Tectonic evolution of the Eastern Moroccan Meseta: from Late Devonian fore‐arc sedimentation to Early Carboniferous collision of an Avalonian promontory

This study was founded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain through the project PANGEATOR (CGL2015-71692-P) and the Doctoral scholarship BES-2016-078168. GeoHistory Facility instruments were funded via an Australian Geophysical Observing System grant provided to AuScope Pty Ltd. by the AQ44 Australian Education Investment Fund program. The NPII multicollector was obtained via funding from the Australian Research Council LIEF program (LE150100013). The authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. Manuel Francisco Pereira (University of Evora, Portugal) and Dr. Michel Villeneuve (Centre Europeen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Geosciences de l'Environnement, France) for their constructive reviews that helped to improve the quality of the original manuscript. Special thanks to Brad McDonald (Curtin University, Australia) for technical assistance regarding LA-ICPMS and Hf analyses, Profs. Abdelfatah Tahiri (University Mohammed V of Rabat, Morocco) and Hassan El Hadi (University Hassan II of Casablanca, Morocco) for their support during field work, Prof. Yvette Kuiper (Colorado School of Mines, USA) for her precious hints about the interpretation of Hf data, and Dr. Lorenzo Valetti for proofreading the manuscript. Supporting information can be obtained in Mendeley Data: https://doi.org/10.17632/b8fdbykmbx.1 (https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/b8fdbykmbx/draft?a=eaae2da0-8e224056-861b-4824984f1c10).The deformed Paleozoic succession of the Eastern Moroccan Meseta crops out in relativelysmall and isolated inliers surrounded by Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. Two of the largest inliers(Mekkam and Debdou) are characterized by a monotonous succession of slates and greywackes affected bypolyphasic folding that occurred at low‐to very low grade metamorphic conditions. New U‐Pb ages ondetrital zircon grains from the Debdou‐Mekkam metasediments constrain the maximal depositional age asLate Devonian, interpreted to be close to the true sedimentation age. Furthermore, theεHfvalues of theDevonian detrital zircons, together with the presence of a series of scattered zircon grains with ages betweenc. 0.9 and c. 1.9 Ga, suggest provenance from a subduction‐related magmatic arc located on the Avalonianmargin. The Debdou‐Mekkam massif is characterized by an Early Carboniferousfirst deformationalevent (D1), which gave way to a pervasive cleavage (S1) associated with plurikilometric‐scale, tight toisoclinal, overturned to recumbent folds. Later events (Dc) occurred at Late Carboniferous time andgenerated variably developed crenulation cleavages (Sc) associated with variously oriented metric‐tokilometric‐scale folds, which complicate the pattern of both D1 intersection lineations (L1) and axial traces.The restoration of this pronounced curved pattern yields originally SW‐NE‐oriented D1 fold axes withregional SE‐vergence. This important Early Carboniferous shortening and SE‐directed tectonic transport canbe explained by closure of the Rheic Ocean and thefirst phases of the collision between the northern passivemargin of Gondwana and an Avalonian promontory.Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain CGL2015-71692-P BES-2016-078168Australian Geophysical Observing SystemAustralian Education Investment Fund program AQ44Australian Research Council LE15010001

Mesures de spectrométrie et de dosimétrie neutron aux postes de travail pour l'étalonnage de dosimètres individuels PGP-DIN

International audience(ManuAcrit r e p le 3 juillet 2002, accepté le 29 septembre 2002) Dans le cadre de la mise en application des recommandations décrites dans la publication 60 de la CIPR, des mesures de spectrométrie neutron ont été réalisées à plusieurs postes de travail au CEA de Valduc. Le but de ces mesures était la détermination de nouveaux coefficients d'étalonnage h affecter aux dosimètres individuels neutron PGP-DIN afin de restituer correctement les doses reçues par les opérateurs séjournant h ces postes. Ces mesures ont été effectuées au cours de deux campagnes successives. La tluence neutronique et le débit d'équivalent de dose amhiantH*(IO) ont été mesurés en fonction de l'énergie avec le spectromètre ROSPEC et un système de sphères de BONNER. Les champs de radiations étant toutefois mixtes, c'est-à-dire présentant une composante neutronique et photonique, des mesures de débits d'équivalent de dose ambiant photon aux postes de travail considérés ont également été réalisées à l'aide de débitmètres d'ambiance. Les dosimètres individuels PGP-DIN ont été positionnés sur un fantôme (ISO) d'eau. Des calculs effectués h l'aide du code MCNP ont été comparés aux résultats expérimentaux. Neutron spectrometry and dosimetry measurement at workplaces for calibration of individual PGP-DIN dosimeters. Measurements to determine new coefficients for individual neutron dosimeters PGP-DIN complying with the ICRP 60 recommendations were performed at two workplaces at the CEA of Valduc: a storage r w m and a plutonium reprocessing plant. Two spectrometry campaigns were performed allowing a better assessment of doses received by operators worki.ng at these workplaces. Neutron energy fluence and ambient dose equivalent rate H*(10) distributions were measured as function of neutron energy by using the ROSPEC device and BONNER spheres spectrometer. The radiation field being mixed neutron and gamma, the gamma component was also evaluated: neutron and photon dose-rate meters were nsed to evaluate the ambient dose rate equivalent. Individual dosemeters were positioned on an ISO water slab phantom. In addition, calculations were performed using the MCNP simulation code for different configurations. ' Insiitui de radioprotection ct de sûre16 nucléaire, DPHD, B.P. 17. 92262 Fontcnay-aux-Roses Cedcx, France

Phylogeny and Diversification Patterns among Vesicomyid Bivalves

Vesicomyid bivalves are among the most abundant and diverse symbiotic taxa in chemosynthetic-based ecosystems: more than 100 different vesicomyid species have been described so far. In the present study, we investigated the phylogenetic positioning of recently described vesicomyid species from the Gulf of Guinea and their western Atlantic and Pacific counterparts using mitochondrial DNA sequence data. The maximum-likelihood (ML) tree provided limited support for the recent taxonomic revision of vesicomyids based on morphological criteria; nevertheless, most of the newly sequenced specimens did not cluster with their morphological conspecifics. Moreover, the observed lack of geographic clustering suggests the occurrence of independent radiations followed by worldwide dispersal. Ancestral character state reconstruction showed a significant correlation between the characters “depth” and “habitat” and the reconstructed ML phylogeny suggesting possible recurrent events of ‘stepwise speciation’ from shallow to deep waters in different ocean basins. This is consistent with genus or species bathymetric segregation observed from recent taxonomic studies. Altogether, our results highlight the need for ongoing re-evaluation of the morphological characters used to identify vesicomyid bivalves

On the evolutionary ecology of symbioses between chemosynthetic bacteria and bivalves

Mutualistic associations between bacteria and eukaryotes occur ubiquitously in nature, forming the basis for key ecological and evolutionary innovations. Some of the most prominent examples of these symbioses are chemosynthetic bacteria and marine invertebrates living in the absence of sunlight at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and in sediments rich in reduced sulfur compounds. Here, chemosynthetic bacteria living in close association with their hosts convert CO2 or CH4 into organic compounds and provide the host with necessary nutrients. The dominant macrofauna of hydrothermal vent and cold seep ecosystems all depend on the metabolic activity of chemosynthetic bacteria, which accounts for almost all primary production in these complex ecosystems. Many of these enigmatic mutualistic associations are found within the molluscan class Bivalvia. Currently, chemosynthetic symbioses have been reported from five distinct bivalve families (Lucinidae, Mytilidae, Solemyidae, Thyasiridae, and Vesicomyidae). This brief review aims to provide an overview of the diverse physiological and genetic adaptations of symbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria and their bivalve hosts

Transfert d’énergie des neutrons rapides dans quelques matériaux radiothermoluminescents

On a calculé le kerma dans quelques matériaux radiothermoluminescents pour les neutrons d’énergie comprise entre 0,01 et 18 MeV. Les matériaux RTL étudiés sont ceux que l’on utilise couramment dans nos laboratoires : 6LiF, natLiF, 7LiF, CaSO4, Al2O3 et BeO. La comparaison des résultats obtenus avec ceux publiés pour le tissu mou humain montre que l’énergie transmise aux matériaux thermoluminescents est généralement beaucoup plus faible que celle transmise au tissu. Il n’en est pas de même pour les photons. Ceci explique en partie pourquoi la réponse relative des matériaux RTL aux neutrons rapides est faible par rapport à celle obtenue avec des rayonnements électromagnétiques

Carrier of reduced sulfur is a possible role for thiotaurine in symbiotic species from hydrothermal vents with thiotrophic symbionts

Experiments supporting the possible role of the free sulfur-containing amino acid thiotaurine, as a transport and storage compound for sulfide in invertebrates with thiotrophic symbionts are described. The free-living chemotrophic sulfur-oxidising bacterium, Thiobacillus hydrothermalis (strain DSMZ 7121), was used as a model for the symbionts as the actual symbionts have not been obtained in culture. Thiotaurine contains two sulfur atoms, namely the inner sulfone and the outer sulfane sulfur; the latter presents a potential source of reducing equivalents for the symbiont. Nevertheless, we observed no oxidation of thiotaurine when this compound was added to a culture of T. hydrothermalis pre-grown on sulfide. In contrast, when thiotaurine was added to the culture together with an extract of the trophosome of a vestimentiferan tubeworm from the Manus basin, we observed that thiotaurine was oxidised to hypotaurine with concomitant acidification and formation of bacterial biomass. Thus, the trophosome contains an unknown catalytic factor. We suggest that thiotaurine requires reduction prior to oxidation by T. hydrothermalisand that the host may catalyse the conversion of thiotaurine through the glutathione redox couple. This way, the host can accurately control energy delivery (as reduced sulfur) to the symbionts and can therefore control their symbiont biomass

Dosimetry of the mixed field irradiation facility CALIBAN

The dosimetry of the experimental reactor CALIBAN was established for photon and neutron components, and the kerma variations were evaluated according to position (distance from the core, height, angle with the median room axis). Dosimetry was performed with TLD (Al2O3) for the photon component, and with passive silicon diodes, activation detectors (Au, In, Ni, Mg, Cu) and alanine pellets measured by EPR spectrometry for the neutron component. The neutron energy distribution was experimentally evaluated at various distances based on the activities measured at the activated foil using the SNAC2 software. It was then compared with those calculated with the Monte Carlo code MCNPX. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved