Reply to comment by P. Olivier on “Thermal control on the modes of crustal thinning leading to mantle exhumation: Insight from the Cretaceous Pyrenean hot paleomargins”

International audienceWe thank Philippe Olivier for the great attention he paid in reading our work and for the discussion he initiated. P. Olivier has been alarmed by our proposition that some Pyrenean granulites might have been (re)granulitized during the Cretaceous rifting event. In a rigorous scientific approach, this hypothesis has to be envisioned. However, in the paper, we proposed two alternative scenarios: one involving a Cretaceous (re)granulitization and another one implying a succession of metamorphic events with a first Paleozoic High Temperature (HT) metamorphism event responsible for the granulitization, followed by a second HT metamorphism event during the Cretaceous. Our main point here was to put in relation the strikingly similar fields of metamorphisms responsible for the granulitization of the crystalline basement and for the HT metamorphism of the prerift and synrift Mesozoic sedimentary cover. In other words: with temperatures up to 600°C in the metasedimentary cover, we would expect temperatures at least as high as 600°C in the basement. If not, it would mean that the continental crustal basement was already withdrawn from the metamorphic domain at that point. This scenario corresponds in fact to the concept of lateral extraction of the continental crust that we retained from our field constraints and that we defend here

The lichen genus Usnea (Parmeliaceae) in tropical South America: species with a pigmented medulla, reacting C+ yellow

In tropical South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil), we investigated the diversity of Usnea species with a pigmented, C+ yellow medulla. Four species are treated: the sorediate U. ceratina and U. entoviolata, the latter being new for South America, and the non-sorediate U. cristatula and U. flavorubescens, the latter being newly described here. A detailed description is provided for each species together with an identification ke

Eumitrioid Usnea species (Parmeliaceae, lichenized Ascomycota) in tropical South America and the Galapagos

Eumitrioid Usnea species are characterized by a tubular central axis throughout the entire thallus. Four species were identified in South America: Usnea baileyi is a (sub-) tropical species occurring both in continental South America and the Galapagos; U. perplectata has a scattered distribution worldwide and occurs in continental South America, mainly on the eastern range; U. flaveola and the newly described species U. subflaveola are both so far endemic to the Neotropical Andes. Distinct chemotypes, as well as anatomical characters, such as the thickness ratio of the medulla or the presence of medullar pigmentation, are diagnostic in delimiting these species. A detailed description of the species is provided together with an identification ke

Multivariate analysis of anatomical characters confirms the differentiation of two morphologically close species, Melanohalea olivacea (L.) O. Blanco et al. and M. septentrionalis (Lynge) O. Blanco et al

This study investigates how anatomical characters can be used to differentiate two morphologically close species, Melanohalea olivacea (L.) O. Blanco et al. and M. septentrionalis (Lynge) O. Blanco et al. Although the two species are morphologically differentiated, mainly based on the position and shape of pseudocyphellae on the lobes, poorly-developed specimens can be difficult to identify based on morphology alone. For example, in Switzerland, both species are at the south-west limit of their distribution range and most specimens are small and not fully developed. In such cases, anatomical characters are particularly useful in separating the two species. Five anatomical characters were studied: spore length and width; hymenium, subhymenium and hypothecium height. A nested ANOVA showed that variation of spore length was 155 times greater between species than between individuals of the same species, itself 5 times higher than within individuals. In a Principal Component Analysis, despite a substantial variation of the anatomical characters within both species, a significant species differentiation appeared distinctly on the first axis (P < 0·001), which accounted for 62·35% of the total variance, and the type specimens nested within each species. Finally, a Discriminant Linear Analysis assigned 100% of the individuals to their species class, the best predictors to discriminate between the two species being subhymenium height and spore length. These characters proved to be powerful in identifying specimens with a poorly-developed morphology and confirmed the presence of M. olivacea in Switzerlan

Pendulous Usnea species (Parmeliaceae, lichenized Ascomycota) in tropical South America and the Galapagos

The diversity of pendulous Usnea species in tropical South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela) and the Galapagos Islands is discussed with reference to 23 species. Usnea crenulata Truong & Clerc is newly described. Usnea articulata, U. deformis, U. dimorpha, U. geissleriana, U. merrillii, U. perhispidella, U. sanctaeritae, U. subflammea and U. transitoria are newly reported for South America. Modern descriptions are provided for Usnea amabilis, U. arthroclada, U. dodgei, U. humboldtii and U. regia. We propose to reject the synonymy of U. hesperina with U. schadenbergiana, and the valid name for U. hesperina is therefore U. subgracilis. Distinct patterns of unidentified triterpenoids have been detected by thin-layer chromatography and are used to characterize several species within this group. The morphology, branch anatomy, chemistry, ecology and distribution of each species are given, together with an identification ke

Calcul couplé fluide-structure pour déterminer les origines du bruit rayonné par un transformateur ferroviaire

Les courants alimentant les transformateurs de traction ferroviaire sont à l'origine d'efforts électromagnétiques (notamment, la magnétostriction) appliqués au circuit magnétique. Ces vibrations peuvent être transmises à la coque extérieure par les cales qui maintiennent le circuit mais aussi par l'huile qui assure isolation et refroidissement. Un modèle éléments finis est utilisés pour étudier le comportement du transformateur, en prenant en compte les couplages fluide-structure, il permet de mettre en évidence les rôles complexes des cales et de l'huile dans la transmission des vibrations

Odor Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Relationship to Food Neophobia

Atypical sensory functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been well documented in the last decade for the visual, tactile and auditory systems, but olfaction in ASD is still understudied. The aim of the present study was to examine whether children with ASD and neuro-typically (NT) developed children differed in odor perception, at the cognitive (familiarity and identification ability), sensorimotor (olfactory exploration) and affective levels (hedonic evaluation). Because an important function of the sense of smell is its involvement in eating, from food selection to appreciation and recognition, a potential link between odor perception and food neophobia was also investigated. To these ends, 10 children between 6 and 13 years old diagnosed with ASD and 10 NT control children were tested. To compare performance, 16 stimuli were used and food neophobia was assessed by the parents on a short food neophobia scale. Results revealed that (i) significant hedonic discrimination between attractive and aversive odors was observed in NT (p=0.005; d=2.378) and ASD children (p=0.042; d=0.941), and (ii) hedonic discrimination level was negatively correlated with food neophobia scores in ASD (p=0.007) but not NT children. In conclusion, this study offers new insights into odor perception in ASD children, highlighting a relationship between odor hedonic reactivity and eating behavior. This opens up new perspectives on both (i) the role of olfaction in the construction of eating behavior in ASD children, and (ii) the measurement and meaning of food neophobia in this population

H9N2 avian influenza virus in a Mediterranean gull

International audienc

Basement – Cover decoupling and progressive exhumation of metamorphic sediments at hot rifted margin. Insights from the Northeastern Pyrenean analog

International audienceWe compile field data collected along the eastern part of the North Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) to point to a tectonic evolution under peculiar thermal conditions applying to the basin sediments in relation with the opening of the Cretaceous Pyrenean rift. Based on this compilation, we show that when thinning of the continental crust increased , isotherms moved closer to the surface with the result that the brittle-ductile transition propagated upward and reached sediments deposited at the early stage of the basin opening. During the continental breakup, the pre-rift Mesozoic cover was efficiently decoupled from the Paleozoic basement along the Triassic evaporite level and underwent drastic ductile thinning and boudinage. We suggest that the upper Albian and upper Creta-ceous flysches acted as a blanket allowing temperature increase in the mobile pre-rift cover. Finally, we show that continuous spreading of the basin floor triggered the exhumation of the metamorphic, ductily sheared pre-rift cover, thus contributing to the progressive thinning of the sedimentary pile. In a second step, we investigate the detailed geological records of such a hot regime evolution along a reference-section of the eastern NPZ. We propose a balanced restoration from the Mouthoumet basement massif (north) to the Boucheville Albian basin (south). This section shows a north to south increase in the HT Pyrenean imprint from almost no metamorphic recrystallization to more than 600 °C in the pre-and syn-rift sediments. From this reconstruction, we propose a scenario of tectonic thinning involving the exhumation of the pre-rift cover by the activation of various detachment surfaces at different levels in the sedimentary pile. In a third step, examination of the architecture of current distal passive margin domains provides confident comparison between the Pyrenean case and modern analogs. Finally, we propose a general evolutionary model for the pre-rift sequence of the Northeastern Pyrenean rifted margin