French Western Research Articles

Paleo-valley infills record landscape response to late-Quaternary glacial/interglacial climate oscillations in the French western Alps

Reconstructing mountainous landscape evolution throughout the Quaternary is challenging because of the poor long-term preservation of geomorphic records in a context of rapid surface dynamics and topographic rejuvenation. The Quaternary geomorphic evolution of the western European Alps has been strongly controlled by climatic oscillations between glacial and interglacial periods. Significant erosion and sediment remobilization during these glacial/interglacial cycles have left very few sedimentary archives to quantify the surface dynamics and paleo-environmental conditions within the mountain belt over the last hundreds of thousands of years. Alpine valleys within the periglacial zone are potential candidates to target long-term geological archives, since they may contain alluvial deposits that have been preserved from subsequent glaciations. In the Drac valley (French western Alps), three generations of paleo-valleys are preserved, each of which was filled with alluvial and lacustrine sediments in response to glacial damming downstream. The valleys were incised during subsequent times of glacial retreat, leading to the formation of epigenetic valleys. Detailed 3D mapping of the paleo-valleys was carried out using photogrammetric models to constrain their geometry. Mapping was combined with luminescence dating of alluvial deposits to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the Drac valley. This chronological framework, together with additional data from the literature, allowed us to quantitatively constrain the complex alluvial dynamics along the Drac river during the last ca. 230 ka. Poly-phased alluvial deposition occurred in the most recent paleo-valley between ca. 90 and 20 ka (i.e., from late MIS 5 to MIS 2) in a context of global climate cooling and major Alpine glaciation. Sediment infilling of the intermediate paleo-valley is dated at around 130 ka; i.e., during the late-glacial phase of the penultimate glaciation, at the abrupt warming transition between MIS 6 and MIS 5. Finally, the oldest paleo-valley was filled around 230 ka (during a sub-stage of MIS 7) probably in a cooling and glacial context. The overall alluviation pattern and chronology of the study area highlight the asynchronous and partially contrasting glacial dynamics between the different glacier systems (i.e., Drac, Bonne and Romanche/Isère glaciers) within the Ecrins-Pelvoux massif of the French western Alps.

Characterization of a Small Abandoned Municipal Solid Waste Scattered Landfill Combining Remote Sensing and Near-Surface Geophysical Investigations

This study reports the combination of remote sensing and ground geophysical techniques to locate an abandoned and hidden municipal solid waste landfill located in a fluvial plain in the French Western Alps. Following earthworks and further floods that eroded into the river bank, wastes made of a mixture of plastic, metal and soil/earth, were uncovered and some of them flowed into the river. The existence of an abandoned landfill, several decades-old, was known, but the knowledge of its exact location was forgotten. Historic aerial photographs back to 1948 allowed delineation in space and time of the location of a platform that was used for landfill operations between around 1973 and 1983. A LiDAR DEM acquired in 2012 allowed was used to locate topographic depressions 0.1 to 0.4 m in depth, notably inside the platform. These depressions are interpreted as resulting from differential compaction originating from the presence of compressible wastes. Geophysical mapping techniques (magnetic and electromagnetic) confirmed the presence of anomalies inside the identified platform. Geophysical imaging techniques (ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography) provided a quantitative evaluation of the width and depth of the individual pits. The combination of the different techniques allowed for estimating the first-order volume of waste. The methodology adopted in this work is applicable to detect landfills exhibiting differential compaction and physical contrasts.

Swarms and mainshock–aftershocks sequences are both triggered by fluids in the Ubaye Region (Western Alps)

SUMMARYThe Ubaye Region (French Western Alps) is one of the most seismically active regions in France. It is regularly struck by mainshock–aftershocks sequences like in 1959 (ML 5.3), seismic swarms (2003–2004), and complex sequences (2012–2015) characterized by successive mainshocks clustered in time and space. This diversity of seismic behaviour highlights the complex processes at play in this area. To improve our understanding of these processes, in this study, we compile a regional catalogue of existing focal mechanisms, completed by 100 new calculated focal mechanisms of aftershocks following the 07/04/2014 mainshock (ML 5.1). The oriented stress-state we reconstruct for different periods and subareas are similar to each other and to previous published values focusing on swarm periods. We then calculate fluid pressure required to trigger the earthquakes. Most of the events (65 per cent) need fluid overpressure between 15 and 40 MPa (17 to 40 per cent of the hydrostatic pressure) with a median value of 24 per cent. Moreover, even the largest events, like the mainshocks in the 2012–2015 sequence, appear to be triggered by fluid pressure, similarly as events within swarm sequences. However, while fluid overpressure decreases with time in an aftershock sequence, it varies randomly at high levels during a swarm sequence. Therefore, based on a fault-valve model, we propose that: (1) the fluids trapped in the fault plane tend toward lithostatic pressure and trigger the mainshock rupture and (2) part of the aftershocks are induced by the diffusing fluid pressure. On the contrary, swarms need external, likely deep, fluid pressure feedings. Fluid pressure is likely to be a common triggering mechanism of the seismicity in the Ubaye Region, even if the involved processes should differ to explain the different types of seismic sequences.

Hydrodynamic model for independent cold and thermo-mineral twin springs in a stratified continental karst aquifer, Camou, Arbailles Massif, Pyrénées, France

The Camou springs (Arbailles Massif, French Western Pyrenees) display an unusual close association of a typically cold karstic spring that drains the Urgonian western limb of the Arbailles, and a thermo-mineral spring (33.5°C; salinity 17.7 g/L). The latter gains its mineralization at the contact of Triassic evaporites mainly through a deep loop in the Apanicé syncline. The fast upflow of this deep water occurs at the cross of large active lines (the North-Pyrenean thrust located at depth, and the Saison transverse fault). Cave diving in the nearby Maddalen Cave allowed reaching the phreatic passage at the origin of the cold spring, which however also crosses the thermal body in the third sump (S3). Both water bodies are separated by a sharp thermocline. 6 pressure-temperature dataloggers were placed in both water bodies along the thermocline for 6 months. The dataloggers located downstream on either side of the thermocline show at the beginning of flood first a rise of the thermal body, then an invasion of the whole phreatic passage by the cold floodwater, controlled by head pressure changes in the karst aquifer. From observation of these mechanisms, we deduce a hydrodynamic model with a warm plume rising into the cold aquifer, without significant mixing. Such independence of water bodies is explained by the decrease of turbulent rate at the interface, due to the sharp density gradient. The relative absence of mixing does not actually require independent “watertight” routes, both water bodies can thus coexist even in the same conduit. This model locally implies the existence of unknown secondary passages close to the spring, which allow an independent draining of each water body toward separate outlets during low stage. Such type of stratified aquifer linked to density differences is common in coastal karst (Florida, French Calanques…), in the continental evaporite karst (Schlotten of the Harz in Germany, Kungur karst in Ural…), but remains poorly identified in continental carbonate karst areas, mainly because of the difficulty of access. Together with the Mescla spring in French Alpes-Maritimes, the Camou twin springs discharging in the same porch are an outstanding example, allowing a direct study of the stratification and the dynamic of highly contrasted water bodies.

PSDR4 SANT'Innov project – Grazing dairy cattle welfare : a partnership design of normative advisory tools in a French Western cooperative

PSDR4 SANT'Innov project – Grazing dairy cattle welfare : a partnership design of normative advisory tools in a French Western cooperative

Portrait of Two Ladies in Hospital Interiors of Colonial Africa

The article examines the fate of two Russian women doctors who worked in the 1920s–1930s in French Western and French Equatorial Africa. The purpose of the research is not only to tell the reader in detail about the life path and work in Africa of two Russian emigrants of the first wave, but also to look inside and to analyze historical material from the point of view of women’s experience and understanding of specific social and personal-psychological life collisions arising from the gender-determined circumstances of their emigrant life.

Multi-proxy analysis of boreholes in remolded Quaternary paraglacial deposits (Avignonet landslide, French Western Alps)

The Avignonet landslide in the Trièves area is made of Quaternary paraglacial sediments among which imbricated till, glacio-lacutrine and fluviatil layers. Numerous boreholes (drillings and corings) were conducted during the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s to assess the geological and geotechnical setting of the inhabited, southern part of this slow-moving earthslide. Heterogeneous paramaters available from these different boreholes make interpretation difficult. Gamma-ray logging along with magnetic susceptibility and pocket vane tests on core samples allowed to distinguish between the different lithological and geotechnical units. Mechanical strength obtained from drilling parameter recording acquired during drilling was correlated to corings and their combination, along with outcrop observations, was used to delineate the lithological units and shear surfaces. The joint analysis of the dataset with outcrop observations and chronological data reveals a high geological complexity with the intrication of various sedimentary units. Two ancient landslides, several tens of metres in width, were furthermore identified within the large Avignonet landslide, almost 2 km in width. All the results point toward a high lithological and hydrogeological complexity that impacts the dynamics of the landslide. This work shows the interest of a multi-proxy approach in studies involving Quaternary sedimentary units. The methodology developed here could be applied to other sites with different palaeoenvironmental contexts initially exhibiting sedimentary compaction, such as lacustrine or coastal environments. • The Avignonet landslide affects Quaternary paraglacial sediments. • Ten boreholes and chronological data were used to produce a geological and chronological model. • Logging and measurements on core samples allowed to distinguish between the different units. • The mechanical strength was deduced from drilling parameters and pocket vane tests and allowed to detect remolded layers. • The interpretation of the dataset evidences ancient minor landslides within the large Avignonet landslide.

Geometry of glaciofluvial deposits and dynamics of the Lyonnais lobe ice front during the last glacial period (France, Northern Alps)

Previous studies in the foreland of the French Western Alps, based on the analysis of geomorphological criteria for the internal moraine complex, show several stages of retreat or stagnation of the Lyonnais ice lobe during marine isotopic stages 4 and 2. Based on chronological data of the literature, the age of the Würmian maximum extension of the Lyon ice lobe must have occurred during MIS 4 but this result is still debated. At the Last Glacial Maximum, in the western part of the Lyonnais ice lobe, glaciofluvial corridors were active during flash floods draining glacial meltwater. Today, these corridors are dead valleys and display a series of terraces. In this paper, we analyse the sedimentary geometries and dynamics of three glaciofluvial corridors (Moidieu, Septeme and Heyrieux) located at the front of the internal moraine complex of the Lyonnais ice lobe. Upstream, the Moidieu corridor splits into three branches called North Moidieu, Central Moidieu and South Moidieu. Glaciofluvial deposits in the corridors are composed of pebbles and gravels in a sandy matrix. Sedimentary structures show mass flow events and the migration of river bars in braided channels which are characteristic of proximal glaciofluvial rivers in a proglacial environment. According to a new geomorphological map built using a high-resolution digital elevation model and an isopach map of the Quaternary deposits created from a compilation of the borehole data, we suggest that these corridors correspond to “tunnel valleys” built during the most extensive Riss glaciation. Then during the Würm maximum glacial extension, these “tunnel valleys” show complex infilling by glacio-fluvial sediments during the Würmian maximal extent. In the three corridors, the number of river terraces can be better defined by using new geomorphological analyses. A total of three Würm terraces can be observed: two in the north and three in the south. This difference between the south and north is probably a result of climatic and tectonic forcing.

Seismic characterization of a clay-block rupture in Harmalière landslide, French Western Alps

SUMMARYIn late June 2016, the Harmalière clayey landslide (located 30 km south of the city of Grenoble, French Alps) was dramatically reactivated at the headscarp after a 35-yr-long period of continuous but limited activity. The total involved volume, which moved as sliding blocks of various sizes, was estimated to be about 2 × 10 6 m3. Two seismometers were installed at the rear of the main headscarp in August 2016, on both sides of a developing fracture delineating a block with a volume of a few hundred cubic metres. For 4 months, they continuously recorded seismic ambient vibrations and microearthquakes until the block broke. Five seismic parameters were derived from the monitoring: the cumulative number of microearthquakes (CNe), the seismic energy (SE), the block resonance frequency (fB), the relative variation in Rayleigh wave velocity (dV/V) deduced from noise cross-correlations between the two sensors and the associated correlation coefficient (CC). All parameters showed a significant precursory signal before the rupture, but at very different times, which indicates the complexity of the rupture mechanism in this clay material.

EHOP Clinical Data Warehouse: From a Prototype to the Creation of an Inter-Regional Clinical Data Centers Network.

Creation of networks such as clinical data centers within the hospital enables efficient exploitation of clinical data from a local to an inter-regional scope. This work present the structuration of the French Western Clinical Data Center Network (FWCDCN) conducted between 2016 and 2018. As of November 2018, FWCDCD is compounded with 7 institutions. CDW of the combinded Clinical Data Centers (CDC) contains the data of over 4 million patients followed since 2000.

Optimal discharge locations to refill hydric reservoirs with reused water - application to the jaunay lake case study

In this work, we study optimal strategies of wastewater reuse for refilling Jaunay Lake (a water reservoir located on the French western coast) which shows an alarming volume reduction due to the human water intake. To grasp the multiple issues to ascertain the appropriate location for the reused water discharge, mathematical modelling is particularly adapted for testing different conditions (physical, meteorological) and optimizing the system to achieve targets (maximum allowable concentration of pollutant for drinking water and recreational uses). We focus on modelling the distribution of a generic pollutant in the reservoir, which is expected to vary with time and space. The model assumes that the reservoir volume stays constant (because the flow rates at the refilling and removal points are considered to be quasi-identical), the density of the pollutant is smaller than that of the reservoir water (so that the pollutant remains at the top level of the water column) and its dynamics is influenced by two main effects: wind and water currents. The model accounts for the reservoir geometry, the operating conditions of the transfer pipes (input and output) and real data regarding chronicles of wind velocity and river flow. Then, we tackle a multi-optimization problem which aims to find optimal refilling locations which reduce the pollutant concentration at two strategic regions of the reservoir. A Pareto front is presented as a decision-tool to choose the optimal strategy according to different water quality criteria.

Preferential Water Infiltration Path in a Slow-Moving Clayey Earthslide Evidenced by Cross-Correlation of Hydrometeorological Time Series (Charlaix Landslide, French Western Alps)

Slow-moving clayey earthslides frequently exhibit seasonal activity suggesting that deformation processes do not only depend on slope and intrinsic geomechanical parameters. On the contrary, seasonal motion patterns are frequently observed with acceleration during the wet season and deceleration during the dry season. Within landslides, it is mainly the phreatic water table which is monitored. However, in the case of deep-seated landslides made of heterogeneous lithological units and with several slip surfaces, the characterization of the phreatic water table does not allow to relate satisfactorily the activity of the landslide with environmental parameters such as rainfall and subsequent water infiltration at depth. This paper presents a seasonal analysis of water infiltration within a slow-moving clayey landslide. Results of an extensive geotechnical and geophysical prospect are first exposed. Then, rainfall and water table level time series are analysed for two water tables using the cross-correlation technique: the phreatic water table located a few metres deep and a water table located above a shear surface located 12 m deep. Results show that water infiltrates faster down to the deepest water table. Then, time series were split between “dry” and “wet” seasons and the effective rainfall was computed from the original rainfall time series. Cross-correlation results show that the phreatic water table responds identically to rainfall in both seasons. On the contrary, the water table located above the shear surface has a very contrasting behaviour between summer (mainly drainage) and winter (behaviour similar to the phreatic water table with storage of water during a few weeks). This difference in behaviour is in agreement with the landslide kinematics.

The education professional program “The French language and second Western European language, foreign literature, foreign language and culture teaching methods at higher education institutions”

The education professional program “The French language and second Western European language, foreign literature, foreign language and culture teaching methods at higher education institutions”

La ressource génétique locale sous tensions : Trajectoires d’évolution des races ovines laitières Corse et Pyrénéennes, entre modèles d’élevage et valorisation collective des fromages de terroir

EnglishThe evolving nature of a local breed can disrupt its relationships with its home territory. We explore such relationships through the case of dairy sheep breeds of Corsica island and French Western Pyrenees. We analyze the trajectory of evolution of these breeds according to the evolving patterns of breeding and the valorization of cheeses (PDO Brocciu and PDO Ossau-Iraty). The local breeds and their selection settings are put in tension between choices of cheese qualification (proof of origin), and the choice of breeding, which can be contradictory processes: intensification of farming systems and re-anchorage of products. In Western Pyrenees, recent appropriation of local breeds leads to renewing their selection settings. There are no such noticeable processes in Corsica. Thus, territorialization of agriculture challenges the territoriality of the local breeds francaisLe caractere evolutif d’une race locale peut perturber ses relations avec son territoire d’origine. Nous les explorons a travers le cas des races ovines laitieres de Corse et des Pyrenees-Atlantiques. Nous analysons la trajectoire de ces races en regard de l’evolution des modeles d’elevage et de la valorisation des fromages de terroir (AOP Brocciu et AOP Ossau-Iraty). Les races locales et leurs referentiels de selection sont mis en tension entre des choix de qualification des fromages, et des choix d’elevage, deux processus parfois contradictoires : intensification des systemes d’elevage et re-ancrage des produits. Alors qu’en Pyrenees-Atlantiques, l’enjeu de durabilite locale des elevages pousse a une nouvelle appropriation des races locales et a renover les referentiels de selection, on n’observe pas de tel phenomene en Corse. La reterritorialisation de l’agriculture interroge ainsi la territorialite des races locales.

Cowboy and alien: the Bardot Westerns

French Western films land in a blind field in accounts of both film genre and national film industries. Genre studies often place a strong focus on Hollywood, while there remains a tendency to favour auteur and art cinema in studies of French film. French Westerns are all but invisible, dismissed as clumsy parodies of what André Bazin dubbed the ‘cinéma américain par excellence’. The convergence of the Western and France’s most visible post-war star therefore strikes a dissonant note. Brigitte Bardot’s global celebrity has been hailed as an emblem of transnational exchange. However, accounts of her star image dwell on the youthful sexuality exhibited in her early films or her consecration as a nouvelle vague icon. When not overlooked entirely, her Western pictures are cast as curiosities of a film career’s undistinguished end. Bringing critical pressure to the discordance between these films and the relays that shape ideas of both ‘Western’ and ‘Bardot’ yields a more differentiated understanding of her star image, of the Western genre and, when a singularly visible emblem of French cinema is cast in a genre closely associated with America and Hollywood, of the volatile conjunction of ‘French’ and ‘Western’.

Les Fils de Bas-de-Cuir. Sauvagisme, franc trappeur et « lutte des traces » dans le roman d’aventures français (1850-1880)

This paper analyzes the representation of North-American fictional worlds in the French western novel. With writers such as Gustave Aimard (1818-1883), the subgenre was one of the most common adventure serials between 1850 and 1880. The analysis deals with the heroism embodied by the recurring figure of the coureur des bois, a French variety of mountain man who is the main protagonist of these novels. I question the relationship between that character and the fictional West. Through a historical and comparative approach, the coureurs des bois’ adventure will be compared with the classical language of the Western (deciphering vs. settlement, walking vs. mounting, tracking vs. invasion and conquest) so as to insist on the alternative value brought by the adventurous “sauvagisme” (mainly European) in contrast with pioneers/settlers stories which were inspired, during the same period, by the rhetorics of the manifest destiny and the frontier.

Chez nouson the range: language, genre and the vernacular French Western (1956–61)

<i>Chez nous</i>on the range: language, genre and the vernacular French Western (1956–61)

French Exception or Western Variation? A Historical Look at the French Irregular Way of War

ABSTRACTThis article aims at challenging the notion of a French exception in the realm of irregular warfare, suggesting that it rather amounts to a western variation. Born out of a transatlantic community under British influence, the French irregular experience carried on through the early Cold War challenges, strengthening France’s ties with its Western allies. France’s subsequent involvement in post-colonial counter-insurgencies did contribute to generating some specific strategic features, although never totally disconnected from international circulation. Finally, the post-Cold War order significantly drove French irregular warfare back into its Western fold through the adoption of US- and NATO-sponsored concepts and doctrines, thus enhancing interoperability and some degree of standardisation.

An Overview of the Current Research Carried Out in the French Western Alps Karsts

Tekoce raziskave na podlagi geomorfologije kažejo napredovanje pri preucevanju kraskih struktur, katerih zacetek sega v gornji Miocen. K poznavanju krasa Zahodnih Alp so pripomogle sistematicne analize na podlagi geomorfologije. Pri tem veliko koristi »imunost krasa«, ki ohranja stare prevodne strukture in njihovo zvezo s sedimenti. Kapniki kažejo na ocitno povezavo z vegetacijo, v njih pa se lahko odražajo tudi geomorfoloske krize. Klasticni sedimenti odkrivajo mehansko erozijo. Na podlagi geomorfoloskega pristopa je mogoce ugotoviti nastanek krasa in jam, kar vkljucuje razvojne stadije ter znacilnosti okolja in procesov. Raziskovalci ponovno tehtajo prevladujoco vlogo, ki so jo vcasih pripisovali ledenikom. Kras se pojavi takoj, ko nastane gradient in ko je z vodonosnika odstranjen neprepustni pokrov. Take okoliscine so bile že v zgornjem Miocenu in vcasih celo prej. Na kras pleistocenske starosti je mogoce najti le v notranjih Alpah, kjer je bil ta pokrov odstranjen kasneje. Navpicni sistemi, sestavljeni iz vrste brezen, so stari in postajajo vedno bolj kompleksni. primeri s terena zavracajo Fordovo klasifi kacijo, ki jim pripisuje nastanek v globoki freaticni coni. Kratek pregled sedanjega stanja poznavanja tako ozemelj kot znanstvene snovi, ki jo raziskujejo, dovoljuje oceno napredka v zadnjem desetletju. Iz tega se tudi kaže neenakost med Severnimi in Južnimi Zahodnimi Alpami, kjer se Vercors izkaže za eno izmed najbolje preucenih planot v Alpah. Current research encloses karst systems geomorphologic approach, recent advances in study of karst structures which date back from the Upper Miocene. Karst genesis in Western Alps is brought up by systemic analysis, according to a geomorphologic approach. It uses the “karst immunity” that conserves old drainage structures and their associated sediments. Karst landscapes can be sorted into horizontal and vertical forms. Speleothems are clearly connected to the presence of vegetation but they also record geomorphic crisis. Clastic sediments reveal mechanical erosion. This approach concludes with karst genesis and speleogenesis reconstruction, which blend together evolution stages, environment characterization and processes. Researchers reconsider the preponderant part previously attributed to glaciers. Karst appears immediately when a gradient exists and when the aquifer is stripped of its impervious cover. Such conditions occurred from the Upper Miocene and sometimes before. Karsts of the Pleistocene age are only met in the Inner Alps where cover stripping occurred later. Vertical systems composed of shaft series are old and become more complex. Field evidence refutes FORDʼs classifi cation, which assigns a deep phreatic origin. A brief account of the present state of knowledge, according to region and researcherʼs scientifi c themes, allows establishing the last decadeʼs advances. It also shows a disparity between the North and the South Western Alps, where Vercors appears to be one of the best studied massifs in the Alps.

“Frères et Enfants du même Père”: The French Illusion of Empire West of the Great Lakes, 1731–1743

In the eighteenth-century, France’s metropolitan authorities and colonial officials tasked the French western explorer Pierre de La Vérendrye to integrate the Indigenous peoples of the Petit Nord – Cree, Assiniboine, Monsoni, Anishinaabeg, and Dakota – into the network of French-mediated alliances emanating from the Great Lakes. The governor-general of New France, known as Onontio by the Natives, sought to ensure the symbolic subjugation of all Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes and the Petit Nord. Unlike the Great Lakes, devastated by endemic warfare and virulent diseases, the Indigenous social formations of the Petit Nord and Northern Great Plains remained politically cohesive and autonomous in the eighteenth-century. Thus, the Cree, Assiniboine, Dakota, and others, resisted creating a “middle ground” with La Vérendrye and other French newcomers, as they had little desire or need of French mediation in their territories. La Vérendrye’s ambitions for a French-mediated peace, or “Pax Gallica,” were thwarted in the overwhelmingly Native political space of the Petit Nord and Northern Great Plains.