Farm diversification is mainly driven by risk mitigation effects and economic gains related to complementarities between production activities. By combining these two aspects, we investigate diversification economies in a sample of French mixed sheep farming systems and rank these systems using stochastic dominance criteria. Partially diversified systems (Sheep-Grass, Sheep-Crop, Sheep-Landless) and fully diversified systems (Sheep-Grass-Crop-Landless) were evaluated. We find a high degree of diversification diseconomies in the sheep farming systems considered. The results also indicate that the fully diversified system is driven by its risk-reducing effects (including downside risk exposure) and that Sheep-Crop is the dominant system in terms of risk-adjusted returns.

A mixed-layer illite-smectite, illite-rich calcareous mudstone intruded by a basaltic dyke at the Perthus Pass (southern Massif Central, France) allows us to study the transformation of clays subjected to a brief thermal gradient. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe and atomic absorption spectroscopy analyses were performed on samples at variable distances from the mudstone-dyke contacts.

A roughly similar evolution is seen on both sides of the dyke: quartz, calcite, kaolinite and illite disappear; Ca-silicates, albite and saponite-beidellite form, late meteoric halloysite crystallizes in open fractures.

Chemical and mineralogical transformations are related to heat diffusion from the dyke. Theoretical calculations highlight the influence of the dyke orientation. The mineralogical reactions observed in rocks are similar to those observed in experimental conditions. The formation of new swelling phases with a high retention capacity linked to a short duration, large-temperature increase, should constitute a positive process for Repository Performance Assessment.

Spinel lherzolite xenoliths from two localities in the Massif Central are undepleted in Al2O3, CaO, and Na2O. One suite from Tarreyres, is K2O depleted and amphibole-bearing whereas the other, from Monistrol d'Allier some 18 km away, is amphibole-free and has a higher mean K2O content of 0.035 wt.%. We present bulk major and minor element abundances in a harzburgite and a lherzolite from each locality and microprobe analyses of their constituent phases. Amphibole-bearing lherzolite and its pyroxenes are light-rare earth element (LREE) depleted, whereas amphibole-free lherzolite and its pyroxenes are LREE enriched. Both harzburgites and their pyroxenes are LREE enriched and one rock contains LREE enriched glass. The harzburgites are like harzburgite xenoliths from elsewhere but each lherzolite represents a previously unrecognized type of mantle in terms of the mineralogy and REE content. The implication for basalt genesis are briefly discussed.

Several examples of magma mixing exist within the undersaturated alkaline magma series of the Tertiary/Quaternary volcanics in the French Massif Central. This study describes magma mixing in the Puy Griou/Griounot area of the Cantal volcano (10-3 Ma). Petrographic evidence for injection of blebs of basic magma into phonolitic host magmas is abundant (cauliform inclusions, liquid-liquid contacts, vesiculation and chilling). Compositions of the inclusions are basic tephrite, whereas the hosts are miaskitic phonolites. Petrographic examination reveals the presence of disequilibrium mineralogical features (e.g. Mg-rich olivine in phonolites) and strong zoning in many clinopyroxenes. Transfer of phenocrysts between basic inclusions and phonolite hosts was common, and can be seen clearly in the wide range of compositions of clinopyroxene. Hornblende, magnetite and olivine were also transferred from inclusions to host.

Sr and Nd isotope data indicate that, unlike most other fractionated magmas of the region, phonolites which show evidence for magma mixing are uncontaminated by the continental crust and have isotopic ratios similar to local primitive basic magmas. This leads to the suggestion that the magma mixing event took place at great depth, rather than being a high-level phenomenon. The phonolites were thus generated by high-pressure fractional crystallisation of an earlier basanitic or tephritic parent, perhaps at upper-mantle depths. This conclusion may explain why some phonolites elsewhere in the world have entrained spinel Iherzolite mantle xenoliths.

Concentrations of a wide range of chemical variables were determined in 206 water samples taken between May 1996 and May 1998 from a set of 25 natural lakes in the French Massif Central. From each lake 6 to 9 samples were collected. Mean and standard deviation of total alkalinity, conductivity, pH, concentrations in K+ , Mg2+ , Ca2+ , Na+ , Cl-, SO2 4 , total phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, dissolved silica, chlorophyll a, and water colour were calculated for each lake. These results are briefly compared with those obtained in an earlier study in which chemical analyses were carried out on a reduced set of lakes from the same region. In most lakes and for most elements, concentrations observed in the present study were similar to those observed previously. The seasonal variations of the elements which are most strongly influenced by biological processes were also investigated. Using hierarchical cluster analysis three main lake groups were distinguished : i) alkaline lakes, ii) deep lakes with lowalkalinity and iii) shallow lakes with low alkalinity. The major patterns of variation in the data set were also investigated using principal components analysis (PCA), which confirms that total alkalinity and maximum water depth are the main environmental gradients in this set of lakes. In conclusion, the potential of this data-set for building diatom-based transfer functions to reconstruct past limnological conditions is discussed.

Field and laboratory studies on 11 populations of Galba truncatula were performed to determine the survival rate of snails after aestivation, to specify the range of their shell heights, and to establish the percentage of G. truncatula which burrowed in soil when summer drying occurred. These investigations were performed using six lowland populations living in central France (alt. 206-282 m) and five highland populations, located in the Massif central (alt. 806-900 m). The survival rate of G. truncatula after flooding dried soil with water was significantly higher in the highland than in the lowland populations (69.5-80.7 % in road ditches, for example, instead of 29.3-33.0%). The mean shell heights of surviving snails and the durations of snail re-activation in water did not show any significant variation, whatever the origin of snail population. The percentages of snails buried in drying soil were higher in the highland population (13.0 % and 15.0 % of juvenile snails, for example, instead of 4.0 % and 7.7 % in lowland snails). In the lowland population only young snails buried, whereas 5.8-8.3 % of adults in the highland population were partially burrowing. The local climate of the sites studied in the Massif central, and the ability of snails to burrow into the mud when stagnant water disappeared in July, might explain the higher survival rate during aestivation.

Reconnaissance on the southern edge of the Massif Central is studying field evidence which deepens appreciation of the present-day upland French landscape as not only ‘sauvage’ but also the product of long-term use.