Characterisation of Hydric Expansion for Carbon/Epoxy Laminates

International audienc

Amplification of seismic ground motion in the Tunis basin: Numerical BEM simulations vs experimental evidences

This paper aims at the analysis of seismic wave amplification in a deep alluvial basin in the city of Tunis in Tunisia. This sedimentary basin is 3000m wide and 350m deep. Since the seismic hazard is significant in this area, the depth of the basin and the strong impedance ratio raise the need for an accurate estimation of seismic motion amplification. Various experimental investigations were performed in previous studies to characterize site effects. The Boundary Element Method is considered herein to assess the parameter sensitivity of the amplification process and analyse the prevailing phenomena. The various frequencies of maximum amplification are correctly estimated by the BEM simulations. The maximum amplification level observed in the field is also well retrieved by the numerical simulations but, due to the sensitivity of the location of maximum amplification in space, the overall maximum amplification has to be considered. The influence of the wave-field incidence and material damping is also discussed

Two billion years of episodic and simultaneous websteritic and eclogitic diamond formation beneath the Orapa kimberlite cluster, Botswana

The Sm–Nd isotope systematics and geochemistry of eclogitic, websteritic and peridotitic garnet and clinopyroxene inclusions together with characteristics of their corresponding diamond hosts are presented for the Letlhakane mine, Botswana. These data are supplemented with new inclusion data from the nearby (20–30 km) Orapa and Damtshaa mines to evaluate the nature and scale of diamond-forming processes beneath the NW part of the Kalahari Craton and to provide insight into the evolution of the deep carbon cycle. The Sm–Nd isotope compositions of the diamond inclusions indicate five well-defined, discrete eclogitic and websteritic diamond-forming events in the Orapa kimberlite cluster at 220 ± 80 Ma, 746 ± 100 Ma, 1110 ± 64 Ma, 1698 ± 280 Ma and 2341 ± 21 Ma. In addition, two poorly constrained events suggest ancient eclogitic (> 2700 Ma) and recent eclogitic and websteritic diamond formation (< 140 Ma). Together with sub-calcic garnets from two harzburgitic diamonds that have Archaean Nd mantle model ages (TCHUR) between 2.86 and 3.38 Ga, the diamonds studied here span almost the entire temporal evolution of the SCLM of the Kalahari Craton. The new data demonstrate, for the first time, that diamond formation occurs simultaneously and episodically in different parageneses, reflecting metasomatism of the compositionally heterogeneous SCLM beneath the area (~ 200 km2). Diamond formation can be directly related to major tectono-magmatic events that impacted the Kalahari Craton such as crustal accretion, continental breakup and large igneous provinces. Compositions of dated inclusions, in combination with marked variations in the carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of the host diamonds, record mixing arrays between a minimum of three components (A: peridotitic mantle; B: eclogites dominated by mafic material; C: eclogites that include recycled sedimentary material). Diamond formation appears dominated by local fluid–rock interactions involving different protoliths in the SCLM. Redistribution of carbon during fluid–rock interactions generally masks any potential temporal changes of the deep carbon cycle