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The morphology and internal structure of the Horaine Bank (Bay of Saint-Brieuc, NW France) are described based on multibeam echosounder and high-resolution seismic datasets coupled with vibro-core data. The Horaine Bank shows large-scale bedforms in the lee of a submerged rocky shoal, which allowed defining it as a Banner Bank. The internal structure of the sandbank reveals four seismic units (U1-U4) on a Cambrian basement (U0). The basal unit U1 is interpreted as reworked lowstand fluvial sediments those infilled micro incised valleys during a rise in sea level. This unit is overlain by paleo-coastal barrier sand-spit (U2) whose development was controlled by swell in the context of a rapid rise in sea level. The successive prograding unit (U3) is interpreted as flooding deposits in continuity with unit U2. The unit U4 is characterized by oblique reflectors oriented in two opposite directions. This last unit, dated post 3500 yr BP, corresponds to migrating dunes superimposed on the bank and observable in the high-resolution bathymetric data. The strong correlation between tidal currents and the apparent clockwise migration of dune crests suggests the presence of a tidal gyre controlling the present-day dynamics of most of the Horaine bank dunes. This study proposes a new model for the construction of banner banks characterized by the gradual transition of a sand spit to a banner bank during marine transgression and ensuing hydrodynamic variability.

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The Lagrangian-Averaged Navier-Stokes-α (LANS-α) turbulence model was implemented for the first time in a coastal hydrodynamic model. We present in this paper the details of the implementation, as well as the difficulties encountered. To overcome the difficulties, a convolution filter was used instead of the Helmoltz operator, and incompressibility was imposed in both rough and smooth velocities. The results of the second numerical implementation were tested against the results of simulations without LANS-α for a realistic application showing the tidal dynamic in Alderney Race, Normandy, France, which has the strongest currents in western Europe. The behavior of LANS-α is consistent with the conclusions of former studies, which supports our results. The findings are: i) LANS-α re-energizes the flow recovering higher-resolution turbulence statistics in lower-resolution simulations, leading to 30% savings in computing time, ii) LANS-α produces the two kinds of inertial range for barotropic turbulence, with turbulent energy decays in and in (k being the wave number) and iii) LANS-α strongly characterizes the turbulence induced by deformation. In the future, these results need to be compared to measurements and to other turbulence modeling approaches, including dissipative LES or DNS, to evaluate their relevance for the community.

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Marine tidal turbines are subject to the environment in which they are deployed. In the natural environment, they are gradually colonized by sessile species. These fouling organisms modify the flow around the blades and in the wake of the tidal turbine. Unfortunately, they also complicate the numerical study of such tidal turbines by preventing the use of usual methods such as the Blade Element Method or the Lifting Line Theory. In this context, we propose to use an alternative solution, which combines an Eulerian code to study the near field with a Lagrangian code for the wake. After a short presentation of each code, the coupling method is detailed, and applied to the case of a tidal turbine with its own vertical axis. First results are shown and compared to a full Eulerian simulation. Although the data transmission between both codes works well, discrepancies were found due to abnormal increase of energy in the Lagrangian area. A solution is proposed and explained.

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Artificial Reefs (AR) show a wide diversity and vary in their construction materials, shape and purpose, as illustrated by the present analysis of 127 scientific papers. AR have been deployed for different purposes, including fisheries improvement, ecological restoration of marine habitats, coastal protection or purely scientific research. Statistical analyses using 67 variables allow us to characterize the design, objectives and monitoring strategies used for AR. An effectiveness indicator comprised of three categories (low, moderate and high) was adapted from previous studies and applied to the present dataset in terms of the objectives defined in each scientific paper. The effectiveness of various monitoring approaches was investigated and recommendations were formulated regarding environmental parameters and the assessment of ecological processes as a function of AR type. These analyses showed that inert materials like concrete associated with biomimetic designs increase the benefits of reefs to the local environment. This study also compared effectiveness between the different economic, ecological or scientific objectives of AR projects and reveals that fisheries projects showed the highest efficiencies but points out the weakness of environmental assessments for this type of project. In conclusion, the analyses presented here highlight the need to use a panel of complementary monitoring techniques, independently of the initial purpose of the artificial structures, to properly assess the impact of such structures on the local environment. It is recommended to adopt approaches that associate structural and functional ecology. An improved characterization of the role of AR should be integrated into future assessments, taking into account the complex framework of ecosystem structure and trophic relationships.

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The overall potential for recoverable tidal energy depends partly on the tidal turbine technologies used. One of problematic points is the minimum flow velocity required to set the rotor into motion. The novelty of the paper is the setup of an innovative method to model the fluid–structure interactions on tidal turbines. The first part of this work aimed at validating the numerical model for classical cases of rotation (forced rotation), in particular, with the help of a mesh convergence study. Once the model was independent from the mesh, the numerical results were tested against experimental data for both vertical and horizontal tidal turbines. The results show that a good correspondence for power and drag coefficients was observed. In the wake, the vortexes were well captured. Then, the fluid drive code was implemented. The results correspond to the expected physical behavior. Both turbines rotated in the correct direction with a coherent acceleration. This study shows the fundamental operating differences between a horizontal and a vertical axis tidal turbine. The lack of experiments with the free rotation speed of the tidal turbines is a limitation, and a digital brake could be implemented to overcome this difficulty.

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Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) in the English Channel and along the coast of Normandy (France) will be installed on coarse sediments, which cover about 80% of the seabed of the English Channel. A BACI (Before After Control Impact) approach has been recommended by the French State for each of these OWFs. This provides the opportunity to acquire macrofauna data and assess the Ecological Quality Status in areas that are poorly sampled. In the case of the Dieppe-Le Tréport (DLT) OWF, for that, a sampling strategy was developed in 2014–2016 to establish a ‘Before’ state for the sediment and macrofauna. Results highlight that the DLT OWF project site includes three different sediment type: sandy Gravel (sG), gravelly Sand (gS) and medium Sand (mS). Taxonomic Richness and abundances are dominated by Annelids in all three habitats, followed by Arthropods and Molluscs. In terms of biomass, Molluscs (bivalves) are predominant in sG and gS, while Echinoderms and Polychaetes along with bivalves represent a high fraction of the biomass in mS. Surface Deposit Feeders are the most important group in terms of abundance, while Filter feeders largely dominate the biomass. The benthic indices based on abundances reveal a high Ecological Quality Status for the three sediment types. However, due to the predominant contribution of the bivalve Glycymeris glycymeris to the biomass, the habitat quality appears to vary from moderate to bad. In comparison with other similar habitats, the Taxonomic Richness and Abundances of coarse sediments and medium sand are in the same order of magnitude as other sites. However, the biomasses are among the highest so far recorded, reflecting the importance of this area as a hotspot of biomass in the English Channel.

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Complex sequences of paleosols are often formed by the interaction between pedogenesis and geomorphological evolution. Their study, particularly in mountain areas, is useful to reconstruct past environmental conditions as well as climate shifts, and to gather information on the morphodynamical processes affecting the landscape through time. Since the combined role that all different factors can play in the soil formation and evolution through time and space influences the formation and evolution of those complex paleosol sequences, a multidisciplinary study was conducted at the NW slope of Mt. Cusna (Northern Apennines, Italy). This work aims to reconstruct and to evaluate how the interactions between the geomorphological context, the Holocene climate variations, and the modification of the vegetation cover and composition influence the soil development of this area. A combination of routine soil analyses (i.e., grain-size distributions, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, pH, and Fe/Al extractions), soil micromorphology and the Rock-Eval® pyrolysis allowed to characterize and to correlate the different soil units constituting a toposequence of six soil profiles. The presence of different pedological units that can be correlated along the slope underlines the occurrence of separate events of pedogenesis, spatio-temporally linked to recognizable stability phases at slope scale. These phases of biostasy, characterized by vegetation cover and soil development, alternate to phases of rhexistasy, characterized mainly by slope instability (i.e., aggradation/degradation). In detail, in the Mt. Cusna toposequence three different soil units, linked to three different stability phases, have been identified: the earliest stability phase, characterized by the presence of well-developed Luvisols, the subsequent stability phase typified by less expressed Luvisols, and the ongoing stability phase with Leptosols. This latter pedogenetic phase, in some cases, is superimposed to the previous one, so affecting the exhumed paleosols. In this light, the Mt. Cusna toposequence characterization allowed to enlighten the complexity of soil polygenesis in higher detail than the previous studies, not only reconstructing the past environmental conditions but also inferring the succession of phases of slope stability and phases characterized by erosion and deposition processes.

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The valorization solutions for dredged sediment have been the subject of a great number of investigations over the previous decades. In the current present study, treatment of polluted dredged sediment fom the commercial port of Sfax, Tunisia, is proposed. An industrial byproduct (blast furnace slag) was used to bind raw sediment for a reuse in road engineering. Following standards of this field, the raw sediment first was identified and classified according to the French technical guidance. Then an environmental assessment was applied due to the presence of heavy metals. The concentrations were measured on the raw sediment particles so as to control the binding effect on heavy metals. Sediment mixtures consisted of a mix of sand and a blast furnace slag activated with quicklime. Different mixtures were tested and some were proposed for sub-layer applications. The Sfax commercial port raw sediment is considered as a sandy loam with a very low fraction of clay. The measured concentrations of heavy metals exceed the recommended thresholds for cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc. These can induce hazardous effects in the case of their dumping into the sea. On the other hand, the concentrations of the detected elements after leaching tests run on raw sediment samples are very low compared to the thresholds; such results highlight a possible recycling of the raw sediment in subgrade layers without any negative impact. Suitable formulations were deduced for road engineering tests relying on the ratio the California Bearing Ratio index and the immediate bearing index. If the obtained ratio exceeds one, the treated sediment can be recycled and used in road layers.

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Few sedimentary archives of lake meromixis are available in palaeolimnological records, because long- term observations are limited in time and indisputable sediment proxies of hypolimnetic anoxia are still scarce. Here we use visible and near infrared (VNIR), and short-wave infra-red (SWIR) hyperspectral imaging combined with geochemical analyses to reconstruct lake stratification history, redox status and mixing conditions in the water column of Lake Son Kol (Kyrgyzstan) in Central Tian Shan during the last 8500 years. In particular, the detection of Bacteriopheophytin a (Bphe a), a pigment produced by anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria at the chemocline of meromictic lakes, emphasizes episodes of multi- decadal to centennial hypolimnetic anoxia in Lake Son Kol. Phases of hypolimnetic anoxia are inferred from the deposition of dark organic sediments within a stratified lake system, which occurred during periods of increased snowmelt (and solid winter precipitation) and warmer spring/summer tempera- tures that promoted floods and the export of terrestrial material from the catchment. Prolonged euxinic conditions in bottom waters (involving the development of a stable chemocline) are reported around 8500, 8400, 8200e7800, 7700e7500, 7300e7000, 6500e6100, 6000e5700 and 5500e5250 cal yr BP. At ca. 5250 cal yr BP, the chemocline abruptly vanished as Lake Son Kol tipped into a regime with pre- dominantly cooler and well-mixed conditions (predominance of oxygenic phototrophs), coeval with higher lake levels. The disappearance of hypolimnetic anoxia in Lake Son Kol coincides with strength- ened wind conditions that imply enhanced lake overturning and upward mixing of nutrients in the water column. This study reveals the strong potential of hyperspectral imaging, in combination with more classical palaeolimnological approaches, to reconstruct the lake trophic and mixing history and explore the controlling mechanisms at work on decadal to centennial timescales. Our results outline how abrupt ecosystem changes may occur even in the absence of anthropogenic climate change.

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