Séminaire ISTerre

Investigating inter-relationships between humans and the natural environment in deep time in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, southern India

mercredi 12 novembre 2025 - 11h00
Ramya Bala Prabhakaran - National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India
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The tropical biome of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR) in southern India, has seen human occupation for centuries (perhaps millennia), as evidenced by megalithic dolmens and a living heritage of over 6 protected vulnerable tribal groups. And this, despite being a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ of speciation in the world, boasting of over 3500 species (~1500 endemic). The NBR was established under the UNESCO ‘Man and the Biosphere Programme’ for sustainable development to protect both natural and cultural heritage. Despite intriguing legacies in global food habits (black pepper, cinnamon, mace and nutmeg) through the spice trade, very little of the human-forest interactions from prehistoric times is known from this region. Unlike other ancient peoples, forest-dwellers leave behind barely any material evidence. This leaves a large gap in our collective understanding of this ecosystem and its peoples – a gap we aim to fill through sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), giving us access to unexplored dimensions on the peopling of NBR, and the creation of the ‘hotspot’ itself; by targeting DNA from mammals, including the Bengal tiger, believed to have populated southern India in the Holocene. A critical part of this project is to develop site-specific multi-DNA methods for application on tropical peat cores. Optimization of DNA metabarcoding approach in targeted wetland sites for assessing plant and mammal biodiversity will be achieved by (i) Literature review of DNA extraction methods, (ii) Identification of appropriate samples with diverse geochemical characteristics, and conducting tests, (iii) Analysis of results to establish the “best” method for DNA recovery and appropriate “multi-DNA” method for maximum taxonomic richness information from core samples. Our multi-DNA tests for improving capture of taxonomic richness (especially important in biodiversity hotspots) are original and innovative contributions with a wide potential for application in other tropical biomes, in contexts previously thought unsuitable for DNA studies but widely regarded as the first frontier of human civilizations and hotspots of biodiversity and speciation.

Equipe organisatrice : Minéralogie

Salle Dolomieu, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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“Minimalist seismology”: studying earthquakes with sparse instrumentation

jeudi 17 septembre 2026 - 11h00

Mathieu Causse - ISTerre

Equipe organisatrice : Organisation labo

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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Stable‑to‑dynamic expansion of fault slipping area through fluid injection observed in laboratory experiments using a sub‑meter scale specimen

vendredi 18 septembre 2026 - 14h00

Takatoshi Ito  - Université de Tohoku, Japan

Equipe organisatrice : Mécanique des failles

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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Tectonics, Mantle Dynamics and Coupled Lithosphere-Mantle-Core Evolution of Earth and Other Rocky Worlds

jeudi 24 septembre 2026 - 11h00

Paul Tackley - ETH Zurich

Equipe organisatrice : Grands Séminaires ISTerre

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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Tectonics, Mantle Dynamics and Coupled Lithosphere-Mantle-Core Evolution of Earth and Other Rocky Worlds

jeudi 24 septembre 2026 - 11h00

Paul Tackley - ETH Zurich

Equipe organisatrice : Grands Séminaires ISTerre

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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Apport des expériences analogiques pour la modélisation et le suivi en temps réel de la propagation du magma en profondeur : Exemple du Rift Est Africain

jeudi 1er octobre 2026 - 11h00

Virginie Pinel - ISTerre

Equipe organisatrice : Organisation labo

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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A t-on encore besoin de plaques pour expliquer la tectonique de la vallée du Rhône et des Alpes Occidentales ?

vendredi 2 octobre 2026 - 11h00

philippe VERNANT - Geosciences Montpellier

Equipe organisatrice : Tectonique active et sismicité

Salle Dolomieu, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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TBA

vendredi 2 octobre 2026 - 14h00

Hugo Boulze - 

Equipe organisatrice : Cycle sismique et déformations transitoires

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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TBA

vendredi 9 octobre 2026 - 11h00

Eric Beaucé - ISTerre

Equipe organisatrice : Cycle sismique et déformations transitoires

Salle Dolomieu, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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TBA

vendredi 20 novembre 2026 - 11h00

Farzaneh Mohammadi - ENS Paris

Equipe organisatrice : Cycle sismique et déformations transitoires

Amphithéâtre Killian, Maison des Géosciences, 38400 Saint Martin d'Hères

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