Sedimentology

The main aim of our re­se­arch is to bet­ter un­der­stand the pro­ces­ses con­trol­ling re­cent se­di­men­ta­ti­on in coastal and deep-wa­ter en­vi­ron­ments in or­der to im­pro­ve pa­leo­cea­no­gra­phic and pa­leo­en­vi­ron­men­tal re­con­struc­tions ba­sed on se­di­men­ta­ry ar­chi­ves. Our group has three main li­nes of re­se­arch:

Sediment dynamics in deep-water environments: This line of re­se­arch stu­dies the se­di­men­ta­ry pro­ces­ses that con­trol seaf­loor mor­pho­lo­gy and se­di­ment dis­tri­bu­ti­on in the deep sea, with a spe­cial fo­cus on de­po­sits ge­ne­ra­ted by ocea­n cur­rents. We are also in­te­rested in the se­di­men­ta­ry pro­ces­ses trans­porting se­di­ments from the con­ti­nent to the deep sea and the ef­fect of ocea­nic cir­cu­la­ti­on in this trans­fer of se­di­ment. For in­stan­ce, we stu­dy how ocea­n cur­rents in­ter­act with tur­bi­di­ty cur­rents and af­fect the mor­pho­lo­gy and evo­lu­ti­on of sub­ma­ri­ne chan­nels. We use a mul­ti­di­sci­pli­na­ry ap­proach to stu­dy se­di­men­ta­ry pro­ces­ses in the deep sea that com­bi­nes ob­ser­va­tions of na­tu­ral sys­tems using geo­phy­si­cal data, se­di­ment co­res and ocea­no­gra­phic data; with hydro­dy­na­mic mo­del­ling and flu­me-tank ex­pe­ri­ments.

Bedform fields - hydrodynamics, sediment transport and geomorphology: Bedforms (ripples and dunes) are ubiquitous in shallow water sandy environments. They form from the interaction between hydrodynamics (river, tidal and wind or wave-related currents and waves) and a mobile bed. Bedforms are active morphodynamic elements which both reflect and influence hydrodynamic, sediment transport and geomorphology at various spatiotemporal scales. The study of their presence, size, movement and interactions with hydrodynamics is directly relevant for a wide range of fundamental and applied research. We study bedforms (mainly dunes) in a variety of environments (river, estuarine, tidal and marine) using a range of techniques (field measurements, flume experiments and numerical modelling).

Plastic pollution: Plastic particles are now present in all marine sediments, from the coast to the deep sea. Our research aims to improve our understanding of the processes controlling the transport and accumulation of plastics, particularly microplastics (particles measuring less than 5 mm), in order to better assess their potential impact. We also analyse how the characteristics of plastics change during transport and their contribution to the carbon budget in marine sedimentary environments.