Rapid response to the M_w 4.9 earthquake of November 11, 2019 in Le Teil, Lower Rhône Valley, France

On November 11, 2019, a Mw 4.9 earthquake hit the region close to Montelimar (lower Rhône Valley, France), on the eastern margin of the Massif Central close to the external part of the Alps. Occuring in a moderate seismicity area, this earthquake is remarkable for its very shallow focal depth (between 1 and 3 km), its magnitude, and the moderate to large damages it produced in several villages. InSAR interferograms indicated a shallow rupture about 4 km long reaching the surface and the reactivation of the ancient NE-SW La Rouviere normal fault in reverse faulting in agreement with the present-day E-W compressional tectonics. The peculiarity of this earthquake together with a poor coverage of the epicentral region by permanent seismological and geodetic stations triggered the mobilisation of the French post-seismic unit and the broad French scientific community from various institutions, with the deployment of geophysical instruments (seismological and geodesic stations), geological field surveys, and field evaluation of the intensity of the earthquake. Within 7 days after the mainshock, 47 seismological stations were deployed in the epicentral area to improve the Le Teil aftershocks locations relative to the French permanent seismological network (RESIF), monitor the temporal and spatial evolution of microearthquakes close to the fault plane and temporal evolution of the seismic response of 3 damaged historical buildings, and to study suspected site effects and their influence in the distribution of seismic damage. This seismological dataset, completed by data owned by different institutions, was integrated in a homogeneous archive and distributed through FDSN web services by the RESIF data center. This dataset, together with observations of surface rupture evidences, geologic, geodetic and satellite data, will help to unravel the causes and rupture mechanism of this earthquake, and contribute to account in seismic hazard assessment for earthquakes along the major regional Cévenne fault system in a context of present-day compressional tectonics

Rapid response to the Mw 4.9 earthquake of November 11, 2019 in Le Teil, Lower Rhône Valley, France

International audienc

Comparison of bitumens from oil sands with different recovery profiles

It has been proposed that, regardless of origin, the recovery of bitumen from oil sands is related to its viscosity. Asphaltene and resin contents are known to affect the viscosity of bitumen. Here we compare the composition of solvent extracted bitumens from several Athabasca oil sands having very different recovery profiles. After careful removal of any associated mineral matter by ultra-centrifugation, each bitumen sample was separated into saturate, aromatic, resin and asphaltene fractions by an enhanced SARA technique. The individual components were then characterized by several complementary analytical techniques, including CHNS, size exclusion chromatography molecular weight (MWn) plus proton and \ub9\ub3C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Based on this comparison, we see no correlation between the recovery of bitumen and its composition.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye