Potential of VIS-NIR spectroscopy to characterize and discriminate topsoils of different soil types in the Triffa plain (Morocco)

International audienc

: Chronostratigraphy of travertines from lot of regions of Morocco and their relation with the paleoclimatic global context

We studied here travertines of Eastern Morocco. For this part of Africa, these concretions indicate ancient humidphases which are suspected to be linked with palaeo-monsoons and the precession cycle of 23,000 yrs. Ourprincipal aim is to precise the planetary configuration which is associated with the climatic conditions of theirconstruction and to determine the chronological frequency of the travertine deposits. In fact, travertines, likespeleothems, can be regarded as valuable archives of climatic conditions on the continent. The major differenceis that the formation of the speleothems is generally discontinuous and all the isotopic stages are not recorded,while the travertines are continuously recorded at least travertine sequences are very thicken and can cover hugegeological periods. However, erosion could unfortunately suppress a part of climatic information. The preliminary results show that in order to find the precession cycles of 23 000 yrs and to obtain a weak uncertainty for the periods comprised between 500,000 and 100,000 yrs., the development of mass-spectrometry by ICP-MS should to be used.Les travertins sont abondants au Maroc oriental, et correspondent à des formations largement développées auniveau des sources et des cascades au cours du Quaternaire. Les formations travertineuses soumises ici aux analyses radiochronologiques sont réparties dans différentes régions du Maroc (Errachidia, Lalla Mimouna,Debdou et Fès). On tente ainsi de définir le synchronisme des changements climatiques à une échelle continentale régionale et d'associer les périodes de forte humidité responsables des dépôts de travertins à des « paléo-moussons » issues de changements climatiques globaux, le terme « paléo-mousson » étant utilisé dans le sens anglo-saxon qui évoque le déplacement de masses d'air océanique vers le continent. Les travertins sont susceptibles d'avoir un enregistrement plus complet que ceux enregistrés dans les planchers stalagmitiques, maisl'érosion peut en supprimer une partie. Les résultats préliminaires montrent que pour essayer de retrouver descycles de précession de 23.000 ans responsables de ces paléo-moussons avec de faibles incertitudes durant lespériodes comprises entre 500.000 et 100.000 ans, la spectrométrie de masse (TIMS ou ICP-MS) devra êtreutilisée

New interpretations of the Témara’s caves and their occupations: special focus on small vertebrates and palaeoenvironments

International audienceThe El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra caves are located in the region of Témara, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, which was occupied by human populations since the beginning of the Late Pleistocene (around 120 ka BP). The recent excavations yielded human and faunal remains, as well as exceptional archaeological objects associated to anthropological structures. Small vertebrate remains are especially abundant in these sites, which allowed us to realize the first study on these taxa with a pluridisciplinary approach (taxonomy, taphonomy, palaeoecology) for North-African archaeological sites. The continuous sedimentary sequence of these sites covers the last climatic cycle, and is studied in a renewed geologic, stratigraphic, chronological and cultural context. We obtained significant data on the palaeoenvironmental and taphonomic context of the human occupations of the Témara’s caves. Today, there is no equivalent of such regional data for the whole Late Pleistocene in North Africa