Fate of arsenic-bearing phases during the suspended transport in a gold mining district (Isle river Basin, France)
Arsenic-rich (~ 140-1520 mg.kg− 1) suspended particulate matter (SPM) was collected daily with an automatic sampler in the Upper Isle River (France) draining a former gold mining district in order to better understand the fate of arsenic during the suspended transport (particles smaller than 50 μm). Various techniques at a micrometric scale (EPMA, quantitative SEM-EDS with an automated particle counting including classification system and μXRD) were used to directly characterize As-bearing phases. The most frequent ones were aggregates of fine clay particles. Their mineralogy varied with particle sources involved. These aggregates were formed by chlorite-phlogopite-kaolinite assemblages during the high flow and chlorite-illite-montmorillonite during the low flow. Among all the observed As-carriers in SPM, these clay assemblages were the least As-rich (0.10 up to 1.58 wt.% As) and their median As concentrations suggested that they were less concentrated during the high flow than during the low flow. Iron oxyhydroxides were evidenced by μXRD in these clay aggregates, either as micro- to nano-sized particles and/or as coating. (Mn, Fe)oxyhydroxides were also present as discrete particles. Manganese oxides (0.14-1.26 wt.% As) transport significantly more arsenic during the low flow than during the high flow (0.16-0.79 wt.% As). The occurrence of Fe oxyhydroxide particles appeared more complex. During the low flow, observations on banks and in wetlands of freshly precipitated Fe hydroxides (ferrihydrite-type) presented the highest As concentrations (up to 6.5 wt.% As) but they were barely detected in SPM at a microscale. During the high flow, As-rich Fe-oxyhydroxides (0.10-2.80 wt.% As) were more frequent, reflecting mechanical erosion and transport when the surface water level increased. Arsenic transfers from SPM to corresponding aqueous fraction mostly depend on As-carrier stability. This study shows the temporal occurrence of each type of As-bearing phases in SPM, their As concentrations at a particle scale and abundance according to hydrological periods.
(Science of the Total Environment. vol. 409, n° 0048-9697, pp. 4986-4999, 28/08/2026)
ISTO, INSU - CNRS, UO, UT, NEOLAiA, CNRS, GRESE, UNILIM, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, ALS, LBNL, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Modeling biogeochemical processes in sediments from the Rhône River prodelta area (NW Mediterranean Sea)
In situ oxygen microprofiles, sediment organic carbon content, and pore-water concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, iron, manganese, and sulfides obtained in sediments from the Rhône River prodelta and its adjacent continental shelf were used to constrain a numerical diagenetic model. Results showed that (1) the organic matter from the Rhône River is composed of a fraction of fresh material associated to high first-order degradation rate constants (11-33 yr−1); (2) the burial efficiency (burial/input ratio) in the Rhône prodelta (within 3 km of the river outlet) can be up to 80 %, and decreases to ~20 % on the adjacent continental shelf 10-15 km further offshore; (3) there is a large contribution of anoxic processes to total mineralization in sediments near the river mouth, certainly due to large inputs of fresh organic material combined with high sedimentation rates; (4) diagenetic by-products originally produced during anoxic organic matter mineralization are almost entirely precipitated (>97 %) and buried in the sediment, which leads to (5) a low contribution of the re-oxidation of reduced products to total oxygen consumption. Consequently, total carbon mineralization rates as based on oxygen consumption rates and using Redfield stoichiometry can be largely underestimated in such River-dominated Ocean Margins (RiOMar) environments.
(Biogeosciences. vol. 8, n° 1726-4170, pp. 1351-1366, 28/08/2026)
IPGP, INSU - CNRS, UPD7, UR, IPG Paris, CNRS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, NIOO-KNAW, LAERO, IRD, UT3, Comue de Toulouse, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, BIAF, UA, OCEANIS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA
Variability of fresh- and salt-water marshes characteristics on the west coast of France: A spatio-temporal assessment
The degradation of water quality and the multiple conflicts of interest between users make marsh restoration very important. A Water Quality Evaluation System (WQES) was developed for river systems by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Some form of biologically-based, habitat-specific reference standard seems absolutely essential for wise management and stewardship of marsh ecosystems. The goal of this study was to develop a statistical method to define and to characterize a water body typology for drained marshes of the Charente-Maritime wetlands on the French Atlantic coast, placing particular emphasis on environmental factors as hydraulic functioning, human activities and pedological substratum. The Charente-Maritime marshes represent a good field study because of his high diversity of types of marshes and of anthropogenic activities in a restrictive area thus erasing spatial climatic effect (latitude effect). The statistical method developed here had permitted to define and characterize 12 different water bodies, 7 in freshwater (F1 to F7) and 5 in salt water marshes for the Charente-Maritime area. This typology demonstrated an important link between the size catchment area, nitrate concentrations, and leaching of precipitation from cultured soils. Even though the Charente-Maritime marshes are strongly impacted by humans, they may still retain the ability to remove nitrate. The increasing gradient of water renewal in the freshwater marshes from F1 to F7 explained the decreasing gradient of eutrophication. A better management of the hydrodynamic of the marshes can avoid eutrophication risk on the coastal sea area. Reliance on the WFD parameter set necessarily placed limits on the kinds of interpretations that could be made and on the study's potential contribution to the basic science of marshes. Ecologically-based insights regarding both external flows (links between ecosystems, meta-ecosystem theory) and internal flows (structure of the planktonic food web) seem an essential prerequisite for further advances in the study of marsh ecosystems.
(Water Research. vol. 45, n° 0043-1354, pp. 4152 - 4168, 28/08/2026)
LIENSs, INSU - CNRS, ULR, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, LCEE [Poitiers], UP, CNRS, UNIMA
Copper addition by organic matter degradation in the freshwater reaches of a turbid estuary
This study reports on the relationship between copper (Cu) behavior and organic matter (OM) transformation along the turbidity gradient in the freshwater reaches of the Gironde Estuary. During a one-year survey, surface water and suspended particulate matter (SPM) were sampled at least monthly at three sites along the Garonne Branch, representing the main fluvial branch of the Gironde Estuary. Additionally, a longitudinal high resolution profile was sampled along the Garonne Branch, covering the turbidity gradient from the river water endmember to the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ). Seasonal variability and spatial distribution of Cu in both the dissolved phases (<0.2μm, Cu0.2 and <0.02μm, Cu0.02) and particulate Cu (CuP) clearly suggested Cu0.2 addition during summer, that increased the Cu0.2 concentrations by a factor ~2, mainly manifested by an increase in the Cu0.02 fraction. At the annual timescale (2004), this internal Cu reactivity increased Cu0.02 fluxes in the Garonne Branch by ~20% (3.6tyear-1), with the equivalent of ~2.9tyear-1 derived from the CuP fraction and ~0.7tyear-1 from the colloidal (0.02-0.2μm) fraction, without involving and/or affecting the CuC18 (hydrophobic metal-organic complexes) fraction.Combining data on Cu speciation with the results obtained by several independent techniques (DOC and POC measurements, 3D-fluorescence, and TEM) suggested close relationships between Cu behavior and OM transformation/restructuration along the turbidity gradient in the Garonne Branch. The observed Cu0.02 addition was related to increasing humification (humification index HIX increased from 9 to 12, network formation) and labile OM degradation (Iγ/Iα ratio decreased from 0.70 to 0.44), going along with decreasing DOC and POC concentrations. Mass-balances suggest that in the studied system, degradation of OM may account for the release of ~25μmol potentially bioaccessible Cu0.02 per mole of particulate organic carbon mineralized. \textcopyright 2011 Elsevier B.V.
(Science of the Total Environment. vol. 409, n° 0048-9697, pp. 1539--1549, 28/08/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UB
Suivi de la contamination des tributaires du Bassin d'Arcachon par les pesticides et tests écotoxicologiques sur diatomées
L'échantillonnage passif des substances organiques de synthèse suscite un intérêt croissant depuis son apparition par son gain de représentativité temporelle, sa facilité de mise en ½uvre et son coût acceptable. Depuis le début des années 1990, plusieurs dispositifs ont été développés pour échantillonner différents types de contaminants. Le Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler (POCIS) est l'outil le plus adapté à l'échantillonnage des pesticides pour différentes applications (e.g. monitoring ; appui à l'écotoxicologie), en particulier grâce à l'utilisation d'un composé de performance et de référence (PRC). L'objectif de cette étude est de caractériser la pollution à pesticides dans neuf des principaux tributaires du Bassin d'Arcachon. Des POCIS ont été déployés pour l'échantillonnage des pesticides neutres (i.e. 1
(pp. 1, 28/08/2026)
UR REBX, CEMAGREF, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Evolution taxonomique de biofilms diatomiques en condition de décontamination métallique expérimentale après colonisation sur site contaminé
Le système fluvio-estuarien de la Gironde (France) est soumis depuis plus d'un siècle à une contamination polymétallique (Cd et Zn) s'étendant du Lot jusqu'à l'estuaire de la Gironde. Des études géochimiques ont montré que les apports en Cd et Zn proviennent essentiellement d'un site industriel spécialisé dans le traitement du minerai de zinc, localisé environ 400 km en amont de l'estuaire. Depuis 2007, un important plan de remédiation du site industriel a été mis en place. Ces travaux devraient durer jusqu'en 2012. Dans ce contexte de gestion corrective, et en référence à l'état initial de contamination déterminé par des études antérieures (programme national Ecodyn), cette étude s'intègre dans le cadre d'un projet ANR pluridisciplinaire (RESYST) et a pour objectif d'étudier l'impact de la mise en place de la remédiation sur les biofilms diatomiques. Afin de caractériser les cinétiques de récupération des diatomées, une étude expérimentale de décontamination du biofilm a été menée en laboratoire. La colonisation des biofilms s'est déroulée durant 24 jours sur un site subissant les rejets métalliques industriels et parallèlement sur un site en amont sans métaux, considéré comme témoin. Les biofilms ont ensuite été ramenés et maintenus en laboratoire durant 56 jours en condition de décontamination, ou de contamination artificielle à partir de solutions de Cd et de Zn. Différentes analyses ont été réalisées du niveau communautaire - mesures de la bioaccumulation métallique, des densités cellulaires et investigations taxonomiques - jusqu'au niveau individuel : déformation des frustules. Après 56 jours de décontamination, les concentrations en Cd dans les biofilms montrent une forte décroissance mais restent significativement supérieures aux concentrations mesurées dans les biofilms témoins. Par ailleurs, les inventaires taxonomiques ne permettent pas de mettre en évidence une restauration des communautés diatomiques dans les biofilms en décontamination comparativement à la condition témoin. En effet, après 56 jours de décontamination, malgré l'apparition d'espèces opportunistes sensibles aux métaux, pouvant être liées aux conditions expérimentales, les espèces résistantes aux métaux présentes initialement après colonisation sur site contaminé, persistent en abondances élevées dans les biofilms en décontamination. A la lumière de ces premiers résultats sur le comportement des biofilms diatomiques en conditions expérimentales de décontamination, l'amélioration de l'état chimique de l'hydrosystème naturel apparaît rapidement mais un éventuel retour au bon état écologique préconisé dans la DCE semble différé avec la persistance d'espèces tolérantes aux métaux. Ces résultats seront confrontés aux investigations menées en parallèle in situ afin de révéler ou non les prémices d'un retour au bon état écologique.
(pp. 1, 28/08/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UR REBX, CEMAGREF
Contamination des mollusques bivalves par des phycotoxines : interactions entre niveaux de toxicité et réponses physiologiques
Résumé non disponible
(pp. 1-8, 28/08/2026)
PHYC, DYNECO, IFREMER, LEMAR, IRD, IFREMER, UBO EPE, CNRS, UEB, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, BRM, IFREMER
Potentiel of TerraSAR-X imagery for mapping intertidal coastal wetlands
This work presents preliminary results about the use of TerraSAR-X imagery for mapping intertidal habitats (oyster parks, seagrass meadows of Zostera noltii, sediments) along coastal lagoons (Arcachon lagoon, France). The combination of SAR and optical data appears to be useful to improve the discrimination of the various sediment and vegetation covers into classification schemes. Unlike optical imagery which may lead to misinterpret sediment type, the potential of the multi-polarization SAR data is assessed notably regarding its efficiency for separating intertidal (Z. noltii) from supratidal salt-marsh vegetation species (spartina, salicornia, and so on). TerraSAR-X imagery is also an excellent highlighter of areas colonized by oysters (both cultivated and invasive ones) due to their relevant roughness signature among neighbored facies. In contrast, mapping methods based on optical data alone often do not perform well because of the presence of algae on oyster shelves. Moreover, potential exists for discrimating unvegetated soils but biofilm-covered from low-vegetated ones. As a conclusion, TerraSAR-X imagery offers many tracks to increase the performance of thematic mapping products along intertidal environments, in complement of optical data.
(pp. 9, 28/08/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UMR TETIS, Cirad, CEMAGREF, IRSTEA
Glacial-interglacial vegetation dynamics in South Eastern Africa coupled to sea surface temperature variations in the Western Indian Ocean
Glacial-interglacial fluctuations in the vegetation of South Africa might elucidate the climate system at the edge of the tropics between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. However, vegetation records covering a full glacial cycle have only been published from the eastern South Atlantic. We present a pollen record of the marine core MD96-2048 retrieved by the Marion Dufresne from the Indian Ocean ∼120 km south of the Limpopo River mouth. The sedimentation at the site is slow and continuous. The upper 6 m (spanning the past 342 Ka) have been analysed for pollen and spores at millennial resolution. The terrestrial pollen assemblages indicate that during interglacials, the vegetation of eastern South Africa and southern Mozambique largely consisted of evergreen and deciduous forests. During glacials open mountainous scrubland dominated. Montane forest with Podocarpus extended during humid periods was favoured by strong local insolation. Correlation with the sea surface temperature record of the same core indicates that the extension of mountainous scrubland primarily depends on sea surface temperatures of the Agulhas Current. Our record corroborates terrestrial evidence of the extension of open mountainous scrubland (including fynbos-like species of the high-altitude Grassland biome) for the last glacial as well as for other glacial periods of the past 300 Ka.
(Climate of the Past. vol. 7, n° 1814-9324, pp. 1209 - 1224, 28/08/2026)
MARUM, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, NIOZ
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation mediated by Mn-oxides: from sediment to strain level
Nitrite and N-29(2) productions in slurry incubations of anaerobically sediment after (NO3)-N-15 or (NH4)-N-15 labelling in the presence of Mn-oxides suggested that anaerobic Mn-oxides mediated nitrification coupled with denitrification in muddy intertidal sediments of Arcachon Bay (SW Atlantic French coast). From this sediment, bacterial strains were isolated and physiologically characterized in terms of Mn-oxides and nitrate reduction as well as potential anaerobic nitrification. One of the isolated strain, identified as Marinobacter daepoensis strain M4AY 14, was a denitrifier. Nitrous oxide production by this strain was demonstrated in the absence of nitrate and with Mn-oxides and NH4 amendment, giving indirect proof of anaerobic nitrate or nitrite production. Anaerobic Mn-oxide-mediated nitrification was confirmed by N-29(2) production in the presence of (NO3)-N-15 and (NH4)-N-14 under denitrifying conditions. Anaerobic nitrification by M4AY14 seemed to occur only in the absence of nitrate, or at nitrate levels lower than that of Mn-oxides. Most of the other isolates were affiliated with the Shewanella genus and were able to use both nitrate and Mn-oxides as electron acceptors. When both electron acceptors were present, whatever their concentrations, nitrate and Mn-oxide reduction co-occurred. These data indicate that bacterial Mn-oxide reduction could be an important process in marine sediments with low oxygen concentrations, and demonstrate for the first time the role of bacteria in anaerobic Mn-mediated nitrification. (C) 2011 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
(Research in Microbiology. vol. 162, n° 0923-2508, pp. 848-857, 28/08/2026)
MIO, IRD, AMU, INSU - CNRS, UTLN, CNRS, LMGEM, CNRS, MIO, IRD, AMU, INSU - CNRS, UTLN, CNRS, LMGEM, CNRS, MIO, IRD, AMU, INSU - CNRS, UTLN, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, MIO, IRD, AMU, INSU - CNRS, UTLN, CNRS, LMGEM, CNRS