Régis Braucher

In situ produced 10Be measurements at great depths: Implications for production rates by fast muons

In situ cosmogenic 10Be values have been used to investigate a Brazilian quartz vein from the surface to a depth of 15 m. At depths greater than 1000 g/cm2, deep enough for neutron-induced reactions to be insignificant, there is only a slight decrease in 10Be concentration with increasing depth. Our results are consistent with deep production of 10Be by a mechanism, presumably induced by fast muons, with an attenuation length of 5300±950 g/cm2 and a contribution of 0.65±0.25% to the total surface production. Results are compared with values from the literature and implications of this re-evaluation are discussed.

Cosmogenic nuclide dating of Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus bahrelghazali: Mio-Pliocene hominids from Chad

Ages were determined at two hominid localities from the Chad Basin in the Djurab Desert (Northern Chad). In the Koro Toro fossiliferous area, KT 12 locality (16°00′N, 18°53′E) was the site of discovery of Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) and in the Toros-Menalla fossiliferous area, TM 266 locality (16°15′N, 17°29′E) was the site of discovery of Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumaï). At both localities, the evolutive degree of the associated fossil mammal assemblages allowed a biochronological estimation of the hominid remains: early Pliocene (3–3.5 Ma) at KT 12 and late Miocene (≈7 Ma) at TM 266. Atmospheric 10Be, a cosmogenic nuclide, was used to quasicontinuously date these sedimentary units. The authigenic 10Be/9Be dating of a pelite relic within the sedimentary level containing Abel yields an age of 3.58 ± 0.27 Ma that points to the contemporaneity of Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) with Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy). The 28 10Be/9Be ages obtained within the anthracotheriid unit containing Toumaï bracket, by absolute dating, the age of Sahelanthropus tchadensis to lie between 6.8 and 7.2 Ma. This chronological constraint is an important cornerstone both for establishing the earliest stages of hominid evolution and for new calibrations of the molecular clock.

Mongolian summits: An uplifted, flat, old but still preserved erosion surface

In Gobi Altay and Altay, Mongolia, several flat surfaces, worn through basement rocks and uplifted during the ongoing tectonic episode to a similar altitude of 4000 m, suggests disruption of a single large-scale surface. New thermochronology and field data show that the plateau surfaces represent uplifted parts of an ancient peneplain that formed during Jurassic time. The Gobi Altay and Altay flattopped massifs are tectonically and geomorphologically unique. Their preservation for ~150 m.y. implies that no further tectonic movements occurred before the onset of the last deformation episode, 5 ± 3 m.y. ago. It also suggests that very low erosion rates were maintained by a dry climate over millions of years.

Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India

Dates from a site in southeast India imply an early migration of Homo through Eurasia about 1.1 to 1.5 million years ago. South Asia is rich in Lower Paleolithic Acheulian sites. These have been attributed to the Middle Pleistocene on the basis of a small number of dates, with a few older but disputed age estimates. Here, we report new ages from the excavated site of Attirampakkam, where paleomagnetic measurements and direct 26Al/10Be burial dating of stone artifacts now position the earliest Acheulian levels as no younger than 1.07 million years ago (Ma), with a pooled average age of 1.51 ± 0.07 Ma. These results reveal that, during the Early Pleistocene, India was already occupied by hominins fully conversant with an Acheulian technology including handaxes and cleavers among other artifacts. This implies that a spread of bifacial technologies across Asia occurred earlier than previously accepted.

Cumulative right-lateral fault slip rate across the Zagros-Makran transfer zone: role of the Minab-Zendan fault system in accommodating Arabia-Eurasia convergence in southeast Iran

The Zendan-Minab zone is the transition zone between the Zagros collision to the west and Makran subduction to the east. It is also linked to the north with the Nayband-Gowk fault system that bounds the Lut Block to the east. The total convergence rate between Arabia and Eurasia is estimated to range between 23 and 35 mm yr-1 in a NNE-trending direction. The deformation through the Minab-Zendan system is accommodated within two fault systems, the western N160°E-trending Minab-Zendan fault system and the eastern north-south Sabzevaran-Jiroft fault system. The study area is characterized by a well-defined succession of Quaternary deposit levels. The age of these deposits was estimated by archaeological data, regional palaeoclimate correlations and constrained by additional in situ10Be dating in another paper in this study. These deposits exhibit offsets, both lateral and vertical, that are evaluated by satellite image analysis and GPS profiles. Thanks to offsets and ages the strike-slip rates associated with the Minab-Zendan and the Sabzevaran-Jiroft fault systems are calculated to be 5.1 +/- 1.3 or 6.6 +/- 1.5, and 6.2 +/- 0.7 mm yr-1, respectively. These results allow an evaluation of the velocity vector of the Musandam Peninsula (Oman) with respect to the Lut Block of 11.4 +/- 2.0 or 12.9 +/- 2.2 mm yr-1 in a N10 +/- 15°E direction, close to the GPS estimates. This study also constrains the in-plane slip rates for each fault. Previous works indicate that the Zagros accommodates only 10 mm yr-1 of shortening, while 10 mm yr-1 should be accommodated by the Alborz mountains in northern Iran. This last 10 mm yr-1 may be accommodated through the Nayband-Gowk system and the East Iranian ranges, implying that the two fault systems constituting the Zagros-Makran transfer zone have different geodynamic roles. The western Minab-Zendan fault system links the Makran and Zagros deforming zones, whereas the northwestern Jiroft-Sabzevaran fault system is transmitting the deformation to the Nayband-Gowk system and then to the Alborz ranges. The presence of another such strike-slip zone within the Makran seems to indicate that the accommodation zone between the Zagros and Makran is wide, of the order of 400 km. We interpret this deformation pattern that accompanies the genesis of the immature transform zone by a flexure of the slab under the Zagros-Makran transfer zone instead of a tear in the slab that may be expected to induce a sharper transition zone.

Local erosion rates versus active tectonics: cosmic ray exposure modelling in Provence (south-east France)

Over the past decade, in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides have revolutionised the study of landscape evolution. In particular, numerous studies have demonstrated that, in active tectonic settings, cosmic ray exposure dating of deformed or displaced geomorphic features makes it possible to quantify long-term deformation rates. In western European countries, erosion due to climatically driven processes and human activities is probably the factor that most limits the accuracy of exposure ages and landscape modification rates. In this study, we present the results of a depth-profiling technique applied to alluvial terraces located along the Rhone and the Moyenne Durance rivers. The expected decrease with depth of the measured 10Be concentrations has been modelled using a χ2 inversion method in order to constrain the exposure history of the alluvial sediments. The results suggest that: (1) over the Quaternary, the local surface erosion rates including both regional uplift and climatically driven processes acting on landforms are on the order of 30 m/Myr in southeastern France, and (2) providing a fairly good bracketing of the exposure age, the modelled abandonment age of alluvial terraces affected by the Moyenne Durance Fault allows estimating incision rates, comparing the alluvial terrace elevations with topographic river profiles, and a minimum vertical slip rate value of roughly 0.02 mm/yr for the southern segment of the Moyenne Durance Fault.

Age and Date for Early Arrival of the Acheulian in Europe (Barranc de la Boella, la Canonja, Spain)

The first arrivals of hominin populations into Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene are currently considered to have occurred as short and poorly dated biological dispersions. Questions as to the tempo and mode of these early prehistoric settlements have given rise to debates concerning the taxonomic significance of the lithic assemblages, as trace fossils, and the geographical distribution of the technological traditions found in the Lower Palaeolithic record. Here, we report on the Barranc de la Boella site which has yielded a lithic assemblage dating to ∼1 million years ago that includes large cutting tools (LCT). We argue that distinct technological traditions coexisted in the Iberian archaeological repertoires of the late Early Pleistocene age in a similar way to the earliest sub-Saharan African artefact assemblages. These differences between stone tool assemblages may be attributed to the different chronologies of hominin dispersal events. The archaeological record of Barranc de la Boella completes the geographical distribution of LCT assemblages across southern Eurasia during the EMPT (Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, circa 942 to 641 kyr). Up to now, chronology of the earliest European LCT assemblages is based on the abundant Palaeolithic record found in terrace river sequences which have been dated to the end of the EMPT and later. However, the findings at Barranc de la Boella suggest that early LCT lithic assemblages appeared in the SW of Europe during earlier hominin dispersal episodes before the definitive colonization of temperate Eurasia took place.

Differentiation of organic matter's properties of the Rio Negro basin by cross-flow ultra-filtration and UV-spectrofluorescence

Cross-flow ultra-filtration from the Rio Negro basin (Amazon) samples was undertaken with tangential flow equipment producing concentrated fractions on which UV-fluorescence produced information about the individual characteristics of the organic matter in different size fractions. The major novelty is that conductance (ionic strength) and fluorescence were both linearly (r>0.95) correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) determined at each individual station. The physico-chemical characteristics (fluorescent sensitivity and electro-mobility) of the organic carbon seem to be constant within each size fraction (particulate, colloidal and dissolved). The complexing capacity of copper was found to be elevated, with as consequence that more than 80% of the metal transport occurred in the dissolved phase. By comparing these various results, we have deduced that the functional groups responsible for complexation are not the same as those responsible for fluorescence and conductance.

Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains

We report the discovery of large accumulations of micrometeorites on the Myr-old, glacially eroded granitic summits of several isolated nunataks in the Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains. The number (>3,500) of large (>400 μm and up to 2 mm in size) melted and unmelted particles is orders of magnitudes greater than other Antarctic collections. Flux estimates, bedrock exposure ages and the presence of ≈0.8-Myr-old microtektites suggest that extraterrestrial dust collection occurred over the last 1 Myr, taking up to 500 kyr to accumulate based on 2 investigated find sites. The size distribution and frequency by type of cosmic spherules in the >200-μm size fraction collected at Frontier Mountain (investigated in detail in this report) are similar to those of the most representative known micrometeorite populations (e.g., South Pole Water Well). This and the identification of unusual types in terms of composition (i.e., chondritic micrometeorites and spherulitic aggregates similar to the ≈480-kyr-old ones recently found in Antarctic ice cores) and size suggest that the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorites constitute a unique and essentially unbiased collection that greatly extends the micrometeorite inventory and provides material for studies on micrometeorite fluxes over the recent (≈1 Myr) geological past.

Chapter 11 - Recent Advances in Research on Quaternary Glaciations in the Pyrenees

In the Pyrenees, new optically stimulated luminescence, 14C and 10Be ages, allows a more detailed image of the Pleistocene glaciations. MIS 6 moraines are dated on Ariege and Gallego. For the last glacial cycle, maximum ice extent occurred early, during MIS 4. A powerful advance during the global last glacial maximum is known on the Mediterranean side only. Deglaciation was very rapid after 20 ka.