-sheet; and this situation contrasts with the Alps where numerous deep valleys were filled by big glaciers.
Micro- to macro-scale internal structures, diagenesis and petrophysical evolution of injectite networks in the Vocontian Basin (France): implications for fluid flow.
27 pages; International audience; This study discusses the characteristics of two Lower Cretaceous injectite networks in the Vocontian Basin (SE France) using combined structural, sedimentary, diagenetic, and petrophysical analyses. Internal structures, at both the macro- and micro-scale, and diagenetic phases characterising these injectite networks have been described. Simultaneously, precementation porosity values were estimated and parameters controlling the geographical distributions of these values were analysed and statistically tested. All of the data were integrated so as to reconstruct the spatial evolution of the porosity from the time of injection to modern times through five maj…
Testing a portable laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system on geological samples.
9 pages; International audience; This paper illustrates the potentialities of a home-made portable LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) instrument in Earth sciences, more particularly in geochemically recognizing (i) tephra layers in lacustrine sediments and (ii) fossilization processes in ammonites. Abundances for selected lines of Al, Ca, Fe, Ti, Ba and Na were determined in lacustrine chalk sediments of the Jura, where the Laacher See Tephra (LST) layer is recorded. A statistical treatment of elemental maps produced from the section of a sedimentary column containing the LST event allows instrumental conditions to be optimized. Accumulating spectra from close shot positions gives …
The origin and glaciodynamic significance of sandstone ridge networks from the Hirnantian glaciation of the Djado Basin (Niger)
The Djado Basin (Niger) was located beneath the inner part of the Late Ordovician ice sheet. The Felar-Felar Formation consists mainly of glaciomarine deposits, associated with the major ice sheet recession within the glaciation, and is bounded by two glacial unconformities. Structures corresponding to sandstone ridges are found within the Felar-Felar Formation. Sandstone ridges are several metres high, about 10 m wide and hundreds of metres long. These structures are organized in extensive anastomosed to subpolygonal networks. The association of sandstone ridge networks with the later glacial unconformity and with other glacial evidence suggests sub-glacial conditions for their origin. San…
Première datation par chronologie radiocarbone du dernier maximum glaciaire dans le Jura
International audience
On the use of geophysical methods to characterize heterogeneities of quaternary alluvial deposits. Application to stormwater infiltration.
Colloque avec actes et comité de lecture. International.; International audience; Stormwater infiltration basins are generally built on geological formations with large values of hydraulic conductivity. Such is the case for quaternary alluvial formations, among which are glaciofluvial deposits. Two geophysical investigation methods, namely ground-penetrating radar and electrical tomography, were tested on an infiltration basin built on a glaciofluvial deposit. Geophysical profiles were calibrated on a trench wall dug in the glaciofluvial formation. A sedimentological study coupled to geophysical measurements behind the trench wall highlights the three-dimensional architecture of the deposit…
A complex thrust sequence in western Himalaya: the active Medlicott Wadia Thrust.
15 pages; International audience; The recent activity of the Medlicott-Wadia Thrust (MWT) is investigated by geomorphic and tectonic studies in the Riasi zone, south of the Pir Panjal range (India, Jammu-Kasmir state of western Himalaya). In the Riasi area, the MWT forms a splay of five faults that dip northward. The recent activity of the splay is quantified using a set of deformed Quaternary alluvial units. The central branch of the thrust splay moved Precambrian limestones above Quaternary sediments and is sealed by 36 ± 3 ka (youngest OSL age) deposits. The other branches offset the top of a 15 ± 1 ka (youngest OSL age) alluvial fan by 180 to 120 m; the two southernmost branches form 17…
Sédimentologie des cônes juxta-glacaires sous-marins.
International audience
Subglacial to proglacial depositional environments in an Ordovician glacial tunnel valley, Alnif, Morocco
Abstract This paper presents the sedimentary analysis of an exceptional Ordovician glacial tunnel valley in the eastern part of the Anti-Atlas. The valley infill comprises two major glacial erosion surfaces (striated pavements) each overlain by a fining-upward glacial unit. These units are composed of five distinct facies associations, recording the evolution from subglacial to proglacial environments, and an additional sixth facies association, overtopping the tunnel valley infill, and associated with post-glacial environments. The tunnel valley infill also records a transitional environment between the subglacial and proglacial settings, which is compared with the Antarctic ice-sheet marg…
Atmospheric circulation modulates the spatial variability of temperature in the Atlantic-Arctic region
International audience; The Arctic region has experienced significant warming during the past two decades with major implications on the cryosphere. The causes of Arctic amplification are still an open question within the scientific community, attracting recent interest. The goal of this study is to quantify the contribution of atmospheric circulation on temperature variability in the Atlantic–Arctic region at decadal to intra‐annual timescales from 1951 to 2014. Daily 20th Century reanalyses geopotential height anomalies at 500 hPa were clustered into different weather regimes to assess their contribution to observed temperature variability. The results show that in winter, 25% of the warm…
Effect of the Ordovician paleogeography on the (in)stability of the climate.
The Ordovician Period (485–443 Ma) is characterized by abundant evidence for continental-sized ice sheets. Modeling studies published so far require a sharp CO2 drawdown to initiate this glaciation. They mostly used non-dynamic slab mixed-layer ocean models. Here, we use a general circulation model with coupled components for ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice to examine the response of Ordovician climate to changes in CO2 and paleogeography. We conduct experiments for a wide range of CO2 (from 16 to 2 times the preindustrial atmospheric CO2 level (PAL)) and for two continental configurations (at 470 and at 450 Ma) mimicking the Middle and the Late Ordovician conditions. We find that the temper…
Hydrostratigraphic characterization of glaciofluvial deposits underlying an infiltration basin using ground penetrating radar.
14 pages; International audience; An understanding of the heterogeneity of quaternary gravelly deposits is required to predict flow and contaminant transfer through these formations. In such deposits, preferential flow paths can lead to contamination at depths greater than predicted under the assumption of a homogeneous medium. The difficulties in characterizing their complex structure with conventional methods represent an obstacle for this prediction. In this study, we developed an approach relying on the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) for the detection of sedimentary depositional units. A genetic interpretation of the radar stratigraphy allowed us to construct a distribution model…
Improved discrimination of subglacial and periglacial erosion using10Be concentration measurements in subglacial and supraglacial sediment load of the Bossons glacier (Mont Blanc massif, France)
Deciphering the complex interplays between climate, uplift and erosion is not straightforward and estimating present-day erosion rates can provide useful insights. Glaciers are thought to be powerful erosional agents, but most published ‘glacial’ erosion rates combine periglacial, subglacial and proglacial erosion processes. Within a glaciated catchment, sediments found in subglacial streams originate either from glacial erosion of substratum or from the rock walls above the glacier that contribute to the supraglacial load. Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) are produced by interactions between cosmic ray particles and element targets at the surface of the Earth, but their concentration …
Hirnantian glacial and deglacial record in SW Djado Basin (NE Niger).
Pluridisciplinary fieldwork highlights features generated by an extended ice-sheet in the Djado Basin during the Hirnantian. Two glacial palaeovalley systems associated with glacial pavements and separated by thin glaciomarine interstadial series are revealed. Rigid glacial pavements characterised by abrasion erosion are differentiated from soft glacial pavements characterised by soft-bed deformation. Glacial pavements are associated with subglacial bedforms such as megaflutes, flutes and meltwater channels. They are also associated with clastic dykes and glaciotectonic structures such as deformed flutes, subglacial folds and duplex structures. This record demonstrates that ice was warm-bas…
Quantification de l’ablation d’un bassin versant marno-calcaire alpin durant le Petit Age Glaciaire par l’étude d’un système lacustre (cas du lac du « Claps » de Luc-en-Diois Drôme, France)
Measurements of present-day erosion may give heterogeneous results according to the methods used. This article proposes an approach to erosion during the Little Ice Age by the quantitative analysis of detritical materials trapped in a dammed lake. This infill is recognized through two drillings, and these specific observations are supplemented by a seismic reflexion survey which provided a reliable estimate of the geometry of the lake infill. The sedimentary production is calculated from three pieces of data: (1) the surface of the drainage area, (2) duration of the lake system activity and (3) the volume of trapped sediments. From the three determined variables, we propose a detritical product…
Sedimentary Architecture and Stratigraphy of a Late Ordovician Tunnel Valley, Morocco.
International audience
Variations in Sediment Yield from the Upper Doubs River Carbonate Watershed (Jura, France) since the Late-Glacial Period
AbstractThe Upper Doubs River Valley is a 910-km2watershed feeding into Lake Chaillexon. The lake was formed by a natural rockfall at the end of the Bølling Chronozone (around 14,250 cal yr B.P.) and since then has trapped material eroded from the watershed. The filling process and variations in sediment yield have been investigated by mechanical coring, seismic surveys, and electric soundings. The detrital sediment yield of the upstream watershed can be calculated by quantifying the sedimentary stocks for each climatic stage of the Late-Glacial period and Holocene Epoch and estimating the lake's entrapment capacity. This enables us to determine the intensity of the erosion processes in rel…
Late Pleistocene Detrital Sediment Yield of the Jura Glacier, France
AbstractMeasures of present-day glacial erosion vary widely with the technique employed. This paper quantifies the glacial material trapped in a proglacial lake during the Würm glacial period. The Combe d'Ain site was occupied by a meltwater lake where all the detrital material entering it from the Jura glacier accumulated. Sediment yield is computed from three factors: (1) the size of the sediment source area, (2) the length of time the system operated, and (3) the volume of sediment trapped. The sediment budget of the lake system suggests a detrital sediment yield of 4400±1700 metric tons per square kilometer and per calendar year. This represents a denudation rate of 1.6±0.6 mm per year,…
In situ Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy as a tool to discriminate volcanic rocks and magmatic series, Iceland.
7 pages; International audience; This study evaluates the potentialities of a lab-made pLIBS (portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) to sort volcanic rocks belonging to various magmatic series. An in-situ chemical analysis of 19 atomic lines, including Al, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Si, Sr and Ti, from 21 sampled rocks was performed during a field exploration in Iceland. Iceland was chosen both for the various typologies of volcanic rocks and the rugged conditions in the field in order to test the sturdiness of the pLIPS. Elemental compositions were also measured using laboratory ICP-AES measurements on the same samples. Based on these latter results, which can be used to ident…
Mise en évidence d’une dynamique de fleuves de glace durant la glaciation ordovicienne par l’enregistrement géomorphologique
On Contemporary Ice streams the most important factor controlling polar ice-sheet sheet stability and ice flowing occurs in ice streams. On Pleistocene Ice Sheet, Ice stream can be located using several geomorphologic criteria predict from known characteristic of contemporary ice streams, these criteria defining the conceptual Ice Stream land system model. But nowadays, during fossil glaciations, ice streams characterization is still poorly documented and only few studies illustrate fast ice velocity. In this work, we characterize geomorphological markers of ice stream activity in order to define the Ordovician ice stream glacial landsystem. The study area is located in Sahara from Niger to…
Porewater pressure control on subglacial soft sediment remobilization and tunnel valley formation: A case study from the Alnif tunnel valley (Morocco)
25 pages; International audience; In the eastern part of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains, the Alnif area exposes a buried Ordovician glacial tunnel valley (5 km wide, 180 m deep) cut into preglacial marine sediments. The preglacial sedimentary sequence, deposited in a marine environment, is characterized by a typical "layer-cake" configuration of permeable (sand) and impermeable (clays and early-cemented sandstones) layers. At the base of the tunnel valley, a discontinuous and fan-shaped glacial conglomeratic unit 10 to 15 m thick occurs, erosively deposited over preglacial marine sediments. The conglomeratic unit is composed of preglacial intraclasts embedded within a sandy matrix. Both …
Fluid-pressure controlled soft-bed deformation sequence beneath the surging Breiðamerkurjökull (Iceland, Little Ice Age).
16 pages; International audience; The general subject of this paper is subglacial deformation beneath Breiðamerkurjökull, a surging Icelandic glacier. More specifically it discusses the evolution and the role of fluid pressure on the behaviour of subglacial sediments during deformation. During Little Ice Age maximum, the two outcrops studied, North Jökulsarlon (N-Jk) and Brennhola-Alda (BA), were located at 2550 m and 550 m respectively from the front of the Breiðamerkurjökull. Sedimentological analysis at the forefield of the glacier shows thick, coarse glaciofluvial deposits interbedded with thin, fine-grained shallow lacustrine/swamp deposits, overlain by a deformed till unit at N-Jk. BA…
Depositional model in subglacial cavities, Killiney Bay, Ireland. Interactions between sedimentation, deformation and glacial dynamics
Subglacial meltwater drainage and sedimentary processes play a major role in ice-sheet dynamic but there is a lack of study of subglacial environment because modern ice-sheet beds remain inaccessible. Previous authors already intended to provide diagnostic criterion and recent investigations suggest that fluid pressure variations are a key factor in subglacial environment. This paper investigated the late Devensian sedimentary record in order to describe subglacial sedimentological facies associations and deformation features related to fluid overpressures. We used an integrated approach, based on stratigraphy, sedimentology and deformations styles to demonstrate a subglacial depositional m…
Does porewater or meltwater control tunnel valley genesis? Case studies from the Hirnantian of Morocco.
18 pages; International audience; Several Ordovician tunnel valleys are exposed in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains, including the Alnif and the Foum Larjamme tunnel valleys, located 150 km away from each other. Sedimentological and deformational analyses of these two glacial troughs reveal that differing processes lead to their formations.The Alnif tunnel valley contains numerous deformation structures within sediments both below and above the main glacial erosion contact surface. Ball-structures and clastic dykes occur within preglacial sediments down to 35 m below glacial incisions while overlying glacial sediments contain fluted surfaces, clastic dykes, dewatering structures, folds and…
Sedimentary Dynamics in Glacial and Proglacial Domains, Combe d’Ain, Jura (France), during the Last Glacial Maximum
International audience
Sedimentological and deformational criteria for discriminating subglaciofluvial deposits from subaqueous ice-contact fan deposits: A Pleistocene example (Ireland)
A pit located near Ballyhorsey, 28 km south of Dublin (eastern Ireland), displays subglacially deposited glaciofluvial sediments passing upwards into proglacial subaqueous ice-contact fan deposits. The coexistence of these two different depositional environments at the same location will help with differentiation between two very similar and easily confused glacial lithofacies. The lowermost sediments show aggrading subglacial deposits indicating a constrained accommodation space, mainly controlled by the position of an overlying ice roof during ice-bed decoupling. These sediments are characterized by vertically stacked tills with large lenses of tabular to channelized sorted sediments. The…
Sedimentary System and Petroleum System of Late Ordovician Glacial Valley, Sbâa Basin, Algeria.
International audience
The Bossons glacier protects Europe's summit from erosion
13 pages; International audience; The contrasting efficiency of erosion beneath cold glacier ice, beneath temperate glacier ice, and on ice-free mountain slopes is one of the key parameters in the development of relief during glacial periods. Detrital geochronology has been applied to the subglacial streams of the north face of the Mont-Blanc massif in order to estimate the efficiency of erosional processes there. Lithologically this area is composed of granite intruded at ~303 Ma within an older polymetamorphic complex. We use macroscopic features (on ~10,000 clasts) and U-Pb dating of zircon (~500 grains) to establish the provenance of the sediment transported by the glacier and its subgl…
Quantification of the ablation of an Alpine Marno-Calcareous catchment during the Little Ice Age by analysis of a lacustrine system (case of the Claps Lake in Luc-en-Diois Drome France)
International audience
Discussion on Palaeozoic discontinuities in the Kuh-e Surmeh area (Zagros, Iran).
20 pages; International audience; Evidence of several major unconformities in the Lower Palaeozoic succession in Iran lead to question the role of tectonic/eustatism/climate in terms of their formation. The studied Palaeozoic succession in the Kuh-e Surmeh Anticline is characterized by the preservation of two thin Ordovician and Lower Permian Formations separated by a large hiatus encompassing the Upper Ordovician up to the lowermost Permian. The Ordovician sequences were deposited in shallow shoreface to lower offshore environments and the Lower Permian corresponds to a wave-dominated estuarine system evolving to a delta system. These mainly clastic successions represent good reservoirs in…
Proglacial sediment dynamics from daily to seasonal scales in a glaciated Alpine catchment (Bossons glacier, Mont Blanc massif, France)
The sediment yields of Alpine catchments are commonly determined from streamload measurements made some distance downstream from glaciers. However, this approach indiscriminately integrates erosion processes occurring in both the glacial and proglacial areas. A specific method is required to ascertain the respective inputs from (i) subglacial and supraglacial sediments, (ii) proglacial hillslopes and (iii) proglacial alluvial areas or sandurs. This issue is addressed here by combining high‐resolution monitoring (2 min) of suspended sediment concentrations at different locations within a catchment with discharge gauging and precipitation data. This methodological framework is applied to two …
Sedimentation close to the active Medlicott Wadia Thrust (Western Himalaya): how to estimate climatic base level changes and tectonics.
16 pages; International audience; The Medlicott-Wadia Thrust (MWT) is one of the major active out-of-sequence thrusts in the Himalaya. Studies on Quaternary terraces in its vicinity have been performed using sedimentological, geomorphic and geochronological methods. We focus on the Riasi zone, south of the Pir Panjal range, in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India. The sedimentary units of Quaternary landforms have been mapped as a function of their location with respect to the thrust faults, their relative chronology, and their lithology. Three aggrading sedimentary units, five thin units above strath surfaces at the footwall of the fault system, and seven thin units above strath surfaces …
Clastic injection dynamics during ice front oscillations: A case example from Sólheimajökull (Iceland).
18 pages; International audience; Soft-sediment deformation structures are being increasingly used as a tool for reconstructing palaeoenvironments and porewater pressure conditions in glacial settings. However, the potential of hydrofractures and clastic injections in the reconstruction of ice dynamics remains poorly constrained. This paper presents the results of a detailed study of a clastic injection network outcropping in the Sólheimajökull forefield (South Iceland). Sedimentological descriptions are combined with microscopic to macroscopic analyses of clastic injection geometries, sediment-fills, and cross-cutting relationships. The 250 m long and 20 m high exposure observed along the …
Typology of Hirnantian glacial pavements in SW Djado Basin (NE Niger).
11 pages; International audience