Recent fold growth and drainage development: The Janauri and Chandigarh anticlines in the Siwalik foothills, northwest India

International audienceThe active growth of a fault-and-thrust belt in frontal zones of Himalaya is a prominent topographical feature, extending 2500 km from Assam to Pakistan. In this paper, kinematical analysis of frontal anticlines and spatial mapping of active faults based on geomorphological features such as drainage pattern development, fault scarps and uplifted Quaternary alluvial fans are presented. We analyse the geomorphic and hydrographic expressions of the Chandigarh and the Janauri active anticlines in the NW India Siwaliks. To investigate the morphological scenario during the folding process, we used spatial imagery, geomorphometric parameters extracted from digital elevation models and fieldwork. The approach presented here involves analysis of topography and drainage incision of selected landforms to detect growth of active anticlines and transfer faults. Landforms that indicate active folding above a southwest-dipping frontal thrust and a northeastdipping back-thrust are described. Along-strike differences in ridge morphology are measured to describe the interaction of river channel patterns with folds and thrust faults and to define history of anticline growt

Beyond Mean Field Confrontation of Different Models with High Transverse Momentum Proton Spectra

Several models have been proposed to simulate heavy ion reactions beyond the mean field level. The lack of data in phase space regions which may be sensitive to different treatments of fluctuations made it difficult to judge these approaches. The recently published high energy proton spectra, measured in the reaction 94 AMeV Ar + Ta, allow for the first time for a comparison of the models with data. We find that these spectra are reproduced by Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) and Boltzmann Uehling Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations. Models like Boltzmann Langevin (BL) in which additional fluctuations in momentum space are introduced overpredict the proton yield at very high energies. The BL approach has been successfully used to describe the recently measured very subthreshold kaon production assuming that the fluctuations provide the necessary energy to overcome the threshold in two body collisions. Our new findings suggest that the very subthreshold kaon production cannot be due to two body scattering and thus remains a open problem.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (eps), revte

Effects of human pharmaceuticals on cytotoxicity, EROD activity and ROS production in fish hepatocytes.

Pharmaceuticals are found in the aquatic environment but their potential effects on non-target species like fish remain unknown. This in vitro study is a first approach in the toxicity assessment of human drugs on fish. Nine pharmaceuticals were tested on two fish hepatocyte models: primary cultures of rainbow trout hepatocytes (PRTH) and PLHC-1 fish cell line. Cell viability, interaction with cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) enzyme and oxidative stress were assessed by using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrasodium bromide tetrazolium (MTT), 7-ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase (EROD) and dichlorofluorescein (DCFH-DA) assays, respectively. The tested drugs were clofibrate (CF), fenofibrate (FF), carbamazepine (CBZ), fluoxetine (FX), diclofenac (DiCF), propranolol (POH), sulfamethoxazole (SFX), amoxicillin (AMX) and gadolinium chloride (GdCl(3)). All substances were cytotoxic, except AMX at concentration up to 500 microM. The calculated MTT EC(50) values ranged from 2 microM (CF) to 651 microM (CBZ) in PLHC-1, and from 53 microM (FF) to 962 microM (GdCl(3)) in PRTH. CF, FF, and FX were the most cytotoxic drugs and induced oxidative stress before being cytotoxic. Compared to hepatocytes from human and dog, fish hepatocytes seemed to be more susceptible to the peroxisome proliferators (PPs) CF and FF. In PLHC-1 cells none of the tested drugs induced the EROD activity whereas POH appeared as a weak EROD inducer in PRTH. Moreover, in PRTH, SFX, DiCF, CBZ and to a lesser extend, FF and CF inhibited the basal EROD activity at clearly sublethal concentrations which may be of concern at the biological and chemical levels in a multipollution context

Effects of elevational range shift on the morphology and physiology of a carabid beetle invading the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands.

Climatic changes can induce geographic expansion and altitudinal shifts in the distribution of invasive species by offering more thermally suitable habitats. At the remote sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands, the predatory insect Merizodus soledadinus (Coleoptera: Carabidae), introduced in 1913, rapidly invaded coastal habitats. More recent colonisation of higher elevation habitats by this species could be underlain by their increased thermal suitability as the area has warmed. This study compared the effect of elevational range shift on the morphology and physiology of adult M. soledadinus sampled along two altitudinal transects (from the foreshore to 250 m a.s.l.) and a horizontal lowland transect orthogonal to the seashore (400 m length). Although high inter-individual and inter-transect variations in the traits examined were present, we observed that body mass of males and females tended to decrease with elevation, and that triglyceride contents decreased with distance from the shore. Moreover, protein contents of females as well as those of 26 metabolites were influenced significantly by distance to the foreshore. These results suggest that future climate change at the Kerguelen Islands will further assist the colonisation of lowland inland and higher altitude habitats by this aggressively invasive predator, by making previously sub-optimal habitats progressively more suitable

Morphotectonic evolution of the Jebel Bou Naceur in the South Middle Atlas Fault Zone (Morocco)

International audienceIn eastern Morocco, fault-related folds develop above the South Middle Atlas fault that separates the J. Bou Naceur 'pop-up' structure and the Missour Basin, filled with alluvial sediments. Using a combination of surfaces, field observations and digital topographic information, we have investigated several geomorphic criteria and geometry of depositional surfaces governed by the relief's growth. The propagation of the deformation is recorded by warped segmented fans that moved southeastward and wellpreserved geomorphological features of tectonic origin. Uplift of the anticline hinges and acceleration of valley incision since the Late Pliocene are considered a consequence of the ongoing NW-SE convergence between Africa and Eurasia. A scenario of morphotectonic evolution of this active mountain front is proposed

Probing pre-formed alpha particles in the ground state of nuclei

In this Letter, we report on alpha particle emission through the nuclear break-up in the reaction 40Ca on a 40Ca target at 50A MeV. It is observed that, similarly to nucleons, alpha particles can be emitted to the continuum with very specific angular distribution during the reaction. The alpha particle properties can be understood as resulting from an alpha cluster in the daughter nucleus that is perturbed by the short range nuclear attraction of the collision partner and emitted. A time-dependent theory that describe the alpha particle wave-function evolution is able to reproduce qualitatively the observed angular distribution. This mechanism offers new possibilities to study alpha particle properties in the nuclear medium.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

New Data on the Origin of Modern Man in the Levant

Anthropolog

Response of CsI(Tl) scintillators over a large range in energy and atomic number of ions (Part I): recombination and delta -- electrons

A simple formalism describing the light response of CsI(Tl) to heavy ions, which quantifies the luminescence and the quenching in terms of the competition between radiative transitions following the carrier trapping at the Tl activator sites and the electron-hole recombination, is proposed. The effect of the delta rays on the scintillation efficiency is for the first time quantitatively included in a fully consistent way. The light output expression depends on four parameters determined by a procedure of global fit to experimental data.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth.