Communications Biophysics

Contains reports on three research projects.United States Air Force (Contract AF19(602)-4112

In situ Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy as a tool to discriminate volcanic rocks and magmatic series, Iceland

This study evaluates the potentialities of a lab-made pLIBS (portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) to sort volcanic rocks belonging to various magmatic series. An in-situ chemical analysis of 19 atomic lines, including Al, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Si, Sr and Ti, from 21 sampled rocks was performed during a field exploration in Iceland. Iceland was chosen both for the various typologies of volcanic rocks and the rugged conditions in the field in order to test the sturdiness of the pLIPS. Elemental compositions were also measured using laboratory ICP-AES measurements on the same samples. Based on these latter results, which can be used to identify three different groups of volcanic rocks, a classification model was built in order to sort pLIBS data and to categorize unknown samples. Using a reliable statistical scheme applied to LIBS compositional data, the classification capability of the pLIBS system is clearly demonstrated (90-100% success rate). Although this prototype does not provide quantitative measurements, its use should be of particular interest for future geological field investigations

Glaciohydrogeology

International audienceHydrogeology is defined as the science of the occurrence, distribution, and movement of water below the Earth's surface. This chapter will focus on groundwater occurrence and movement below or at the periphery of ancient and modern ice sheets (e.g., glaciohydrogeology), but also on the interaction of meltwater with the sediments and rocks within glaciated terrain. The growth of ice sheets has a largescale and long-term impact on groundwater flow as evidenced by modern groundwater flow which locally did not recover from the Late Pleistocene glacial period (Lemieux et al., 2008b). Over the last 20 years, the interest in glacial hydrogeology from glaciologists, hydrologists, and glacial geologists has significantly increased because of the impact of groundwater flow on ice sheet dynamics, water budgets in glacial catchments, solute fluxes, and tunnel valley genesis

Late Holocene initiation of a deep rock slope failure in an alpine valley revealed by 10Be surface exposure dating (Chamonix, France)

International audienceWe studied a newly identified, multiple-kilometer-long rock slope failure in the Aiguilles Rouges massif (Chamonix valley, France). Owing to a high-resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation model (DEM) and field work, we mapped morphostructures, including scarps, open fractures, and counterscarps. In some places, vertical offsets can reach tens of meters and crevasses can be meters wide. The evidence of gravitational activity (boulder displacements from analyses of archival satellite images) and the sharpness of the scarp outcrops together suggest very recent movements. These observations agree with ground displacement rates of a few millimeters per year estimated by interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series between 2014 and 2018. We sampled two vertical profiles along the top scarps to define the chronology of the slope failure using beryllium-10 (10 Be) surface exposure dating. Glacially polished surfaces cut by these gravitational scarps were also sampled to determine glacial retreat timing as well as to constrain the pre-exposure 10 Be inheritance. In total, 11 samples were studied. Our results highlight a significant time lag (approximately 15 ka) between the first evidence of nonglacial activity and the initiation of the slope failure that happened 1.3-2.5 ka ago, depending on Revised Manuscript with changes accepted Click here to view linked References 2 the inheritance schemes. This suggests that the delayed opening of the crevasse is only one stage of a process that began when the valley was deepened and the glacial debuttressing is not the unique driving factor. This process of progressive failure of an excessively steep slope may continue, and the evolution of this slope failure may constitute a hazard for the upper part of the Chamonix valley

Central Apneas Are More Detrimental in Female Than in Male Patients With Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: Central apneas (CA) are a frequent comorbidity in patients with heart failure (HF) and are associated with worse prognosis. The clinical and prognostic relevance of CA in each sex is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Consecutive outpatients with HF with either reduced or mildly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (n=550, age 65±12 years, left ventricular ejection fraction 32%±9%, 21% women) underwent a 24-hour ambulatory polyg-raphy to evaluate CA burden and were followed up for the composite end point of cardiac death, appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator shock, or first HF hospitalization. Compared with men, women were younger, had higher left ventricular ejection fraction, had lower prevalence of ischemic etiology and of atrial fibrillation, and showed lower apnea-hypopnea index (expressed as median [interquartile range]) at daytime (3 [0– 9] versus 10 [3– 20] events/hour) and nighttime (10 [3– 21] versus 23 [11– 36] events/hour) (all P<0.001), despite similar neurohormonal activation and HF therapy. Increased chemoreflex sensitivity to either hypoxia or hypercapnia (evaluated in 356 patients, 65%, by a rebreathing test) was less frequent in women (P<0.001), but chemoreflex sensitivity to hypercapnia was a predictor of apnea-hypopnea index in both sexes. At adjusted sur-vival analysis, daytime apnea-hypopnea index ≥15 events/hour (hazard ratio [HR], 2.70; 95% CI, 1.06–7.34; P=0.037), nighttime apnea-hypopnea index ≥15 events/hour (HR, 2.84; 95% CI, 1.28– 6.32; P=0.010), and nighttime CA index ≥10 events/ hour (HR, 5.01; 95% CI, 1.88–13.4; P=0.001) were independent predictors of the primary end point in women but not in men (all P>0.05), also after matching women and men for possible confounders. CONCLUSIONS: In chronic HF, CA are associated with a greater risk of adverse events in women than in men

Sedimentation close to the active Medlicott Wadia Thrust (Western Himalaya): how to estimate climatic base level changes and tectonics.

16 pagesInternational audienceThe Medlicott-Wadia Thrust (MWT) is one of the major active out-of-sequence thrusts in the Himalaya. Studies on Quaternary terraces in its vicinity have been performed using sedimentological, geomorphic and geochronological methods. We focus on the Riasi zone, south of the Pir Panjal range, in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India. The sedimentary units of Quaternary landforms have been mapped as a function of their location with respect to the thrust faults, their relative chronology, and their lithology. Three aggrading sedimentary units, five thin units above strath surfaces at the footwall of the fault system, and seven thin units above strath surfaces at its hangingwall are identified. The terraces have been dated by combining Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) on fine-grained deposits and cosmogenic-nuclide dating (10Be) on sandstone pebbles sampled along depth profiles throughout the alluvial units. Three major allostratigraphic units were defined with upper surface ages estimated at ~ 4, ~ 15, and 36 ± 3 ka; the two older allostratigraphic units are encased terraces at the hangingwall but superposed sedimentary units at the footwall. They are related to phases of elevation of the river level (respectively 30 and 60 m) at ~ 36–38 and 14–15 ka and to a phase of extensive lateral incision before ~ 4 ka. These units present vertical offsets induced by the MWT of 50, 190, and 375 m, respectively. By taking the aggradation/incision rates at the footwall of the MWT into account, we found that the uplift of the hangingwall remains uniform since 36 ka, with a value of ~ 10 mm/yr. Therefore, the aggradation/incision events observed in the Riasi area cannot be ascribed to variations in the tectonic rates and are most likely driven by climatic fluctuations. The high uplift rate is possibly local and related to the Chenab recess, which affects the Himalayan frontal structure. Our results indicate that the MWT is an active growth fault, and one of the main emergences of the active Indian/Asian plate boundary in Western Himalaya

A complex thrust sequence in western Himalaya: the active Medlicott Wadia Thrust.

15 pagesInternational audienceThe recent activity of the Medlicott-Wadia Thrust (MWT) is investigated by geomorphic and tectonic studies in the Riasi zone, south of the Pir Panjal range (India, Jammu-Kasmir state of western Himalaya). In the Riasi area, the MWT forms a splay of five faults that dip northward. The recent activity of the splay is quantified using a set of deformed Quaternary alluvial units. The central branch of the thrust splay moved Precambrian limestones above Quaternary sediments and is sealed by 36 ± 3 ka (youngest OSL age) deposits. The other branches offset the top of a 15 ± 1 ka (youngest OSL age) alluvial fan by 180 to 120 m; the two southernmost branches form 17–34 m high non-cylindrical scarps and the two northernmost branches also offset the fan by ∼8 m and ∼54 m, respectively. A balanced cross-section parallel to the N210°E thrust motion suggests that the sequence of activity is complex: an in-sequence propagation is found for the three southern Tea, Scorpion and Rain faults and an out-of-sequence reactivation for the northern Pillar fault. Furthermore, several thrusts simultaneously activated for intervals of a few thousand years, whereas others are episodically inactive. Nearly 10 mm/yr of India-Eurasia convergence is regularly absorbed by the MWT, a value greater than the one estimated for the western segment of the MWT affected by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, where the thrust tectonics interacts with the complex kinematics of the syntax. This work indicates that the MWT is very active and might be related to thick-skinned tectonics in the western Himalaya