Transfert continent-océan: étude du colmatage et de la concentration en métaux lourds en baie du Marin (Martinique)

The Cul-de-sac du Marin, with its 11 km2 surface area, is the largest indentation along Martinique’s southern coast. Bordered to the North by Pointe Borgnesse and to the South by Pointe Marin, this haven was formerly a real plant and wildlife sanctuary. By the end of the 1970s, and especially in the beginning of the 1980s, the creation of an irrigated perimeter enabled the development of market gardening on the adjacent watersheds; since these are quite steep, fragile and scarcely covered with vegetation, the kinetic energy of the raindrops had a direct effect on them. Substantial volumes of sediment were transferred from the watersheds towards the coast. Such considerable volumes of sediment consist mainly of granuliferous and mineralogical clay, and for the most part, gather along the coastal fringe. Based on diachronic charting as well as on satellite imagery, accretion of the coastal outline has been estimated at 15 m, which corresponds to an increase of approximately 25 hectares. Despite heavy silting, this cul-de-sac is particularly polluted since readings reveal the presence of cadmium, copper and lead. Although these metals are present in the natural environment, the measured rates in the cul-de-sac greatly surpass traditionally admitted standards. The impact of the anthropogenic factor on land is all the more harmful on the marine environment since it is sustainable and highly polluting for the trophic chainD'une superficie de 11 km2 environ, le Cul-de-sac du Marin est la plus grande échancrure de la côte méridionale de la Martinique. Circonscrit au nord par la Pointe Borgnesse et au sud par la Pointe Marin, ce havre était jadis un véritable sanctuaire floristique et faunistique. A la fin des années 1970 mais surtout au début des années 1980, la mise en place d'un périmètre irrigué a permis le développement de cultures maraîchères sur les bassins versants adjacents ; ces derniers étant pentus, fragiles et peu couverts par la végétation, l'énergie cinétique des gouttes de pluie les a affectés directement. D'importants volumes sédimentaires ont été transférés des bassins versants vers le littoral. Ces importants volumes sédimentaires, prioritairement constitués d'argiles granulométriques et minéralogiques, s'accumulent essentiellement le long de la frange côtière. A partir d'analyses cartographiques et d'images satellitaires, la progradation du trait de côte a été estimée à 15 m, ce qui représente un gain de 25 ha environ. En liaison avec son important envasement, le cul-de-sac du Marin montre des zones de forte concentration en métaux lourds. Les analyses réalisées indiquent la présence de plomb, de cadmium et de cuivre. Si ces métaux sont présents dans la nature, les teneurs mesurées dans le cul-de-sac dépassent largement les normes traditionnellement admises. L'anthropisation du milieu terrestre a des répercussions d'autant plus nocives sur le milieu marin, qu'elles sont durables et polluantes pour la chaîne trophique

Le paysage irlandais, un espace photogénique : réflexions autour de quelques séries photographiques en Irlande

Ireland is known to be a photogenic country. Yet it seems that verdant Ireland and its rugged coastlines have been turned into clichés and dominant visual stereotypes which are deemed to represent the only true and authentic landscapes of Ireland. Basing our study on three photographic series by the authors, we shall explore landscape as a form of language in which the notion of framing reflects an aesthetic and a scientific choice. While the photographer tries to capture his perception of the landscape, the geographer develops an analytical description. Here, the Irish landscape is treated as a testing ground for both views. This paper will move from individual observations towards a diversified approach to the plurality of aesthetic readings

Les oubliées du « désir du rivage » ? L’image des zones humides littorales dans la peinture et la société françaises depuis le XVIIIe siècle

It is well known that the social perception of coastal zones has partly changed under the influence of painting since the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries. However, this influence may only have concerned beaches, cliffs and ports, but in no way coastal wetlands. For medical, economical, social, technical and esthetical reasons, this specific environment remained ignored by French painters till the beginning of the XXth century – what could partly be an explanation for its long-standing repulsive image in the French society. Nevertheless, picture and status of wetlands have recently evolved, as well as the social perception and the social context regarding them – last proof of a mutual but changing influence between pictorial representations, social perception and social context. The analysis of French painters’ actual works will illustrate this reversal and offer a dialogue between painting and geography

Arrêt sur Image. Photographie, icônes et littérature en Irlande

Ce numéro de la Revue LISA se propose d’interroger les représentations de l’Irlande non seulement au travers de la photographie en tant que medium documentaire et artistique, mais aussi plus largement, en s’intéressant aux rapports entre procédés photographiques et textes dans les productions culturelles irlandaises. Il montre l’évolution d’un regard sur l’Irlande qui doit prendre en compte les traces du passage d’une nation qui se pense comme rurale aux conséquences du Good Friday Agreement et de l’effondrement du Tigre celtique. Il explore les persistances du pittoresque et de l’iconique, la résistance de l’imaginaire qui construit avec Muldoon une démarche de photoetry hybride. Il rappelle aussi ce que les représentations urbaines et singulièrement celles de Belfast doivent à la photographie en tant que genre intersémiotique, particulièrement apte à rendre compte de la réalité complexe de l’Irlande. This issue of LISA e-journal analyses representations of Ireland through photography as a documentary and artistic medium, but it also more extensively considers the relationships between photography and text in Irish cultural productions. It shows how views of Ireland have moved beyond traditional representations of rurality in order to explore the post Good Friday Agreement era as well as post Celtic Tiger Ireland. Several contributions examine the persistence of the picturesque and the iconic and the endurance of imagination — as in Muldoon’s attempt at hybrid “photoetry.” Others reflect on the aptness of photography to express the visual variety of urban landscapes, and particularly Belfast’s. Most essays insist on the ability of photography, as an intersemiotic medium, to represent Ireland’s complex reality