Late Glacial to Preboreal sea-level rise recorded by the Rhône deltaic system (NW Mediterranean)

International audienceA unique late Glacial–Preboreal record of changes in sea-level and sediment fluxes originating from the Alps is recorded in the Rhône subaqueous delta in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The compilation of detailed bathymetric charts, together with high-resolution seismic profiles and long cores, reveals the detailed architecture of several sediment lobes, related to periods of decreased sea-level rise and/or increased sediment flux. They are situated along the retreat path of the Rhône distributaries, from the shelf edge and canyon heads up to the modern coastline. They form transgressive backstepping parasequences across the shelf, the late Holocene (highstand) deltas being confined to the inner shelf. The most prominent feature is an elongated paleo-shoreface/deltaic system, with an uppermost sandy fraction remolded into subaqueous dunes. A long piston core into the bottomsets of this prograding unit allows precise dating of this ancient deltaic system. In seismic data, it displays aggradation, starting at not, vert, similar 15 cal kyr BP, followed by progradation initiated during the first phase of the Younger Dryas, a period of reduced sea-level rise or stillstand. The delta kept pace with resumed sea-level rise during the Preboreal (which is estimated at about 1 cm/yr), as a result of increased sediment supply from the Alps (melting of glaciers and more humid climate “flushing” the sediment down to the sea). Abandonment of the delta occurred around 10,500 cal yr BP, that is to say about 1000 yr after the end of the Younger Dryas, probably because of decreased sediment flux

Variability in intermediate water circulation of the western Tyrrhenian margin (NE Corsica) over the past 56 kyr

The Marion Dufrene core MD01-2472 made of hemipelagic fine-grained sediments (silt and clays) was collected at 501 m depth on the East Corsica continental slope in 2001 and studied in detail in its 12 uppermost meters. The correlation between sedimentological parameters (Sortable Silt), isotopic data and 14C dating allowed to establish the chronology of main climate events (Younger Dryas/YD, Bölling-Alleröd/B-A, Heinrich events/HS) on this record and to evaluate the impact of major climate oscillations on bottom water condition variability. The sea temperature changes are identified thanks to the planktonic foraminifera assemblages. HS are marked by planktonic foraminifers with peaks of the polar species N. pachyderma (left-coiling), whilst interstadials are marked by warm planktonics that become very abundant during the B-A and Holocene. The occurrence of reworked ostracod species (originating from the continental shelf) and the presence of shallow water Elphidium/Ammonia benthic foraminifera are used to estimate the degree of along-slope transport at the core site. This has revealed two intervals of along-slope transport also associated with coarse-grained contourites, deposited during the YD and HS2 episodes. Intervals with Krithe spp. (ostracod), C. wuellerstorfi (benthic foraminifera) indicate bottom water oxygenation during stadials, whereas interstadials are typified by A. acuminata and Paracypris sp (ostracods) indicating low oxygenated environments. The Last Glacial Maximum is dominated by the planktonic foraminifer T. quinqueloba suggesting high surface primary productivity associated with the establishment of mestrophic bottom conditions. During the Holocene, benthic assemblages indicate oligo-mesotrophic conditions and weak hydrodynamic bottom regime. We hypothesize that there is relationship between the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) intensification during cold rapid climate events and benthic fauna assemblages due to changes in: 1) bottom water ventilation, corresponding to a significant reinforcement of the LIW velocity, and 2) the export of nutrients (generating changes in trophic conditions) and/or sediment particles by bottom currents (contributing to the formation of contourites)

Contourite distribution and bottom currents in the NW Mediterranean Sea: Coupling seafloor geomorphology and hydrodynamic modelling

Contourites are common morphological features along continental margins where currents encounter the seafloor. They can provide long-term archives of palaeoceanography, may be prone to sediment instability, and can have a great potential for hydrocarbon exploration. Despite their importance and increasingly recognised ubiquitous occurrence worldwide, the link between oceanographic processes and contourite features is poorly constrained. In particular, it is unclear under which specific conditions sediments are mobilised, modified and deposited by bottom currents. Here, we aim to determine key bottom current characteristics (velocity and bottom shear stress) affecting contourite deposition, by assuming that recent oceanographic regimes may be extended back in time over the past glacial-interglacial cycles, with strong winter circulation assumed similar to glacial conditions and weak summer circulation to interglacials. We present an integrated study from the NW Mediterranean Sea that couples results of the MARS3D hydrodynamic model with high-resolution sedimentological and geophysical data (piston cores, multibeam bathymetry and high resolution seismic data). Near bottom circulation was modelled during winter and summer 2013 as representative of past periods of high and low current intensity, respectively. Model results match well with the extent of contourite depositional systems and their different localised morphologic elements. We deduce that higher intensity events control the formation of erosional features such as moats and abraded surfaces. The heterogeneous distribution of bottom-current intensity on slopes explains the development of different types of contourite drifts. Plastered drifts form in zones of low bottom-current velocities constrained upslope and downslope by higher current velocities. Separated elongated mounded drifts develop where fast bottom-currents decelerate at foot of the slope. In contrast, no mounded contourite morphologies develop when the current velocity is homogeneous across the slope, especially in margins prone to downslope sediment transport processes. In confined basins, gyres may transport sediment in suspension from a margin with a high sediment supply to an adjacent starved margin, favouring the development of fine-grained contourites in the latter. Our results provide new insights into how detailed bottom-circulation modelling and seafloor geomorphological analyses can improve the understanding of palaeoflow-regimes, at least over time spans when the overall paleogeography and the distribution of contourite drifts is comparable to present-day conditions. The approach of coupled hydrodynamic models and geomorphological interpretations proposed here for depositional, erosional and mixed contourite features may be used to understand other areas affected by bottom currents, and for a better conceptual understanding of bottom-current processes and their interactions with the seafloor

The last glacial maximum Balearic Abyssal Plain megabed revisited

Megabeds are thick sedimentary layers extending over thousands square kilometres in deep sea basins and are thought to result from large slope failures triggered by major external events. Such deposits have been found in at least three areas of the Mediterranean Sea. Although their discovery dates back to the early 1980s, many questions remain, concerning their initiation, source area, extent, and the nature of their emplacement. One of the largest previously documented megabeds was emplaced during the Last Glacial Maximum across the Balearic Abyssal Plain with a thickness of 8-10 m in water depths of up to 2800 m. New 3.5 kHz sub-bottom profiles and sediment cores provide greater constraint on the lateral variability of the megabed and allow to map it beyond previous estimates, with a revised areal extent up to 90,000-100,000 km2. Megabed terminations show gradual pinch-out to the West and an abrupt eastward termination against the Sardinia steep margin. The megabed presents both in seismic profiles and in sediment cores a tripartite subdivision likely corresponding to changes in flow regimes across the basin with a central area of sandy facies and erosional base oriented NNE-SSW allowing renewed discussions about sources and trigger of the megabed

Deltaic and Coastal Sediments as Recorders of Mediterranean Regional Climate and Human Impact Over the Past Three Millennia

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Enregistrements stratigraphiques des cycles climatiques et eustatiques du Quaternaire terminal - Modélisations de la marge continentale du Golfe du Lion.

Earth's climate oscillated during the Late Quaternary following the major glacial-interglacial cycles. These well-known variations influenced continental and marine sedimentary records worldwide. However, the associated changes of global sea-level and of environmental factors are not precisely documented, neither are their stratigraphic signatures.The extensive geophysical and sedimentological investigations carried out in the Gulf of Lions (Western Mediterranean) since the early 90's allow us to explore the expanded sedimentary records preserved on this continental margin during the Late Quaternary. The combination of high sediment supply (largely from Alpine glaciers) and significant subsidence favoured an almost continuous record, at the shelf edge, of sedimentary sequences linked to 100 kyr glacio-eustatic and climatic cycles. The Gulf of Lions is therefore an ideal area for calibration of climatic and sea-level variations from the continental margin architecture. First interpreted from seismic data, these sequences have been sampled and analysed by the EC-funded "Promess 1" drilling operation. This high resolution record of the last ca. 500 kyr provides a new, detailed litho- and chrono-stratigraphic framework. It allows a revised high-resolution, tri-dimensional sequence stratigraphic analysis of the margin, based on the integration of the large data set and of well-constrained well data. It also reveals, from an ultra-high resolution multi-proxy analysis of the last glacial cycle (~130 kyr), the stratigraphic and sedimentary imprints of millennium-scale climatic events such as Heinrich events and the cooling Bond cycles. Finally, the quantitative numerical modelling of the last deglacial period evidences the influence of a very high sediment flux and of pulses of sea-level rises (driven by rapid climatic events) on the architecture of the deltaic system.Le Quaternaire terminal a été le théâtre de changements importants du climat, à l'échelle de la dizaine ou de la centaine de milliers d'années. Ces fluctuations ont affecté les enregistrements sédimentaires continentaux et marins à travers le monde. Même si la variabilité du climat est maintenant bien reconnue, les changements associés du niveau marin absolu et de l'environnement, ainsi que l'empreinte de ces changements sur l'organisation stratigraphique restent à préciser.Les travaux entrepris depuis une dizaine d'années sur la marge du Golfe du Lion (Méditerranée occidentale) montrent qu'il s'agit d'une zone exceptionnelle pour explorer l'impact de la variabilité climatique et glacio-eustatique sur l'organisation stratigraphique des sédiments. Les séquences sédimentaires liées aux grands cycles tardi-pléistocènes de 100 000 ans, révélées par la sismique, ont été échantillonnées et interprétées grâce aux données multi-proxies des forages du projet européen "Promess-1". La révision du modèle stratigraphique de la marge, propagé sur l'ensemble de la plateforme, a contribué à préciser les modèles conceptuels de la stratigraphie séquentielle. L'analyse sismo- et litho-stratigraphique à plus haute résolution révèle également l'enregistrement de séquences liées à des cycles climatiques beaucoup plus courts durant le dernier cycle glaciaire (~130 000 ans). L'association des événements de Heinrich et de Dansgaard-Oeschger dans les cycles génériques de Bond présente une expression stratigraphique distincte, sous la forme de paraséquences régressives. Enfin, la modélisation de l'agencement des structures sédimentaires associées à la remontée du niveau marin lors de la dernière déglaciation (~20 000 ans) souligne le rôle des événements climatiques extrêmes dans la formation du message sédimentaire. Cette étude présente enfin une confirmation semi-quantitative et bien contrainte dans le temps, du rôle fondamental des variations du niveau marin et des flux sédimentaires dans l'organisation des séquences de dépôt, y compris à l'échelle des événements climatiques rapides

The provenance of sediments in the Gulf of Lions, western Mediterranean Sea

International audienceIn this study, we undertook a reconnaissance study of sediments provenance in the Gulf of Lions focusing over the last 16 ka. We used geochemical and isotopic tracers to determine the source of sediments and give insight into the weathering conditions prevailing. Sediments samples were selected both onshore and offshore from the western, eastern, and central part of the Gulf of Lions. We analyzed bulk sediments, coarse and fine silt, and clay fractions. Elemental and Nd isotope compositions appeared to differ from one grain size fraction to another one. These are interpreted in terms of zircon addition in the coarse silt fraction for the elemental concentrations and variable sources influences for the Nd isotope compositions. Our results indicate that sediments in the Gulf of Lions mainly originated from the Rhône River watershed although a contribution of Saharan dust is seen in one sample. Influence of Pyrenean small rivers is minor in these samples. Some Sr isotope compositions shifts are interpreted as reflecting variable amounts of chemical weathering that are consistent with published paleoclimatic reconstructions

Chapitre IV : Morphologie du substratum rocheux et remplissage sédimentaire meuble

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Analyse sismo-stratigraphique des sériespléistocènes de la plate-forme duMozambique

National audienceLa marge mozambicaine, située dans le canal du Mozambiqueest connue comme étant à l’origine de l’un des plus grands systèmesturbiditique au monde (Droz et Mougenot, 1987). Elleprésente dans sa partie terrestre le plus grand fleuve du Sud del’Afrique, le Zambèze(> 2500 Km de long). L’utilisation dedonnées de sismique réflexion de basse résolution (TOTAL) etde plus haute résolution (campagne PAMELA MOZ-04, TOTALet IFREMER) a permis de préciser les facteurs de contrôle duremplissage sédimentaire de la marge mozambicaine à différenteséchelles temporelles durant le Pléistocène.- Le taux de sédimentation augmente significativement entre lePliocène (100 m/Ma) et le Gélasien (230 m/Ma), ceci est corrélableavec un doublement de l’aire de drainage du Zambèze dûà la capture de la partie amont du fleuve Zambèze (Walford etal., 2005 ; Nugent, 1990).- La position relative du dépôt-centre varie au cours duPléistocène. Elle peut être corrélée avec l’augmentation del’amplitude des cycles climatiques au cours du Pléistocène. Ainsil’augmentation de l’amplitude des chutes/remontées du niveaumarin entraîne une absence de connexion sédimentaire entre lefleuve Zambèze et la partie plateau/pente continentale entre lesbas niveaux marins et les hauts niveaux marins.- La Mid Pleistocene Transition (changement de dominance descyclicités climatiques) apparaît comme n’étant pas une transitionabrupte, mais comme une augmentation progressive des instabilitésgravitaires pendant le Calabrien (vers 1 Ma).- L’observation, grâce aux données de sismique de haute résolution,ainsi que les datations relatives des séquences de 5ème ordre,grâce au rapport préliminaire de la campagne IODP 361, ont permisde mettre en évidence la présence de cyclicité de 100 ka maisaussi des cyclicités de 41 ka dans l’enregistrement sédimentairedes 200 derniers milliers d’années, malgré la dominance des cyclesà 100 ka.- Durant cette période de temps, de larges Mass Transport Depositsse déclenchent en contexte de régression marine. Ils sontliés à l’augmentation de la charge sédimentaire et aux grandeschutes du niveau marin.- Un MTD de classe mondiale (3000 km3, 20000 km2) est àl’origine du comblement et du changement de morphologie duchenal du Zambèze entre 780 ka et 440 ka. Cet évènement induitune absence de fonctionnement du chenal du Zambèze pendantcette période

Sedimentation adjacent to atolls and volcano-cored carbonate platforms in the Mozambique Channel (SW Indian Ocean)

Recently acquired data from the Iles Eparses (southwestern Indian Ocean) reveal new information about the geomorphology, depositional processes, and sedimentary deposits on the slopes of atolls and atoll-like platforms. The deposits discussed here lie on the deepwater flanks of isolated, inactive volcanos that are capped by shallow, relatively flat carbonate platforms 45–210 km2 in area. Much of the slope geomorphology is controlled by the underlying volcanic edifice. Steep (~25–35°) upper slopes consist of outcrops of volcanic basement, smooth banks, failure scarps, and channels. Sedimentary features seen in the lower slope and proximal basin (2000–3500 m deep) consist of channels, levees, lobes, and mass transport deposits (MTDs). In places, channels terminate 13–18 km from the platform margin, ending in lobes up to 3.5 km across, a feature not often seen in modern carbonates. In the subsurface, MTDs are present near all platforms. Within MTDs, seismic character is variable, often consists of chaotic reflections indicative of sediment gravity flow processes. Subsurface units with organized (retro- or progradational) reflections are interpreted as turbidite lobes or MTDs with compressional features. Core taken within lobes and near the base of slopes reveal decimeter-scale turbidites and debrites composed primarily of graded and massive bioclastic grainstones and packstones with abundant neritic skeletal components, interbedded with hemipelagic aragonitic and clay-rich foraminiferal ooze. Slope depositional processes are therefore primarily gravity-driven and occur at different scales; i.e., bed-scale turbidites and muds may be remobilized and redeposited through slope failure and deposition of large MTDs. Dominant wind direction may also play a role in slope sedimentation: leeward slopes are generally less rugose and show increased sedimentation at the toe of the slope. This study thus provides new insight into depositional systems surrounding atoll-like carbonate platforms, and provides a new analogue for similar deposits in the geologic record