The Alpine mediterranean highlands : geosystems under long-lasting natural and anthropogenic pressures (Millefonds catchment, southern alps, France )

Elodie Brisset (1, 2) , Frédéric Guiter (2) , Cécile Miramont (2) , Claire Delhon (3) , Fabien Arnaud (4) , Tachikawa Kazuyo (1) , Marta Garcia , Jean-Robert Disnar (5) , Jean-Dominique Meunier (1) , Gaspard Pagès (6, 7) , Bruno Wilhelm (4) , Christine Paillès (1) , Franck Sumera (8) , Edward J. Anthony (1) , Edouard Bard (9)

1 Collège de France - Chaire Evolution du climat et de l'océan
2 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
3 CEPAM - Culture et Environnements, Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age
4 EDYTEM - Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne
5 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327
6 SIS2M UMR 3299 - Service Interdisciplinaire sur les Systèmes Moléculaires et les Matériaux (ex SCM)
7 IRAMAT - Institut de Recherches sur les Archéomatériaux
8 CCJ - Centre Camille Jullian - Histoire et archéologie de la Méditerranée et de l'Afrique du Nord de la protohistoire à la fin de l'Antiquité
9 Géochimie & géochrono

Mediterranean mountains are very sensitive geosystems to erosion processes. These environments combine three steep gradients: topographic, ecologic and climatic. They are extremely vulnerable to both anthropogenic and climate-driven global changes. We propose a multiproxy approach from sediments sequence of Petit Lake (2200m, Millefonts catchment, Mercantour massif, France). We combine sedimentological, geochemical and palaeoecological analyses in order to resolve conjointly each compartment of this high elevation geosystem: vegetation dynamics, lacustrine productivity variability, modalities and rhythms of erosion processes. The 5 millennia drastic collapse of the geosystem is the result of intense precipitations on slopes already affected by human activities (e.g. pastoralism, ore smelting). Natural and Human agencies are necessary both the causes of landscape disturbance of this environment.

Domaines: Géomorphologie; Sciences de l'environnement

Elodie Brisset, Frédéric Guiter, Cécile Miramont, Claire Delhon, Fabien Arnaud, et al.. The Alpine mediterranean highlands : geosystems under long-lasting natural and anthropogenic pressures (Millefonds catchment, southern alps, France ). XXXIIe Rencontres Internationales d'Archéologie et d'Histoire d'Antibes, 2011, Antibes, France. ⟨hal-00803051⟩