Search

Abstract: In 2007, a daily temperature series, which has been collected from 1885 to 1967 at the Marseilles tide recorder, was published here. Upon the available information provided by the data managing office, they were considered as sea-surface temperatures. Unfortunately they were not but air temperature inside the building. In the present paper, the authors correct this error by studying the true seawater temperature series which had been dug out after the publication of the precedent paper. The study of this slightly shorter series (1895–1956) leads to close conclusions. Along these 61 years, the warming trend of the surface seawater rises to +1.6°C, to +1.3°C if only January to May and December are selected and +2.2°C during the June to November period. In the first half part of the series (1895–1925), the average value of each month distributions (except January) and annual minimal (except 1956) are significantly lower than along the second (1925–1956). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper analyses a list of thirty-four Poles, listeners to the mineralogy lectures given by R.-J. Haüy at MNHN in Paris. These students played an important role in the history of Polish Earth Sciences (S. Staszic and F. Drzewiński), but also in other scientific fields (J. Markowski, I. Abłamowicz, F. Drzewiński, M.A. Pawłowicz, J.K. Skrodzki, E.K. Nowicki), and even in political and cultural life of Poland (A. Downarowicz, J. Weyssenhoff, S. Plater, J. Bieliński, F. Potocki). This paper presents later relations between R.-J. Haüy and his Polish students. A possibility of the Poles'' attendance to mineralogy lectures given at other Parisian scientific institutions, like the ‘École des mines’ and the ‘College de France’, is also discussed. To cite this article: R. Tarkowski, P. Daszkiewicz, C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: According to a paper by Souriau et al., published in 2002, the first bang heard by the population of Toulouse during the blast at the AZF plant, on 21st September 2001 should be the seismo-acoustic wave produced by the AZF explosion, i.e. an indirect wave generated as a transmission wave through the Earth''s crust (i.e., a seismic wave) and a refraction wave (i.e., an acoustic wave). We apply the criterion proposed by the authors in favour of a seismo-acoustic wave and show that the latter cannot be validated according to the data corresponding to the first bang. On the other hand, we show that the AZF seismo-acoustic wave has been perceived by only a few witnesses, but as rumblings and not as a bang. Consequently, AZF seismo-acoustic wave and first bang are two phenomena to be clearly discriminated. In particular, the source of the first bang is totally independent of that of the AZF explosion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the Middle Palaeolithic of western Europe, raw material circulations seemed limited to a hundred of kilometres. This paper focuses on the circulation of flints on more than 250km (minimal distances) in the Mousterian site of Champ Grand, France. Real distances are longer than 400km. Modalities of circulation are exposed. The analyses of these products demonstrate an important anticipation concerning the mobile raw materials’ management. These data demonstrate that this Mousterian site is a point in a complex and ramified settlement of the landscape. Diachronic relations with behavioural aspects of Upper Palaeolithic societies are exposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports on small mountain glacier variations in the northern Belledonne region (French Alps). Between 1926 and 2006, the evolution is surveyed using remote-sensing techniques. Then, it is correlated with climate data for the same period. In the late 1920s and in 1980, there was a maximum extent of the glaciers. The 1980 surge is due to high precipitations during the late 1970s, a similar trend being punctually observed in 1993. Between 1980 and 2003, the Rocher Blanc glaciers have strongly receded, their total surface being divided by ten. From 1997 onward, the large retreat can be explained by the increase of the mean daily temperature, especially the minimum daily temperature. Moreover, unusually high temperatures have been registered during the summer 2003 heat wave. Small mountain glaciers appear to be more sensitive to climate change than larger ones. Their surfaces change within 6 to 12 months. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the relative influence of waves, wind-induced current and tidal current on the sediment mobility of a macro-tidal environment belonging to the inner shelf seaward of the ‘pertuis Charentais’ (France). This study, mainly based on three-week hydrodynamic in-situ measurements, shows that, for a water depth of 23 m, the swell (rather than wind waves) orbital velocity is large enough to initiate the motion of medium sands that are then transported by currents. Estimations show that medium sand of 0.2 mm is transported during 92% of the measurements, whereas coarse sand and gravel move sporadically, during storm, synchronously with spring tides. Further more, bedload fluxes appear strongly larger when waves are taken into account (370 times larger for 0.2-mm sands). To cite this article: D. Idier et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Original unpublished documents from Jean-Baptiste Noulet (1802–1890) related to the archaeological site of the Infernet (Commune de Clermont-le-Fort, Haute-Garonne, France). In 1851, J.-B. Noulet, a doctor, naturalist and philologist from Toulouse, discovered at Clermont-le-Fort (Haute-Garonne), in the named place l''Infernet, a quarry with both Pleistocene faunas and lithic artefacts. First presented in 1853, on the 3rd February meeting of the ‘Académie des sciences de Toulouse’, this discovery was only published in 1860, depriving Noulet of more reputation. As those who followed, this publication had no illustration locating the quarry. It was however rediscovered and exploited in 1955–1956. In Noulet''s personal papers, offered by Louis Mengaud to Toulouse University Geological Laboratory library, we discovered, drawn by Noulet himself, a map and a cross section of Infernet quarry. These documents are presented in this note, 150 years after Noulet''s discovery. To cite this article: M. Bilotte, F. Duranthon, C. R. Palevol 5 (2006) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Age at death and sex diagnosis of the Cro-Magnon fossils (Dordogne, France) based on the pelvic bone. This paper concerns the sex and age at death estimation of the Gravettian skeletons from Cro-Magnon site (Dordogne, France). Methods based on pelvic bone and probabilistic approach have been used. These methods have been tested elsewhere and provide a high accuracy level for sex and age determination. This analysis shows without ambiguity that two adults are male (hip bone 4315, 4315–4318), one is a female (pelvic bone 4316). The sex diagnosis of the last (pelvic bone 4317) is indeterminate. As the adult female is aged (more 50 years), she cannot be the mother of the newborn identified in the burial place. To cite this article: D. Gambier et al., C. R. Palevol 5 (2006) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Stratigraphy and palaeontology (plants, vertebrates) of the paralic deposits from the Uppermost Albian–Lower Cenomanian of Tonnay-Charente (Charente-Maritime, France). The Tonnay-Charente area (Charente-Maritime, southwestern France) contains several sand and clay exploitations of Uppermost Albian and Lower Cenomanian ages. These sediments have been deposited in a coastal area where plant remains, amber, and aquatic or terrestrial vertebrates were trapped. The two last quarries that could be studied, Puy-Puy and Les Renardières, are true Lagerstätten, the first one for the abundance and the diversity of meso- and macroremains of plants (pollen, cuticles, lignite), especially angiosperms, the second one for the vertebrate microremains, consisting of about forty taxa, with selachians and actinopterygians, different reptiles (crocodilians, dinosaurs, ophidians, turtles) and one mammal. This paper describes the sedimentary and palaeoenvironmental settings of the Albian–Cenomanian series from Puy-Puy and Les Renardières and illustrates the most outstanding taxa of vertebrates and plants collected until today. To cite this article: D. Néraudeau et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The heat wave that struck France in 2003 has been accompanied with an estimated 15 000 excess deaths. This paper stresses the difficulties of the epidemiology of such an event. The relevant clinical and biological information is incomplete or even inaccessible and many of the deaths are due to multiple factors. The data presently available indicate that the deaths occurred in persons already vulnerable, and that the heat wave caused a five- to eight-month loss of lifetime for the affected individuals. There is a noteworthy similarity between the profiles of this exceptional summer mortality surge, and those of many past winters when similar or larger excess mortalities have occurred without as yet eliciting much public attention. To cite this article: A.-J. Valleron, A. Boumendil, C. R. Biologies 327 (2004). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The technology of very high performance cooled infrared detectors made with HgCdTe has progressed continuously for ten years and reached today an industrial maturity that allows the production of large size arrays at a more and more reasonable cost. At the same time, new prototypes of more complex sensors have appeared (megapixel arrays, multicolour arrays, high definition long linear arrays, …) that show the strong potentialities of this very high performance technology. This paper presents the technology developed in France and gives the state of the art of products available in industry; it then focuses on some very recent realizations of advanced prototypes made at LETI (dualband arrays, megapixel arrays, …). To cite this article: G. Destefanis, C. R. Physique 4 (2003). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Application of the fuzzy set theory to the biometric evaluation of the species Nummulites millecaput in the western part of the Tethys. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of the fuzzy-set theory to contribute to the evaluation of paleontological problems. As an example, the species Nummulites millecaput, Boube´e has been chosen. One hundred specimens of this species, collected from four localities (Arrimblar, Adelholzen, Dudar, and Mount-Kotuc) have been prepared (equatorial sections) for the biometric measurement of the external and internal characteristics. First a traditional statistical evaluation was performed, followed by the construction of membership functions, the latter ones expressing in the best way the transitions from one locality to the other. The results of this evaluation confirmed that from Aquitaine (France) to Armenia, the same species – Nummulites millecaput – was distributed during the Eocene. To cite this article: G. Ba´rdossy et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]