Hugues Faure, 1928–2003: The unique adventure of his life

Hugues Faure was not only one of the greatest pioneers of the study of the Quaternary and a man of outstanding personality, with the highest integrity, an uncommon strength of character, with a lot of kindness and generosity, but also a man who made his dreams, conceived in the inhospitable solitudes of the Sahara, come true. He was very young when he chose his way: barely 10 years old and his passion for geology already filled his life. It was in Africa, a continent he discovered at his earliest years as a field-geologist, and deeply loved, that he nursed and matured many of his most stimulating ideas on Quaternary environmental change. It was in the desert that he built up his exceptional personality and found his truth, which finally allowed him to accomplish his destiny. Hugues Faure was born in Paris, on the 11th March 1928, the son of a jeweller. The comfortable circumstances of the family were darkened by his father's death when Hugues was only 3 years old. As a consequence of this sad event, Hugues used to spend in England most of his school holidays far from his family. Then during World War 2, he lived the exodus on the roads of France, cycling under the bombs, with his dog in his basket. He was 12 years old, and it was the end of his youth. His passion for earth sciences had began before the age of ten, when he started collecting flint and fossils from the chalk of the Paris Basin, and decided to stop playing piano, so as to devote himself to Geology. Hugues graduated in Mathematics from Lycée Jacques-Decour in 1948, and in Sciences from the Faculté des Sciences de Paris Sorbonne in 1949. On the same year he enrolled as a geologist of the “France of Overseas”, then as a hydrogeologist at the French Geological Survey (BRGM) (1949–1963), so as to work in Africa

Decreased Expression of Epidermal Cytoplasmic Antigens in Cultured Human Keratinocytes

The expression of upper cytoplasmic (U-CYT) antigens which are expressed only in the superficial layers of the epidermis and are markers of epidermal cell differentiation in vivo and of basement zone (BMZ) antigens reacting with bullous pemphigoid serum was studied in keratinocytes in tissue culture. The cells were cultured at an acid pH (5.6–5.8) similar to that of skin and without feeder cells, dermal tissue, or collagen. It was found that the expression of U-CYT antigens decreased markedly in culture. These antigens were expressed in 45–65% of epidermal cells prepared from fresh skin, but in only 5–10% of cells which had been grown in primary culture over 1 mo, and in no cells in secondary or tertiary culture. By contrast, BMZ antigens continued to be expressed in culture. These antigens were expressed by 20–35% of epidermal cells prepared from fresh tissue and by 15–35% of keratinocytes in primary, secondary or tertiary culture. These findings indicate that U-CYT and BMZ antigens can be used to type subpopulations of human keratinocytes in suspension, and suggest that the differentiation of these cells in vitro differs from that which occurs in vivo

A behavioural approach to feeding broilers

International audienc

Emplacement in an extensional setting of the Mont Lozère-Borne granitic complex (SE France) inferred from comprehensive AMS, structural and gravity studies.

The emplacement mode and setting of the Late Hercynian Mont Lozère–Borne granitic complex (French Massif Central), which consists of several plutons, is investigated. Structural and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) studies have been carried out to characterize the internal fabrics of the granitic plutons. Throughout the Pont-de-Montvert–Borne pluton, an E–W-trending magnetic lineation is well developed. In the host rock and the thermal aureole, a conspicuous E–W-trending lineation is interpreted as an evidence of a late-orogenic extensional event. To the east of the pluton, the AMS fabric is characterized by values of anisotropy degree (P′) around 4–5% with a prolate ellipsoid and subsolidus structures, whereas, to the west, the P′ parameter is weaker with an oblate ellipsoid and purely magmatic microstructures. A gravity investigation allows determination of the 3D shape of the pluton. The western part of the granitic complex is thicker than the eastern one and is interpreted as the feeder zone. This suggests an eastward spreading of the magma. The consistency between regional stretching and directions of AMS lineations in the pluton and the shape of the complex deduced from gravity strongly argues that the emplacement mode of the complex was influenced by the regional extensional tectonic setting during the collapse of the Hercynian belt

A new geodynamic interpretation for the South Portuguese Zone (SW Iberia) and the Iberian Pyrite Belt genesis.

International audienceThe South Portuguese Zone (SPZ) constitutes the southernmost segment of the Variscan Iberian Massif. It is bounded to the north by the Beja-Acebuches Ophiolitic Complex and related accretionary wedge. To the south lie the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) and flysch deposits forming the southern extent of the zone. Structural analysis within the Spanish side of the SPZ supports continuous south propagating deformation, evolving from early synmetamorphic thrusting in the internal zone to thin-skinned tectonics in the southern external domain. The accretion of the SPZ to the Ossa Morena Zone is also witnessed by the presence of various mélanges, observed throughout the investigated area. Part of the mélanges observed in the IPB are related to the volcanics and mineralizations setting. A key point to understand the IPB mineralizations genesis is to constrain the volcanogenic model. One underestimated feature is the large amount of submarine calc-alkaline ignimbritic facies, implying the presence of caldera structures within the province. Such correlation between caldera environment and ore deposits strongly suggests that the IPB developed in a continental arc. Our geodynamic model proposes an early north directed subduction associated with the obduction of the oceanic crust toward the south. Southward, this episode is immediately followed by the development of the accretionary prism, while farther south, a second subduction zone responsible for the arc setting of the IPB initiates. Subsequent Visean continental collision is associated with the deposit of the south propagating flysch and the present geometry of the SPZ

Structural, AMS and geochronological study of a laccolith emplaced during Late Variscan orogenic extension: the Rocles pluton (SE French Massif Central)

International audienceIn the southern French Massif Central, the Rocles leucogranite of Variscan age consists of three petrographic facies; textural analysis shows that they experienced the same subsolidus deformation. New chemical U-Th-Pb dating on monazite yielded 324 ± 4 Ma and 325 ± 5 Ma ages for muscovite-rich and biotite-rich facies respectively. AMS-study results agree with petrostructural observations. The magnetic planar and linear fabrics, which correspond to the preferred orientation of biotite and muscovite, are consistent with the foliation and lineation defined by the preferred mineral orientation. This fabric developed during pluton emplacement. The accordance of this granite foliation with that observed in the host rock, suggests that the Rocles pluton is a laccolith, but its present geometry resulted from post-emplacement southward tilting due to the uplift of the Late Carboniferous Velay dome. Restoration of the primary geometry of the pluton and its country-rocks to a flat-lying attitude places the granite lineation close to the trend measured in other plutons of the area. This restoration further supports the interpretation of the Rocles laccolith as a pluton emplaced along a tectonic contact reactivated during the late-orogenic collapse of the Variscan Belt

AMS significance of dykes and granite from a same pluton - an example from the French Massif Central.

The relationships between plutons and dykes of granite have been the topic of many studies since the hypothesis of "dyke propagation" was proposed as the main mode of ascent and emplacement of granitic plutons

First Triassic palaeomagnetic constraints from Junggar (NW China) and their implications for the Mesozoic tectonics in Central Asia

International audienceNorthwestern China belts result from the Palaeozoic collage of Central Asia and the subsequent reactivations due to far-field effects of the Mesozoic Tibetan and the Cenozoic Himalayan collisions. Triassic is a crucial period to understand and decipher the tectonics related to these two episodes. About 250 oriented palaeomagnetic cores from 43 sites were collected from six sections of Upper Permian to Late Triassic sandstone, in South and West Junggar, Northwestern China. Thermomagnetic, IRM and hysteresis measurements reveal magnetite as the main carrier of the magnetic remanence with minor hematite and maghemite. Stepwise thermal demagnetisation has generally isolated two components. The low temperature component, up to 300-350 °C, displays a direction consistent with the present-day geomagnetic field. The locality-mean directions related to the high temperature component (above 350 °C) were also calculated. Two out of six sections display intense viscous magnetisation and the occurrence of maghemite reveals a possible Cenozoic chemical remagnetisation for these two localities. For the other four localities, we assume that the magnetisation is primary because: (1) AMS measurements reveal a primary fabric, (2) there are local occurrences of antipodal polarities, and (3) palaeolatitudes of tilt-corrected poles are compatible with previous studies. The consistency between the Early Triassic poles of West and South Junggar indicates that Junggar evolved as a rigid block only since Early Mesozoic. The comparison of the Late Palaeozoic and the Early Mesozoic poles of Junggar and those of Siberia and Tarim shows major rotations between the Late Permian and the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. These periods of discrete rotations are characterized by strike-slip faulting in Tianshan and Altai and they may correlate with the major episodes of coarse-grained detrital sedimentation and uplift of the range. Especially, the counter-clockwise rotations of Junggar relative to Tarim and Siberia, which occurred between the Early and the Late Triassic and between the Late Triassic and the Late Jurassic, are accommodated by transpressive tectonics in the Tianshan and the Altai belts. This reactivation is a far-field effect of Tibetan blocks diachronous collisions. Therefore, these first Triassic palaeomagnetic results from Junggar infer that post-Carboniferous rotations were due to the combined effect of the post-orogenic transcurrent movement and the Mesozoic oblique reactivation

AFLP linkage map of the Japanese quail Coturnix japonica

The quail is a valuable farm and laboratory animal. Yet molecular information about this species remains scarce. We present here the first genetic linkage map of the Japanese quail. This comprehensive map is based solely on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. These markers were developed and genotyped in an F2 progeny from a cross between two lines of quail differing in stress reactivity. A total of 432 polymorphic AFLP markers were detected with 24 TaqI/EcoRI primer combinations. On average, 18 markers were produced per primer combination. Two hundred and fifty eight of the polymorphic markers were assigned to 39 autosomal linkage groups plus the ZW sex chromosome linkage groups. The linkage groups range from 2 to 28 markers and from 0.0 to 195.5 cM. The AFLP map covers a total length of 1516 cM, with an average genetic distance between two consecutive markers of 7.6 cM. This AFLP map can be enriched with other marker types, especially mapped chicken genes that will enable to link the maps of both species and make use of the powerful comparative mapping approach. This AFLP map of the Japanese quail already provides an efficient tool for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping