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International audience; La Réunion Island, located in the western Indian Ocean, undergoes heavy annual precipitations during the rainy season (Dec to Apr) and particularly during tropical depressions and cyclones. Large rainfalls that affect this volcanic island modify the stream dynamic and control the sediment transport and the very active erosion. However, in situ characterization of sediment transport is difficult during high water stage, requiring indirect observation such as seismic noise. In order to monitor spatial and temporal variations of the river's bed-load during tropical cyclones from the high-frequency seismic noise in La Réunion, we deployed a temporary seismic network of 9 three-component broadband seismometers along two rivers: Rivière des Pluies and Rivière du Mât, both located on the northern side of the island. Seismic data are supplemented by meteorological and hydrological stations installed in these experimental watersheds. They provide valuable data such as precipitations, water discharge and water level. We also characterized the stream morphology and the bed surface grain size distribution to set the current characteristics and we aim to repeat this analyze after each flood event in order to quantify the effect of the flood episode on the sediment transport. We present the results of the signature of the cyclone Bejisa which passed close to the island in January 2014 recorded at three broadband seismic stations, among which two are located near instrumented streams: station SALA installed close to the Rivière du Mât and the permanent GEOSCOPE seismic station RER installed in a 4.7 km long tunnel close to the Rivière de l'Est. The third station MAID is used as a reference station since it is located on a summit (2.190 km altitude) and far from any active river. We observe a significant increase of the precipitation as the cyclone eye was at 300 km to the island and the associated increase of the water discharge clearly generates a sudden increase of the seismic signal power spectral density above 1 Hz. Comparison between the high-frequency seismic signals measured at the three stations and the hydrological and meteorological data allow us identifying the characteristics of the river bedload.

International audience

International audience; La Réunion Island is a basaltic shield volcano located in the western Indian Ocean. The island undergoes heavy annual precipitations during tropical depressions and cyclones. These rainfalls modify the stream dynamics and sediment transport of rivers. The transport of sediment participates to the erosion of the volcanic island, however, in situ characterization is difficult during high water stage. In the frame of the Rivière des Pluies project, we are deploying a temporary seismic network of 10 three-component broadband seismometers around two rivers: Rivière des Pluies and Rivière du Mât. The goal of the project is to monitor spatial and temporal variations of the river's bed-load during tropical cyclones with high-frequency noise. Meteorological and hydrological stations are installed at both rivers providing valuable data such as precipitations, water discharge and water level. We will also sample the bed surface grain size distribution by visual count to determine its influence on the seismic noise. We present preliminary results from two broadband seismic stations located near instrumented streams. SALA station from the temporary RHUM-RUM seismic network (http://www.rhum-rum.net/en/) was installed close to the Rivière du Mât and the permanent GEOSCOPE RER station is located close to the Rivière de l'Est. We analyzed the footprint of the cyclone Bejisa in January 2014. We observe a significant increase of the precipitation when the cyclone eye is 300 km close to the island followed by the increase of the water discharge. Simultaneously the seismic signal shows a sudden increase of the power spectral density visible above 1 Hz. Further investigations on the relationship between the seismic noise and the hydrological and meteorological parameters will help us quantifying the river bed-load.

International audience; Seismic records from La Réunion Island very broadband Geoscope station are investigated to constrain the link between the 2007 eruptive sequence and the related caldera collapse of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano. Tilt estimated from seismic records reveals that the three 2007 eruptions belong to a single inflation-deflation cycle. Tilt trend indicates that the small-volume summit eruption of 18 February occurred during a phase of continuous inflation that started in January 2007. Inflation decelerated 24 days before a second short-lived, small-volume eruption on 30 March, almost simultaneous with a sudden, large-scale deflation of the volcano. Deflation rate, which had stabilized at relatively low level, increased anew on 1 April while no magma was erupted, followed on 2 April by a major distal eruption and on 5 April by a summit caldera collapse. Long-term tilt variation suggests that the 2007 eruptive succession was triggered by a deep magma input.

International audience; Seismic records from the RER very broad-band seismic station (La Réunion Island) belonging to the GEOSCOPE network are investigated to understand the eruptive succession (February to May) of Piton de la Fournaise and the caldera collapse episode of April 2007. Data first indicate that the short-lived, small volume, summit eruption of February 18 occurred during a phase of continuous inflation initiated in January 2007. Inflation decelerated around 2 weeks before a second short-lived small volume eruption on March 30-31 on the SE flank, almost simultaneous with a sudden, large deflation of the edifice. Deflation rate, which had stabilized at a relatively low level, increased anew on April 1 while no magma was emitted, followed on April 2 by a more distant and one of the most voluminous eruptions of the last two centuries at La Réunion Island. The RER station shows that very long period (VLP) and ultra long period (ULP) events developed during this period. Seven ULP events preceded the caldera collapse and 48 ones occurred during the caldera collapse over 9 days, most of which during the first 30 hours. A thorough examination of the seismic signals corrected for tide effects shows that each collapse event was coeval with VLP and ULP signals. Each individual collapse showed similar ULP and VLP signals characterized by periods of ∼ 500 s and ∼ 7 s, respectively. The back-azimuth of most ULP signals related to the caldera collapse points clearly toward the Dolomieu caldera. The strikingly constant duration of the VLP signals (around 20 s) related to the collapse events and their occurrence before the collapse initiation suggest a physical control of the volcanic edifice. Waveforms and spectrograms of the various caldera collapse events show very homogeneous patterns, suggesting a similar and repeating volcano-tectonic process for the formation of the VLP signals events. Although tilt may be responsible of part of the ULP signals observed during the collapse events, we show that it cannot explain most of the records. The ULP signals occurring during the collapse and also recorded by the OVPF GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) permanent network likely correspond to relaxation of the volcanic edifice. This analysis allows us to propose a scenario that may explain each successive collapse event as starting with a short-period event induced by the rock failure, followed by a VLP signal induced by dip-slip motion on the caldera ring fault, and ending with a ULP signal likely related to a relaxation process of the edifice.

International audience; Ocean wave activity excites seismic waves that propagate through the solid earth, known as microseismic noise. Here we use a network of 57 ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) deployed around La Réunion Island in the southwest Indian Ocean to investigate the noise generated in the secondary microseismic band as a tropical cyclone moved over the network. Spectral and polarization analyses show that microseisms strongly increase in the 0.1–0.35 Hz frequency band as the cyclone approaches and that this noise is composed of both compressional and surface waves, confirming theoretical predictions. We infer the location of maximum noise amplitude in space and time and show that it roughly coincides with the location of maximum ocean wave interactions. Although this analysis was retrospectively performed, microseisms recorded on the seafloor can be considered a novel source of information for future real-time tracking and monitoring of major storms, complementing atmospheric, oceanographic, and satellite observations.

International audience; Since 2004 more than 7000 km of full-crustal reflection profiles have been collected across Australia to give a total of more than 11 000 km, providing valuable new constraints on crustal structure. A further set of hitherto unexploited results comes from 150 receiver functions distributed across the continent, mostly from portable receiver sites. These new data sets provide a dramatic increase in data coverage compared with previous studies, and reveal the complex structure of the Australian continent in considerable detail.A new comprehensive model for Moho depth across Australia and its immediate environment is developed by utilizing multiple sources of information. On-shore and off-shore refraction experiments are supplemented by receiver functions from a large number of portable stations and the recently augmented set of permanent stations, and Moho picks from the full suite of reflection transects. The composite data set provides a much denser sampler of most of the continent than before, though coverage remains low in the remote areas of the Simpson and Great Sandy deserts. The various data sets provide multiple estimates of the depth to Moho in many regions and the consistency between the different techniques is high. In a number of instances, differences in estimates of Moho depth can be associated with the aspects of the structure highlighted by the particular methods.The new results allow considerable refinement of the patterns of Moho depth across the continent. Some of the thinnest crust lies beneath the Archean cratons in the Pilbara and the southern part of the Yilgarn. Thick crust is encountered beneath parts of the Proterozoic in Central Australia, and beneath the Palaeozoic Lachlan fold belt in southeastern Australia. The refined data indicate a number of zones of sharp contrast in depth to Moho, notably in the southern part of Central Australia.

Melt phase influence on seismic properties in partially molten systems, here at magmatic chambers of mid-oceanic-ridge and at hotspots, is poorly constrained. This study brings new seismological observations of seismic anisotropy beneath French Polynesia and Galápagos archipelago. Measurements of shear-wave splitting and P waves polarization beneath French Polynesia show the involvement of two contributions: asthenospheric and lithospheric. The presence of melt in the upper mantle beneath the center of the Galápagos archipelago may result in the absence of anisotropy. We measure Q-1 of multiple ScS waves and the results confirm the existence of a higher attenuation zone beneath French Polynesian region than in the remainder of the South Pacific. Moreover, torsion oscillatory deformation experiments have been realized at high temperatures (600-1170°C) and at seismic frequencies in partially molten gabbronorites. Above the melting temperature, attenuation increases significantly with a stronger dependence to frequency. It is shown that the melt-related attenuation mechanism could be melt squirt flow. The dissipation mechanism due to melt squirt flow between grain boundaries may be superimposed on an attenuation mechanism associated with diffusion controlled grain boundary sliding. In addition, new viscosity measurements of two basaltic silicates and one andesitic silicate were realized. The temperature dependence of the viscosity is determined through the configurational entropy theory of relaxation process.; L'influence de la présence de liquide sur les propriétés sismiques des systèmes partiellement fondus, ici les chambres magmatiques des dorsales océaniques et les panaches mantelliques, est mal contrainte. Cette étude apporte de nouvelles observations sismologiques sur l'anisotropie sismique sous la Polynésie française et les Galápagos. Les mesures du déphasage des ondes SKS et l'analyse de la polarisation des ondes P en Polynésie française montrent la participation de deux contributions: asthénosphérique et lithosphérique. La présence de liquide dans le manteau supérieur sous l'archipel des Galápagos pourrait se traduire par une absence d'anisotropie au centre de l'archipel. Les mesures d'atténuation des ondes ScS multiples confirment l'existence d'une zone plus atténuée au niveau de la Polynésie française que dans le reste du Pacifique sud. En outre, des mesures d'atténuation ont été réalisées dans des gabbronorites partiellement fondues aux fréquences sismiques, entre 500 et 1200°C. Au-dessus de la température de fusion, l'atténuation augmente significativement avec une dépendance plus forte à la fréquence. Il est montré que le mécanisme d'atténuation associé à l'écoulement localisé de liquide pourrait se superposer à un mécanisme d'atténuation associé à une diffusion au niveau des joints de grains. D'autre part, de nouvelles mesures expérimentales de la viscosité de deux silicates basaltiques et d'un silicate andésitique ont été effectuées. Des lois expérimentales de fluage décrivant les variations de viscosité dans une large gamme de températures sont proposées, ainsi que les paramètres thermodynamiques des échantillons analysés.

National audience; New experimental data on electrical and anelastic properties of oceanic rocks at high pressures and temperatures are compared with the field data of seismic and electrical anomalies observed at oceanic spreading centers. The laboratory results of electrical conductivity and internal friction on gabbro and peridotites permit to estimate a degree of partial melting and maximum temperature in axial magma chambers (12-15% of melting at 1155-1165°C) and at the upper boundary of a source zone at the depth of 40-90 km (less than 5% of melting in the absence of pyroxene crystals and up to 11-14% in the pyroxene reach rocks at 1360-1370°C) at mid-oceanic ridges.