Analogue model of rift linkage and inversion with application to the Western Alps

Along-strike segmentation of orogens raises questions because its causes may predate orogeny in relation to structural inheritance. Here we focus on rift/margin linkage domains and their inversion by using analogue models with image analysis to extract the 3D strain field. Extensional models document, depending on the strike-perpendicular offset and the brittle-crust thickness, three types of rift linkage modes: (1) oblique linkage with early T-fault, (2) strongly-oblique linkage with R-fault network and, (3) transfer-linkage with late Y-strike-slip fault. Analogue model of inverted rift basins is used to analyse the misunderstood tectonic evolution of transition zones in the segmented Western Alpine belt

Mycotoxin Detection Plays “Cops and Robbers”: Cyclodextrin Chemosensors as Specialized Police?

As in a cops and robbers play we discover new mycotoxins and metabolites everyday and we are forced to develop new molecules quickly as chemo- or biosensors or to modify existing molecules able to recognize these new hazardous compounds. This will result in an enormous cost saving to agro-food industry through the prevention and reduction of product recalls and reduced treatment costs. Here we present a brief review of the rapid methods used to detect mycotoxins, considering usefulness and limits. Then we propose a new fast, efficient and cheap methodology, based on a combination of computer chemistry aided design and fluorescence, that can help to drive synthesis in a more efficient way

Analogue model of rift linkage and inversion with application to the Western Alps

International audienceAlong-strike segmentation of orogens raises questions because its causes may predate orogeny in relation to structural inheritance. Here we focus on rift/margin linkage domains and their inversion by using analogue models with image analysis to extract the 3D strain field. Extensional models document, depending on the strike-perpendicular offset and the brittle-crust thickness, three types of rift linkage modes: (1) oblique linkage with early T-fault, (2) strongly-oblique linkage with R-fault network and, (3) transfer-linkage with late Y-strike-slip fault. Analogue model of inverted rift basins is used to analyse the misunderstood tectonic evolution of transition zones in the segmented Western Alpine belt

The Grès Singuliers of the Mont Blanc region (France and Switzerland): stratigraphic response to rifting and crustal necking in the Alpine Tethys

International audienceThe Grès Singuliers unit represents an anomalous occurrence of a siliciclastic-dominated sedimentary system typifying a restricted geographic area around the Mont Blanc massif. Deposited during Early Jurassic rifting, this unit was influenced by the tectonic processes responsible for its development. This contribution integrates and reconciles sedimentological, stratigraphic and tectonic data and discusses the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Mont Blanc basement and its autochthonous sedimentary cover. Based on depositional facies, a petrographic and detrital zircon provenance analysis, we propose that the Grès Singuliers unit is mainly derived from erosion of the local basement and pre-rift sedimentary cover. Furthermore, recognition of Jurassic cataclasites and black gouges capping the Mont Blanc basement confirms the hypothesis that the Mont Blanc domain formed an extensional core complex. The source to sink relationship between the Mont Blanc detachment system and the Grès Singuliers unit, as well as timing and location within the Alpine rift system, allows us to interpret this unit as the syn-tectonic sedimentary response to crustal necking, responsible for the onset of localized severe crustal/lithospheric thinning in the European margin of the Alpine Tethys rift system. The main result of this study was to show that the exhumation and uplift of basement during crustal/lithospheric necking produced a new source area for clastic sedimentary systems. Therefore, the local occurrence of a siliciclastic unit similar to the Grès Singuliers along passive margins may be symptomatic of necking zones in other rift systems