La grotte de Tabon (Palawan, Philippines) est un site préhistorique majeur en Asie du Sud-Est. Elle a livré des fossiles d’Homo sapiens datant du Pléistocène supérieur, rares dans la région. Pourtant, son histoire demeure mal connue : d’importantes altérations physiques et chimiques compliquent la lecture de sa stratigraphie, tandis que des objets archéologiques sans contexte clair entravent l’élaboration d’une chronologie fiable. Cette étude jette un nouveau regard sur la grotte de Tabon à travers une approche pluridisciplinaire des sciences de la Terre. Elle explore notamment l’environnement et le climat des premiers hommes anatomiquement modernes dans la région. Les résultats mettent en lumière une période clef entre 40 et 33 ka BP, caractérisée par des climats plus secs, des paysages plus ouverts et une empreinte humaine marquée dans la grotte. Cette période a également été ponctuée par un court épisode d’humidité qui a laissé un spéléothème gypsifère étendu en guise de témoin. Dans l’avenir, de nouvelles approches, prenant en compte les contraintes particulières du site, pourraient permettre de souligner davantage la valeur scientifique et patrimoniale unique de la grotte de Tabon, une fenêtre sur les premiers périples de notre espèce à travers les archipels d’Asie du Sud-Est. / Tabon Cave (Palawan, Philippines) is a key prehistoric site in Southeast Asia, one of the few to have yielded Homo sapiens fossils from the Late Pleistocene. Its history remains poorly understood: heavy physical and chemical alterations have greatly complicated its stratigraphy, and contextually isolated archaeological finds hamper the construction of a clear chronology. This study reexamines Tabon Cave using a multi-pronged geosciences approach to explore environment, climate, and early modern human presence in the region. The results reveal a major period in the cave’s history between 40 and 33 ka BP, when drier climates, more open landscapes, and active human use of the cave were briefly spaced by a wet episode that left an extensive, gypsiferous speleothem. Future innovative research approaches spurred by the unique constraints of the site will undoubtedly further highlight the unique scientific and heritage value of Tabon Cave, a window into the earliest odysseys of our species across the archipelagos of Southeast Asia.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / This study describes porosity and permeability distribution in the deep marine play of the central Bredasdorp Basin, Block 9, offshore South Africa using methods that include thin section petrography, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, in order to characterize their porosity and permeability distributions, cementation and clay types that affect the porosity and permeability distribution. The study includes core samples from nine wells taken from selected depths within the Basin. Seventy three thin sections were described using parameters such as grain size measurement, quantification of porosity and permeability, mineralogy, sorting, grain shape, matrix, cementation, and clay content. Core samples were analyzed using x-ray diffraction for qualitative clay mineralogy and phase analysis. Scanning electron microscope analysis for qualitative assessment of clays and cements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses were conducted on fifty-four (54) and thirty-five (35) samples respectively to identify and quantify the clay mineralogy of the sandstones. The SEM micrographs are also useful for estimating the type and distribution of porosity and cements. Analyses of these methods is used in describing the reservoir quality. Detrital matrix varies in abundance from one well to another. The matrix consists predominantly of clay minerals with lesser amounts of detrital cements. X-ray diffraction analyses suggest these clays largely consist of illitic and kaolinite, with minor amounts of chlorite and laumontite. Because these clays are highly illitic, the matrix could exhibit significant swelling if exposed to fresh sea water, thus further reducing the reservoir quality. The majority of the samples generally have significant cements; in particular quartz cement occurs abundantly in most samples. The high silica cement is possibly caused by the high number of nucleation sites owing to the relatively high abundance of detrital quartz. Carbonate cement, particularly siderite and calcite, occurs in variable amounts in most samples but generally has little effect on reservoir quality in the majority of samples. Authigenic, pore-filling kaolinite occurs in several samples and is probably related. to feldspar/glauconite alteration, it degrades reservoir quality. The presence of chlorite locally (plate 4.66A & B) and in minute quantities is attributed to a late stage replacement of lithic grains. Don't put references to plates and figures in abstract. A high argillaceous content is directly responsible for the low permeability obtained in the core analysis. Pervasive calcite and silica cementation are the main cause of porosity and permeability destruction. Dissolution of pore filling intergranular clays may result in the formation of micro porosity and interconnected secondary porosity. Based on the combination of information derived from thin section petrography, SEM and XRD, diagenetic stages and event sequences are established for the sandstone in the studied area. Reservoir quality deteriorates with depth, as cementation, grain coating and pore infilling authigenic chlorite, illite and kaolinite becomes more abundant.

Les calcaires sont des roches sensibles aux phénomènes physiques et chimiques qui peuvent les dissoudre, les cimenter ou les fracturer. Dans ce cas, les propriétés des calcaires vont évoluer en fonction de ces différents processus qui varient dans le temps et dans l’espace. Or les réservoirs carbonatés peuvent s’étendre sur plusieurs centaines de kilomètres. Afin d’exploiter ces réservoirs géologiques (ressources en eau, gaz ou pétrole), il est donc nécessaire de caractériser en 3 dimensions leurs propriétés (porosité, perméabilité) ainsi que les hétérogénéités géologiques ou tectoniques, qui peuvent modifier la géométrie du réservoir ou ses propriétés. L’acquisition de données locales (affleurements, forages), réparties sur la totalité du réservoir, pose la question de leurs représentativités projetées sur l’ensemble du volume de roche mais aussi de leurs distributions entre les points d’acquisitions qui sont espacés de plusieurs kilomètres. Cette thèse propose d’étudier les propriétés des calcaires Urgoniens (d’âge Barrémien supérieur – Aptien inférieur) situés en Provence, analogues aux calcaires des réservoirs d’hydrocarbures présents au Moyen-Orient. Trois sites comportant différentes échelles sont étudiés afin de caractériser cette série carbonatée. L’étude propose ensuite des règles géologiques dans le but d’extrapoler les mesures réalisées sur des échantillons d’unités centimétriques à l’échelle hectométrique / Carbonates are sensitive to physical and chemical processes which can dissolve, cement or fracturing them. In this case, the carbonate properties evolve according to these different changes that vary in time and space. Carbonated reservoirs can extend for hundreds of kilometres. To prospect these geological reservoirs (water, gas or oil resources), it’s therefore necessary to characterize in 3 dimensions their properties (porosity, permeability), as well as geological and structural heterogeneities which can modify the basin geometry or the reservoir properties. The acquisition of local data (outcrops, boreholes) compared to the properties distributed at field scale ponder their representativeness at multi-kilometres scale but also their distribution between the acquisition area. This thesis proposes to study the properties of Urgonian limestones (Upper Barremian - Lower Aptian) located in Provence, analogue of Middle East hydrocarbon reservoirs. Three sites with different scales are studied to characterize this carbonate series. Additionally, this study proposes geological rules to upscale the measurements made on centimetric samples to hectometric scale

Seasonality estimates based on archaeological shellfish remains have been an important component of settlement pattern reconstruction. Investigations of this nature allow researchers to place prehistoric people on the landscape at points in space at different times of the year. Many of the previous seasonality studies, however, have focused on marine species from coastal sites, with little attention given to freshwater locales, especially ones in the Mississippi Delta. To address that disparity, this study examines freshwater mussel “season of capture” via analysis of stable oxygen isotope ratios in specimens recovered from two Late Woodland sites located along the Yazoo River, Mississippi. As freshwater mussel shells are composed of aragonite, a metastable form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), they can suffer greatly from the impact of meteoric diagenesis. Because of this, samples must be evaluated for diagenesis prior to any geochemical analysis taking place. Archaeological shell samples were examined via thin-section petrography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Visual analysis indicated pristine aragonite microstructure and crystallography in all archaeological shell samples, and confirmed their suitability for isotope analysis. Vetted shells were then micromilled across accretionary growth bands, and analyzed for their oxygen isotope signatures. Isotope profiles were then interpreted for their individual “season of capture”, and oscillation patterns for 22 shell specimens indicated mussels were being collected in all four seasons. These data support the view that at least some portion of the human population at both sites engaged in shellfishing activities year-round, indicating sedentary populations at both locales. The shell assemblages were also investigated for the purpose of informing modern conservation efforts (i.e., “applied zooarchaeology”). Nearly 24,000 valves were analyzed taxonomically, yielding the presence of 37 species, of which 24 represented new river records for the Yazoo River. These data provide a valuable historical perspective, cataloging communities as they existed prior to extensive modern impacts, thus representing an ecological baseline to be compared with modern populations. Though modern data are extremely limited for the river, the study revealed it once supported a diverse mussel community containing numerous species currently considered rare, endangered, or extinct in Mississippi.

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Iron (oxyhydr)oxide concretions in the Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah have been extensively researched as Martian analogues. However, the discovery of calcium carbonate concretions in areas such as Coyote Gulch, Utah, has encouraged recent studies to understand the relationship between calcium carbonate spheroidal concretions as possible precursors to iron (oxyhydr)oxide concretions, and to determine the fluid chemistries involved in diagenesis. This is important because nucleation and precipitation mechanisms of these spheroidal calcium carbonate and iron (oxyhydr)oxide concretions and fluid mechanisms in iron rich environments could affect the preservation of possible biosignatures in other subsurface features on Mars. The elemental and mineralogical compositions of the concretions were examined in order to determine physical and chemical features shared by the two types of concretions and did show that they share similar morphologies; however, the Coyote Gulch concretions are calcite cemented (~30 wt.%), with secondary iron (oxyhydr)oxide precipitation and decreases in calcite in transects away from the calcium carbonate concretions. Several chemical and mineralogical differences exist between the two separate populations of concretions, possibly due to regional variability of reacting phases in fluid systems. Spring fluids emanating from the Navajo Sandstone in Coyote Gulch were tested to determine the fluids responsible for the development of any of the concretion mineralogies in the study area which could form in distinctive geochemical systems. Geochemical modeling performed in this research explored the question of fluid chemistry involved in concretion formation in the Navajo Sandstone and findings suggest that the calcite concretions formed prior to the precipitation of secondary iron (oxyhydr)oxides and may have provided a localized buffering environment for the precipitation of iron (oxyhydr)oxides. Paleofluid circulation, redox processes, and elemental mobility are examined using the geochemistry of Navajo Sandstone concretions and host rock. Various simulations applicable to diagenetic fluids in the studied concretions show the importance of salinity and pH in paleoaquifers in order to precipitate mineral assemblages similar to those found in the Navajo Sandstone. Widespread dissolution features, major and trace element distributions, and geochemical modeling identified feasible fluid-rock interactions in paleofluids, including the importance of limited H2S gas and the limited feasibility of hydrocarbon rich fluids in concretion formation using current data. A universal mechanism for calcium carbonate to iron (oxyhydr)oxide concretion formation could be applied on other planets and provide exciting implications in the search for carbon rich redox gradients which could support life in the subsurface of otherwise inhospitable planets.

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